Environmental Internship Accomplishments

Environmental Internship Accomplishments
The Dept. of Environmental Studies International M.A. track Internship Program provides students with an opportunity to experience the inside operation of environmental organizations and authorities in Israel, to obtain professional experience, and to contribute to changes in environmental attitudes and policies in Israel. 
 
 
Here is what our students accomplished.
 

Francesca - Israel Nature and Parks Authority

The Israel Nature and Parks Authority is the government organization that manages nature reserves and national parks in Israel.

 

Francesca worked with Shkedy Yehoshua, PhD, the NPA's Chief Scientist.  Her position will focus in three main topics:

1. Invasive alien species - Cost-effectiveness of prevention policies and Inter-institutional synergies

2. Marine economy conservation policies

3. Economic and territorial policy for marine reserves

 

Laura - Green in the City – Yarok B’Ir

Yarok B'Ir is an urban rooftop start-up farm that grows produce using hydroponic and aquaponics systems. The produce is grown on the roof of the large Dizengof Center shopping mall at the center of the city and is sold locally within a 2 km radius of the farm.

 

Laura participated in all farm work including planting, harvesting, and packaging plants; measuring pH and nutrient levels of the water; delivery to local restaurants and cafés; learning how to deal with pests and how to construct 'food production technologies such as Hydroponic systems.

 

Shoshana - Tel Avir

Tel Avir is an English-speaking group dedicated to creating a local networking hub to promote social and professional networking. It organizes monthly events to increase knowledge, awareness, and involvement regarding environmental issues.

 

Shoshana was planning and organizing and marketing events, in addition to managing social media and the website including sending out a monthly newsletter.

 

Queenie - TNS - The Natural Step

The Natural Step is a non-profit organization that promotes strategic sustainability in Israel, using the perspective of innovation and quality. TNS is part of an international network that works around the world to promote sustainability since 1989. The Israeli organizations was established in 2012.

 

Queenie’s role was to support the Sustainability Transition Lab on the topic of food waste by contributing research and documentation for successful food waste reduction implementation. Her main task is to research examples of food waste reduction in hospitals worldwide, forming a database and formulating a case study and presentation relevant for stakeholders of the Sustainability Transition Lab.

 

Dominik and Juliana - Israel Society of Ecology and Environmental Sciences (ISEES) - Zavit.

ZAVIT is a science and environment news agency initiated by the ISEES. They publish a magazine connects Israeli environmental scientists with a wide range of media outlets, providing exclusive coverage of the latest environmental research to the mainstream media.

 

Dominik joined Zavit’s editorial team and will participate in this process, which includes independent research and article drafting on relevant topics. Sources may include scientific research papers as well as various topics from reliable news agencies.

 

Juliana worked on weekly projects on differing topics related to the environment, science, and ecology both in Israel and internationally. Those topics were then transformed to articles published in mass media in Israel. As an example, here is a link to an article called "Is the Environment back in Fashion" written and photographed by Juliana, that was published on Zavit (the article is in Hebrew).

See here a new article by Juliana - How to protect the skin without damaging the environment?

 

Einav - Goodvision

Good Vision Ltd. is a leading consultancy firm for corporate social responsibility (CSR) planning and management. The company specializes in the strategic planning of social, environmental and ethical projects, project management and the integration of these processes in organizations.

 

Einav conducted benchmarking research about CSR strategies applied in different organizations around the world as well as global trends in specific industries. She will also assist the team in the development of strategies and reports for the firm's various clients.

 

Joseph  - Research Project for KKL/JNF – Keren Kayemet L'Yisrael – Jewish National Fund.

Dr. Shula Goulden, part of KKL-funded project on ‘Water Sensitive Cities in Israel.'

 

The main goal of the project is to conduct research on the potential uses of smart technologies in urban water management and connections between ‘smart cities’ and ‘green infrastructure.'

 

Joseph researched and identified what policies and regulations exist in Israel and abroad to encourage more sustainable management of urban storm water.

 

Marianna - IBA - Israel Bikes Association Israel Be-shvil Ofanayim (IBA)

IBA is an NGO promoting urban bike commuting as a viable means of transportation in Israel in orderto reduce social gaps and improve the quality of life, environment, public health, and road safety for the benefit of the entire population.

 

For Marianna this was be an opportunity to learn the challenges that are involved in developing sustainable transportation systems, and the barriers to changing car-dependent mindsets on all levels - community, municipality and government. Her job will be mainly to research implementation of best practices for urban cycling in Israeli cities.

 

Juan - Gigawatt Global

Gigawatt Global is a multinational renewable energy company focused on development and management of utility–scale solar fields in emerging markets.

 

Juan assisted in setting up of Off-Grid applications, particularly regarding the development of off-grid electrification projects in Burundi, working with third-party contractors and international project financiers in order to facilitate these initiatives.

 

Alexandra - Environmental Authority, Tel Aviv-Yafo Municipality - “Bon- Appetite” program, Urban Food Policy

This program is a sustainable food policy program of Tel Aviv-Jaffa Municipality. The pillars of the program are governance, education and pedagogy, social welfare and active community, and urban sustainability.

Alexandra assisted in maintaining international steering committees as well as broadening awareness  by research of urban food policies around the world. In addition, she takes part and assists in formulating and preparing a panel in an international conference which the city is responsible of.

 

Andre - Greenpeace

Greenpeace is a global organization dedicated to environmental protection and nurturing life and a peaceful world. The Israeli Greenpeace branch is focused on advancing renewable energies and campaigning against the use of coal.

 

Andre's position was focused mainly in two fields: 1) campaign development and strategy and 2) photography footage and documentation.

 

Naresh - Greeneye

Greeneye is an innovative business engaged in research, analysis and consulting in the intersection of finance and business with sustainability.

 

Naresh joined a team in creating a Microsoft Access Database that contains information regarding all  Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) available in the global financial market based on environmental, social and governance (ESG) indexes. The objective of this database is to provide socially responsible investors  the relevant information to assist them in selecting their investments.

 

Joel - AEJI - The Association of Environmental Justice in Israel

AEJI focuses on the interconnectedness of society, environment and decision-making processes in Israel to produce policy recommendations that are real and acceptable while promoting the strengthening of democracy, equality and environmental justice values. It aims equally to promote active deliberated civic participation, especially of minorities and residents of the social and geographical periphery.

 

Joel’s job was research-based, with the goal of developing strategic policy in regard to the threat of Climate Change. Research methods that were  implemented include conducting interviews with available experts in the fields of security, politics and the environment, reading relevant literature and structuring reports according to the appropriate guidelines, developing the themes more concretely and turning attention towards strategic policy.

 

Read about  Climate Security In Israel and the Middle East - the report thar Joel worked to create, published by AEJI

 

Back to the internship program

 

Tel Aviv University makes every effort to respect copyright. If you own copyright to the content contained
here and / or the use of such content is in your opinion infringing, Contact us as soon as possible >>