Istanbul International Center for Private Sector in Development (IICPSD) is one of the UNDP’s six Global Policy Centers. IICPSD supports the private sector and foundations to become transformative partners in development through research, advocacy, facilitation of public-private dialogue and brokering partnerships. IICPSD leads UNDP’s global work on private sector and foundations and supports UNDP’s offices all around the world.

IICPSD offers internship opportunities for outstanding graduate-level students. The research internship programme provides direct exposure to IICPSD's work as a center of excellence for the private sector’s role in development and inclusive markets. The programme is designed to provide support to IICPSD’s applied research and policy advisory services as well as to complement the interns’ practical experience in various issues related to private sector engagement, human capital development, impact investing in the achievement of SDGs and other topics of international development.

This assignment is part of UNDP IICPSD’s recent initiative SDG AI Lab, which is aimed to harness the potential of frontier digital technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and GIS for sustainable development. The lab combines UN values and commitment to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals with the best industry practices of the leading technological companies. Currently, the lab through its partnerships, is exploring and developing digital solutions for sustainable development in 17 countries around the world.

The objective of the Data Science Research Internship is to provide the intern with the opportunity to work on how to deploy big data and machine learning approaches on development issues; and particularly to analyze and learn from text-based sources of data using natural language processing algorithms and tools. In particular, the intern will contribute to data acquisition, preparation, analysis, and visualizations efforts.

More information about UNDP’s private sector related work can be found online at www.iicpsd.org and sdgailab.org. The Programme operates under the rules and regulations of the UNDP Internship Policy.

The Data Science Research Intern will work under the direct supervision and guidance of the technical specialist. The intern will perform the following functions:

• Participate in the developing machine-learning research;
• Apply advanced Natural Language Processing techniques to build, maintain, and improve on analytics, organize large datasets to get actionable insights from them;
• Help communicating findings accurately to different stakeholders;
• Support the implementation of Data Science projects;
• Collaborate with private and public organizations to get access to their databases;
• Outreach to organizations as well as academic institutions that apply data science to policymaking
• Provide other support and assistance as required.

Note that the internship will be 100% home-based and no travel to the office premises in Istanbul is required.

• Strong programming skills, experience with common data science toolkits, and proficiency in Python is strongly required, proficiency in other data science related software packages is an asset;
• Excellent data preparation, processing, modelling and visualization skills;
• Good understanding of machine learning techniques and algorithms (especially in NLP);
• Experience of deploying models in production is a plus;
• Working knowledge of current Natural Language Processing approaches is a strong plus.
• Good understanding of neural networks, preferably experience with Keras, Tensorflow or PyTorch;
• Experience of big data technology and cloud computing platforms is a plus;
• Good applied statistics skills, such as distributions, statistical testing, regression analysis;
• Good knowledge in presenting data science results effectively.
• Interest in International Development and application of technologies for the common good;
• Excellent ability to write and communicate with accuracy and professionalism;
• Ability to manage workload with minimum supervision and collaborate with a wide range of colleagues while meeting deadlines;
• Excellent interpersonal skills: being able to listen and collaborate with a wide range of players, being able to work independently, being pro-active and taking initiative;
• Be able to work both independently and as part of a team.

Personal Competencies:

• Commitment to UNDP's mission, vision and values;
• Sensitivity to cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age differences;

Highest standards of integrity, discretion, and loyalty.

Education:
Applicants must at the time of application meet one of the following requirements:

• be enrolled in a second university degree programme (Master Degree)
• be enrolled in the final academic year of a first university degree programme (Bachelor Degree)
• have graduated with a university degree

in fields such as Computer Science, Statistics, Data Science, Mathematics, Physics, Economics or similar and, if selected, must start the internship within one-year of graduation.

Language:

• Fluent in English with excellent reading and writing skills.

Financial Issues

Internships within the UN system are subject to conditions the applicant must get familiar with before signing his/her internship agreement.

Starting from January 2020 interns will receive stipends according to UN rules and regulations.

Any further costs associated with the internship must be borne by the nominating institution, related institution or government, which may provide the required financial assistance to its students; or by the student, who will have to obtain financing for subsistence and make his or her arrangements for travel, accommodation and other costs.

Application Procedure
The application should contain:

• Brief Cover Letter (in English) stating interest in and qualifications for the post;
• Current and complete CV in English;
• Preferably a link to code portfolio such as GITHUB code repository and/or one relevant recent writing sample showing your understanding in the field of data science.

Please group all your documents into one single PDF document as the system only allows to upload maximum one document.

Candidates who are selected for must submit prior to the interview the following documents:

• Official document(s) confirming your education status;
• Proof of medical and life/accident insurance valid for the location in which the internship will be carried out. Selected intern must have medical and life insurance.

UNDP accepts no responsibility for costs arising from accidents and/or illness or death incurred during the internship.
Interns are not staff members and may not represent UNDP in any official capacity
It is important to note that interns are responsible to arrange for their own visa and residence documents and need to plan for these well in advance.

Subsequent Employment:

The purpose of the Internship Programme is not to lead to further employment with UNDP but to complement an intern’s studies. Therefore, there should be no expectation of employment at the end of an internship. More information available at: http://www.undp.org/internships/.
UNDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence.

Stipend

Interns will be given a stipend according to the UNDP Internship Policies, if they are not financially supported by any institution or programme, such as a university, government, foundation or scholarship programme.

The monthly amount of the stipend will be determined for each duty station based on the stipend rates published yearly by the OHR Policy and Compensation Unit. The stipend will be paid on a monthly basis and part-time internship arrangements are prorated accordingly.