Internship Description
Tanya Wiedeking, ’22CL, worked with More in Common, an international research organization committed to building more united, inclusive, and resilient societies in which people believe that what they have in common is stronger than what divides them. She joined their Berlin office and worked on a climate communications research project, Germany Talks Climate, a partnership with Climate Outreach. Tanya researched how the climate discourse in Germany differs from that of the United States, who the influential actors are in the climate debate, and what motivates people to take climate action.
I worked as research fellow with More in Common, an international organization dedicated to building united, inclusive, and resilient societies by understanding the forces that drive people apart, and then finding common ground for people to tackle shared challenges. They seek to establish a strong evidence base through quantitative and qualitative research and surveys, to form the basis of their reports and recommendations.
The organization tackles a myriad societal issues, but I was brought in to work on a new climate report for Germany. I helped with the launch of Germany Talks Climate, a toolkit developed by More in Common and two other partners to provide climate stakeholders (e.g., policymakers, NGOs, media, activists) information on Germans’ attitudes to climate change. I worked in Berlin, with the German team, and helped translate the findings from the survey data into messaging to reach target audiences. For example, an important finding for policymakers was that the majority of Germans feel government should be bolder in pushing through further reaching climate legislation.
I have an understanding of how societies manage and adapt to climate change, and what policy decisions — be they for services or infrastructure — contribute most to climate change mitigation. As a result I could identify effective communications goals that addressed people’s concerns and achieved the greatest impact with least effort. My knowledge of quantitative models of climate sensitive human systems helped me to delve independently into More in Common’s rich data sources and pursue my own personal research interests — to identify the enabling conditions for climate action in Germany and the United States — in addition to working on the specific projects assigned to me.
I had researched and chosen this organization carefully based on its mission, culture, methodology, and rich data sources.The broad access I was given to reports, data sources, and survey analyses, and the freedom I had to pursue my own interests initially made it hard for me to define my specific research goals. I developed a new research project proposal that built on existing studies, which I plan to pitch to research organizations seeking to identify impactful strategic climate communications approaches.
The organization fosters a work environment and company culture that is collaborative and supportive. Managers are intentional about being affirming, and tolerant of team members' circumstances and interests. One team member was able to take a two-month leave of absence to pursue a lifelong dream of cycling through central Asia. Another had to take a significant amount of time off work because of a cycle of COVID infections in her household. A third was launching her own business and was able to incubate it with More in Common, and reduce her hours to part-time. Through appropriate planning and backup systems, business and projects could continue without significant disruption. The experience taught me that organizations can make their company’s mission part of their company culture whilst remaining nimble, relevant, and competitive.