John N. Lauer Leadership Training Program
The John N. Lauer Leadership Training Program was established to allow young Hungarian Americans and well-qualified English-speaking Hungarians from Hungary and neighboring countries to gain first-hand experience at various Washington-based institutions to motivate them for public service in their respective places of origin, as well as to provide opportunity to build contacts in the US in their professional areas of expertise.
Highlights of 2019-23
Csendike Somogyvári
Placement: Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation (VOC), Washington D.C.: February 17 – May 17, 2023
At VOC, Csendike was a Development and Coalitions & Fellowship Programs intern. Her major projects included event organization, donor management, and searching for prospective partner organizations. The internship program also provided her an opportunity to meet with prominent leaders, researchers, and thinkers across the world who take to heart the plight of communities oppressed by communist regimes. She met people with diverse backgrounds, touching life stories but one thing in common: the will to create awareness on the impact of living under totalitarian regimes.
Károly Barabási
Placement: International Tax and Investment Center’s (ITIC) Energy Growth and Security (EGS) Program, Washington D.C.: March 16 – July 17, 2020
During his internship at the International Tax and Investment Center’s (ITIC) Energy Growth and Security (EGS) Program, Károly’s main duties included working on high-level research projects, preparing research briefs, providing literature reviews, talking points, and draft presentation while reporting to the senior staff.
István Zoltán Bán
Institute for Governance and Sustainable Development (IGSD), Washington D.C.: October 2, 2019 – February 7, 2020
István’s work at IGSD included website and social media platforms management, various research tasks, participation in webinars, proofreading and editing documents and articles, drafting social media strategies for the organization, and monitoring news related to climate change and environmental policies. István also had the chance to completing online courses on various topics, including ‘Climate Change and Health; ‘Climate Change: The Science and Global Impact’, among others.
Hajnalka Tóth
Placement: Meridian Center for Cultural Diplomacy (MCCD), Washington D.C.: September 4 – December 26, 2019
During her internship at MCCD, Hajnalka was responsible for the following tasks: creating social media content; coming up with a social media plan for posting; preparing background information about Meridian in order to write pitches to journalists to make it easier for them to write articles about Meridian; helping in the administration and organization of diplomatic and cultural events such as film screenings, architectural delegations, exhibits, lectures; editing newsletters in Adobe InDesign; drafting blogposts and creating graphics in Adobe Photoshop.
Márton Zsuráfszky
Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA), Washington D.C.: September 7 – December 15, 2019
Viktor Weisz
Placement: Global Entrepreneurship Network (GEN), Washington D.C.: June 14 – September 7, 2019
During his internship, Viktor’s main tasks at GEN were doing research on Latin American countries’ startup ecosystems, especially on Uruguay; assisting Jonathan Ortmans, President of GEN with various short-term projects; assistance in creating social media campaigns for GEW and GEW USA; assisting in the creation of a communications plan for GEW USA and theme blog posts; and editing and organizing GEN’s recorded material of interviews, talks, discussions and presentations.
Flóra Anna Adouki
Placement: Atlantic Council, Washington D.C.: June 25 – October 23, 2019
Flóra’s responsibilities at the Atlantic Council’s Executive Office mainly focused on research of various topics, including US strategy in Central and Eastern Europe; Iran’s proxy war in the Middle East, China-US trade disputes; geopolitics and energy security of the Eastern Mediterranean region; Central European and Western Balkan countries’ media landscapes; among others. Her other tasks included assisting in organizing and managing events; assisting in speech-writing; preparing briefs for television interviews and congressional hearings; contributing to the weekly newsletter and some administrative tasks.
Borbála Péntek
Balázs Rudinszky
Placement: Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA), Washington D.C.: March 18 – August 3, 2019
Balázs Rudinszky’s major task at CEPA was to provide background information to the experts at CEPA in connection with their current study or publication. Balázs was usually assigned to conduct research on a given topic, examine the issue and conclude his assessments and findings in a memo. His research tasks were mainly focused on the following topics: the state of the Hungarian minority in Ukraine; European parliamentary elections in 2019; and the antitrust cases in the EU.
Applicant requirements are the following:
- must be a citizen of the United States or Hungary, or member of an ethnic Hungarian community in Slovakia, Romania, Serbia, Ukraine, Croatia or Slovenia;
- must be enrolled as students in their respective countries of origin or in the US, and must have completed at least one full year of their studies;
- must have proof of excellent written and oral communications skills in English;
- record of outstanding academic standing;
- letter of intent and CV in English (please use the Europass format, you can create it here);
- two letters of recommendation regarding the applicant’s personal and academic achievements.
The Coalition’s Internship grant will cover living expenses and local transportation expenses in the Washington, DC area for the duration of internship. The internship’s duration will depend on the requirements of the host office but shall not be longer than four months.
Interns are also expected to complete a Coalition project of mutual interest during their stay in Washington DC.
How to Apply:
The Coalition has created an online database which enables applicants to submit their applications online.
Applicants have to create a user profile and upload the requested documents which are the cover letter, curriculum vitae, recommendation letters and academic records.
Applications are accepted on a rolling basis and should be submitted by registering at: http://www.hacusa.org/cip/
If you need clarification on the registration system, contact us at: internship@hacusa.org
Important Notes:
The John N. Lauer Leadership Training Program is contingent upon available funding. Consequently, internships may not be available for you during your preferred time period, or may only be available at short notice.
If the program cannot accommodate you due to lack of funding at the time of application, we may contact you again at a later date, once funding becomes available, provided that your application was otherwise successful.
You must upload all required documents. We will not contact any applicant whose application is incomplete.
The John N. Lauer Leadership Training Program is supported by grants of the Hungary Foundation and the Pannonius Foundation.
