Career prospects

After graduating from this Master’s programme, you will possess highly demanded knowledge and skills to work as a diplomat, policy advisor, policy analyst, researcher, consultant, journalist, political representative, lobbyist and more.

You will possess the right knowledge and skills to start out as a policymaker. This programme primarily prepares you for a job in national governments, NGOs and international organisations within the area of international politics. However, businesses and local governments are asking more and more often for people with analytical skills and the ability to translate those skills into useful advice. If you are not looking for a position as a policy maker in either the profit or non-profit sectors, your skills and knowledge could easily be applied to careers such as teaching history, doing research or doing journalism.

Professional careers

Our alumni work in different sectors, from international, national and local governments and institutions, to corporations, non-governmental organizations, research institutes, politics, and media. Below you find some examples of job titles and organizations:

• Policy Officer at the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs
• Research Fellow at Clingendael Netherlands Institute of International Relations
• Journalist at NOS
• European Affairs Manager at Port of Rotterdam
• Communications Assistant at the European Council on Foreign Relations
• Project Officer at the European Commission
• Programme Analyst at the United Nations
• Advisor at the Ministry of Defense
• Business Development Coordinator at the Netherlands Enterprise Agency
• Coordinator at the House of European History
• International Program Advisor at UNICEF Netherlands
• Senior Advisor Province of Utrecht
• Trainee at the European Parliament
• Policy Officer at the Ministry of Justice and Security
• EU Public Affairs Consultant at Publyon
• Business Consultant at NS International
• Senior Consultant at Deloitte

The Master’s programme was very helpful in developing the analytical skills that are essential in the politically sensitive environment in which I work.

Alumni on LinkedIn

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  Mathias Koch

  Project Manager German Hydrogen Policy at Agora Energiewende

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  Sarafina Boermans

  Advisor 'Gelijke Kansen Alliantie' at the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science

   

Academic careers

With your Master’s in International Relations in Historical Perspective, you can prepare yourself for a career as a researcher at a university, think tank, or diplomatic academy. Our research track offers a research tutorial and intensive supervision during the writing of your research thesis, which will help you to reach the level necessary to apply for research jobs or a PhD programme. Several of our alumni have successfully applied for PhD positions at academic institutes, such as Utrecht University and the European University Institute. Additional guidance can be provided through the research track. Your thesis will not only be complex and insightful, but will also contain in-depth source research and attention to historiography and political theory. With this combination, you will lay the foundations for a PhD proposal and for an excellent CV.

Possible jobs in academia:

• Research Staff Member, Centre for Terrorism and Counter-Terrorism, Leiden University, Campus, The Hague
• PhD-Researcher European University Institute, Florence