Ebony

Can you tell us a bit about your academic background?

I have a Bachelor’s Degree in International Relations and French, and am in the final semester of my Masters of International Relations and International Law.

What led to your interest in having an internship at Riskline?

I’m always keen to learn about what is happening the world, and I was eager to try researching and writing in a new way. The internship looked like a great opportunity to pursue my interests outside my usual academic setting.

We all love travelling here at Riskline! If you could take a break anywhere in the world after your internship, where would you go?

Truthfully, I would like to go just about anywhere! If I had to choose, I would love to go to the United Kingdom and France. I’ve never been to Europe and it’s been on my bucket list since I was a kid.

What have your main responsibilities and duties been during your internship?

I have been working as part of the APAC team in coverage operations. I have worked primarily on finding alert-worthy items and drafting alerts for them. I have also been learning to update COVID-19 reports, approve newsletters, and review other analysts’ alerts for publishing.

How would you describe what Riskline does to someone who has never heard of it?

Riskline provides information and advice to travellers regarding travel risks. It alerts travellers to emerging and ongoing events which may disrupt travel, as well as providing reports of countries’ overall situations, and thus helps businesses organise travel and prepare for potential obstacles.

What are the 3 biggest takeaways from your internship experience? What did you learn while working at Riskline?

• Multi-tasking is key. There will often be multiple things happening at once that require your attention, so a large part of the learning process has been establishing which things should be prioritised, especially since everything is very time-sensitive.
• Be prepared to make mistakes. As with any new job or experience, you’re not going to know how to do everything straight away. Learning how to write with Riskline’s format, for example, is an exercise in trial and error – and that’s okay! Everyone is always willing to help.
• Always think about the client. Something that sounds like a big deal in journalistic media may not actually have much of an impact on travellers. On the other hand, things that would generally be missed by mainstream media, such as train delays, may actually be important for clients

Edward

Can you tell us a bit about your academic background?

I have a Master’s degree in Politics and International Relations, with a specific focus on East-West relations.

What led to your interest in having an internship at Riskline?

It combined a few of my interests namely; travel, risk analysis and open source intelligence gathering and research.

We all love travelling here at Riskline! If you could take a break anywhere in the world after your internship, where would you go?

Europe – COVID cut short my time in the UK (by about 1 year) so I would like to go back and visit as many cities as possible.

What have your main responsibilities and duties been during your internship?

I worked in the APAC team, learning Ops-Coverage, COVID reporting and recently Country reports.

How would you describe what Riskline does to someone who has never heard of it?

Riskline is a mix of a travel-advisory, risk management and intelligence gathering. We put ourselves in the shoes of business travellers and provide meaningful intelligence to inform, advise and warn of any potential disruptions these individuals/organisations may need to be aware of. These cover events concerning the weather, political developments, crime and corruption, etc.

What are the 3 biggest takeaways from your internship experience? What did you learn while working at Riskline?

• Whatever writing style you are accustomed to, be prepared to change it entirely!
• No matter where your colleagues are across the globe, they are always within keyboard reach when you need help. It also gave me the opportunity to connect with individuals across the globe, across regions that one may not commonly hear from.
• Coverage is a rapid, everchanging task, and you will sometimes find yourself pivoting from drafting one alert to something much more urgent. We always keep the traveller/reader in mind when prioritising which alerts to draft and post. Prioritisation is very important as everything is time-sensitive!