With HIF’s support, the Hungarian American Coalition’s Internship Program (CIP) will be hosting seven interns in 2017 to provide first-hand experience at various Washington-based institutions. Internship participants are also expected to complete a Coalition research project that enables them to become familiar with the Hungarian-American community.
Máté Mátyás
Máté Mátyás, from Kecskemét, Hungary, arrived to Washington this fall and will spend 4 months at the Center for Energy, Natural Resources and Geopolitics (CENRG) at the Institute for the Analysis of Global Security.
Máté is currently finishing his graduate studies in public administration at Shanghai Jiao Tong University (Shanghai, China). He also holds an undergraduate degree in international relations from Corvinus University (Budapest, Hungary). He is particularly interested in the international economic architecture, global governance, security policy, and China’s economic, foreign and energy policy. Máté participated in several summer schools and exchange programs on topics such as post-Soviet politics and society; Central and Eastern European affairs; international interventions and economic history of the Balkans.
Máté’s host institution is the Center for Energy, Natural Resources and Geopolitics (CENRG) at the Institute for the Analysis of Global Security (IAGS), a non-profit think-tank, which directs attention to the strong link between energy and security and provides a stage for public debate on the various avenues to strengthening the global security and prosperity, and especially world’s energy security. CENRG focuses on the crucial issues of the 21st century: the nexus between energy, geopolitics and security, and natural resources and growth, from policy and strategic communications perspectives. CENRG is led by Dr. Ariel Cohen, a well-known, DC-based political scientist focusing on political risk, international security and energy policy, and the rule of law.
“My aim is to give back to my host institution and communities, establish new connections, networks, make new friends—and take the expertise, best practices, and social capital back to Budapest, ultimately promoting the development and renewal of Hungarian social sciences education in our capital, across the country, and the Carpathian Basin by my example, participation, work, and leadership.”
Máté Mátyás with Dr. Ariel Cohen
Prior to his internship at CENRG, in the spring of 2017, Máté spent an exchange semester abroad at the University of Southern California (Los Angeles, CA) and also participated in the Hungary Foundation’s Young Hungarian Leaders Program in Washington, DC.
“Besides being highly informative, useful, and truly social fostering value-based community-building, the Young Hungarian Leaders Program inspired me to improve my engagement with public service through academic undertakings. I believe that our country, Hungary, and its capital Budapest is perfectly suitable to and should strive for becoming an internationally renowned hub for international and social studies to the benefit of the sciences, the international community.”
Through assignments to think tanks and non-government organizations, CIP participants learn about the workings of both the U.S. government and the non-profit world. Their experience helps them establish contacts in the U.S. in their chosen field, and motivates them to enter public service in their country of origin.
HAC interns at Hungarian Picnic in Washington, DC