Meike Niess

Being an intern at MDAC was a great experience. One of MDAC’s six human right goals, political participation, is a special interest of mine as my PhD focuses on self-advocacy and the political participation of people with intellectual disabilities. Therefore, I was delighted that I was given the opportunity to concentrate on this thematic area also within the tasks assigned to me during the internship.

I was working within the research and monitoring programme. My job was to conduct a cross-country data analysis on political involvement of people with psychosocial disabilities at EU level and draft a report. I was given a lot of trust and independence with this assignment but also had regular and helpful feedback from my supervisor. Apart from working on this project, I took part in regular activities such as the weekly staff meetings and was part of a team that represented MDAC at the Central European University's annual NGO fair.

The staff and other interns at the organisation were great and I made new friends from all over the world. My time here gave me a valuable insight into the work that MDAC is doing but also a chance to meet people from different professional backgrounds dedicated to human rights work. An asset to the internship was MDAC’s location in Budapest, an exciting and beautiful city with so many things to discover.