Global South Research Intern — Sovereign & Primary-Source Intelligence

About GSSI

Global South Strategic Intelligence is an independent forensic geopolitical and sovereign-risk advisory firm working with institutional clients on complex sovereign, geopolitical and transaction-risk questions.

Our work sits at the intersection of sovereign risk, institutional finance, political economy, primary-source research and strategic judgement. Primary-source research is central to how GSSI works: we seek to understand countries, institutions and risks through original documentation, local-language material and observable evidence rather than relying solely on conventional English-language reporting.

The Role

We are looking for a Global South Research Intern — Sovereign & Primary-Source Intelligence to support GSSI’s research team on live and preparatory analytical work.

This is a research-intensive internship for someone interested in sovereign risk, political economy, emerging markets and the mechanics of serious institutional research.

You will work primarily with GSSI’s Forensic Research Analysts and Principal, helping collect, organise and verify the evidence used in sovereign and geopolitical-risk assignments. You will not be expected to arrive with fully developed sovereign-risk judgement, but you will be expected to be intellectually curious, meticulous with sources and willing to go considerably deeper than a conventional internet search.

This is not a general current-affairs or geopolitical commentary internship.

What You Will Do

• Locate government documents, official statements, legislation, regulations and institutional publications.
• Monitor relevant ministries, central banks, parliaments, regulators and state institutions.
• Collect and catalogue primary-source material.
• Build event chronologies, political or institutional timelines and basic actor maps.
• Extract key dates, entities, decisions and relationships from large bodies of material.
• Assist with research into sovereign budgets, public finance, sanctions, corporate entities, trade, shipping, infrastructure or energy where relevant.
• Compare secondary reporting with underlying primary-source evidence and trace claims back to their original source.
• Maintain structured source registers and evidence files.
• Prepare concise research summaries and source packs for GSSI analysts.
• Support fact-checking and rapid-turnaround research during significant political, economic or security developments.

Who We Are Looking For

This role may suit current students or recent graduates in economics, finance, international relations, politics, political economy, development studies, area studies, security studies, law, history, data or quantitative social sciences, and related fields.

We are particularly interested in candidates with a serious academic or personal interest in the Global South, emerging markets, sovereign institutions and political economy. A postgraduate degree is useful but not required.

Language Skills

Excellent professional English is required. Additional language capability is highly valued, particularly across three broad regional groups:

Asian Languages (Arabic, Turkish, Kurdish, Azerbaijani/Azeri, Urdu, Hebrew, Armenian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean and other relevant Asian languages).

African Languages (any African language is highly preferred, including Swahili, Amharic, Somali, Hausa, Yoruba, Igbo, Zulu, Xhosa and other national or regional African languages).

European Languages (Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian, German, Dutch, Nordic languages, Polish, Romanian, Ukrainian, Russian, Balkan languages and other Central or Eastern European languages).

Candidates are not expected to cover all three groups. Strong capability in one additional language can be valuable where it provides direct access to primary sources that are poorly represented in English-language research.

What Matters to Us

We are looking for intellectual curiosity, research discipline, attention to detail, persistence, healthy scepticism toward unsupported claims, clear written communication, reliability and the ability to organise information systematically.

You should instinctively want to know where a claim originated, what the original document actually says, whether there is a better source and whether the evidence supports the conclusion being repeated.

Engagement Structure

This is an initial 8–12 week paid internship involving approximately 20–30 hours per week, typically spread across 3–4 days depending on candidate availability and GSSI’s live research requirements.

The role will be predominantly remote/hybrid, with London meetings where useful. Exceptional interns may be considered for subsequent project-based research work or future analyst opportunities within GSSI.