The 2026 Embedded Scholars Application is now open for UT students to apply for Summer 2026 internships in democratic and constitutional development in the Balkans, Central Asia, Europe, and Latin America. Applications are due by November 1, 2025.
The Embedded Scholars program is an innovative fellowship that trains students at UT in the spring then places them in summer internships abroad focused on democracy assistance and research. By combining applied work and research, the fellowship aims to launch students’ work in the field while advancing democratic development.
Continue reading Democracy Internship Applications Due Nov. 1 →
UT’s Embedded Scholars program—led by UT Government faculty members Zachary Elkins and Ashley Moran—doubled in size this year to offer internships in more countries with more international organizations working in democratic development abroad.
Started three years ago as a partnership with International IDEA and the Comparative Constitutions Project in Latin America, the program combines in-depth classroom training in the spring with summer internships in democracy assistance abroad. This year, the program continued its work in Panama and Chile, and expanded to additional countries—Bosnia and Herzegovina, Colombia, North Macedonia, and Sweden—as well as additional international organizations—CID Gallup, International IDEA’s Democracy Assessment team, the National Democratic Institute, and Transparency International.
Continue reading New Democracy Internships at Gallup, IDEA, NDI, and TI →
The Embedded Scholars team interning at the National Democratic Institute in North Macedonia met with the Minister of Digital Transformation this week as part of their research on anticorruption efforts in the country. The Ministry’s facebook post on the meeting noted that “We had an honest and constructive discussion on a number of important topics. Meetings like these are a great opportunity to exchange experiences and build bridges with future leaders and researchers from around the world.”
Continue reading Skopje Team Shares Research on Anticorruption with Ministry →
A research exchange program at the University of Texas at Austin supporting student work abroad in democratic and constitutional development