Students in Focus
Riley reaps the benefits of an international relations internship
Riley Porombka’s interest in international affairs was shaped during his last years of school in Canberra.
“It was a bit of an accidental discovery, when I was stressing out about how I didn’t know what I wanted to do when I left school,” Riley says.
“I picked up a legal studies unit and although I had no interest in being a lawyer, there was an international relations component for which I received the highest grade in the class in an assignment.”
Riley’s teacher encouraged him to look into the Bachelor of Politics and International Relations at the 91Porn. He was accepted into the course and became the first in his family to attend university.
“I come from a working-class family. My grandpa immigrated from Poland and my grandma is from Bungendore in rural New South Wales,” he says.
Early on in his degree, Riley was keen to explore opportunities to gain real-world experience that would build his skills and confidence to secure a job in his chosen field.
“Dr Jonathan Pickering taught one of my introductory units and I got along really well with him,” Riley says.
“He told us about an internship unit, and it sounded like a great way to develop my professional skills.”
Riley applied for the unit and ended up completing an internship in Semester One, 2024 with , an international not-for-profit network focused on advancing knowledge about climate change and governance. It is a network of researchers with expertise in the areas of social science and humanities.
For Riley, the appeal of his degree was to learn more about the geopolitical relations between countries and regions. The internship with ESG allowed him to deep dive into environmental research and policy.
“Although this was outside my area of interest, I really appreciated being able to learn about environmental governance, because it has a huge impact on decision-making, and the relationships between different countries. We need to know what’s going on around climate change policy and how it shapes the region we’re in, and how countries collaborate to address this global challenge,” he says.
Riley was tasked with putting together the organisation’s annual report, which involved gathering information from an internal database, analysing the data and organising components into sections to create a clear and cohesive roadmap of ESG’s operations and achievements over a 12-month period.
The process also involved online meetings with members of the team, who were primarily based in Europe.
“Jonathan is a member of ESG’s Scientific Steering Committee, so it was really helpful to not only have his support in completing the unit, but also to tap into his first-hand knowledge of the organisation,” Riley says.
“My team leader, Blake Harvey, who is the Network Coordinator in ESG’s International Projects Office really helped me out a lot too.”
The experience was a learning curve for Riley, who had to balance classes with evening meetings about the annual report and then carry out his own work on the report in between. Throughout the process, he felt comfortable seeking support and advice, in part due to the support he received back when he started his degree.
“Finishing school and going to university is a huge transition and my lecturers and tutors really helped me to find my feet,” Riley says.
“I’m almost finished with the course, and they’re still helping me out!”
Riley has seen the final draft of ESG’s annual report, which is due to be published soon. Looking through the report has given him a chance to reflect on the value of an internship experience.
“It was an incredible opportunity to see how a non-government organisation [NGO] operates,” Riley says.
“I feel like there are two distinct career pathways coming out of my degree – working in government or working with an NGO – and now I think I’ve gained the necessary skills to hit the ground running, even with simple things like time management and organising meetings, which I’d never really considered before the internship.”
Beyond his studies, Riley has set his sights on pursuing a graduate position with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), for the chance to work abroad and across a range of different areas within the department.
For now, he is considering doing an Honours year at UC, with the opportunity to secure a place in the Faculty of Business, Government and Law’s new-look Honours program, while working part time in government or with an NGO.
Regardless of which path he takes next year, Riley encourages students in the faculty to consider enrolling in the internship unit, to sharpen real-world skills and knowledge and build networks.
“It’s so different to what you experience in the classroom, and it is worthwhile creating connections with your lecturers to see what sort of opportunities are available for an internship,” he says.
“Don’t limit yourself, get out there and get all the experiences you can – you never know where they might lead you.”
Words by Emma Larouche, photos by Liam Budge.