Development In Three Dimensions – a free conference August 22, 2011
Posted by Jeff Riley in : courses, international development, politics , 2commentsI’ve been contacted by some students from the University of East London who have come up with a fantastic initiative that will be of interest to students in development, international politics and migration. Alan Gutsell, along with fellow UEL students, has created the ‘Development in Three Dimensions’ conference on Saturday 5th of November in Docklands and, guess what, it’s FREE! Thanks to funding obtained from the European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI) and UEL itself. Here is the link to the conference website: www.uel-undergraduate-conference.co.uk/
Alan tells me the conference is a chance for undergraduates to showcase their research on a range of topics including:
War, Conflict and Migration
Environment, Resources and Livelihoods
Civil Society, Social Movements and Grassroots Initiatives
Students from all over the UK and internationally have been selected to speak after submitting abstracts. The conference will have keynote speakers and NGO exhibitors – so a great place to network and find out about recruitment possibilities. Alan also hopes the conference will attract some academics. “It’s going to be a place where academics can hear some voices from the next generation as well a forum for undergraduates to meet students from other universities.” There will alsi be journal publishers there, with a prize being given by the European Journal of Development Research. So much out of just one day.
If Alan survives the event he will be completing his final undergraduate year in International Development and NGO Management. It sounds like an excellent event. It’s free but you will need to register if you would to attend. Alan tells me that later papers are being accepted, any of you undergrads or recent graduates looking to further your work should take a look.
Tips on applying for PhDs April 6, 2011
Posted by Jeff Riley in : Careers Advice, careers, courses, postgraduate , add a commentOne of my colleagues, Terry Jones, has spent the last few years providing support to King’s College London Phd students. I got some tips from him for those applying for arts and humanities PhDs. Here’s what he told me
- “You will need an area of specialism. Even when you are on well trodden ground such as Byron there may be angle that hasn’t been covered. So for example one of our students has taken a niche topic like ‘embarassment’ in Victorian literature and is studying ‘blushing’ as an aspect of that. To come up with that kind of angle requires a level of knowledge about what is going on in your field and what has already been done.
- “You will need to be clear about why you are interested in the topic. Deeper than that you will need to provide evidence of the intellectual underpinning below the interest – demonstrating a relationship to the theory.
- “You will need to have an idea who might supervise the PhD. This is crucial in many ways and it would be good to find someone you will be able to build a relationship with. It’s fair to say that academics can interpret the supervisor role in different ways. Some will have undergone voluntary training in how to be a supervisor and others may feel they already know what is needed because they are experts in their field. You won’t need to have settled on a supervisor at the application stage but you should have got some conversations going and the amount of time and research this stage takes shouldn’t be underestimated.
- “You will also need to have opened up dialogue with the department that will be considering your application. They would expect and welcome these kind of conversations and, of course, they may well have approached potential applicants in the first place. You need to be talking to them about your draft proposals for the research area. At this early stage it doesn’t have to be so precise. Really as vague as pointing to an unexplored region on a map.”
I asked Terry whether the kind of advice we give to students applying for Masters bears any resemblance to that given to PhD applicants.
“Not really. At Masters level it can sometimes be important that students understand how the Masters fits in (or not) to a career destination. With PhD applicants the default assumption is that the destination is an academic research career.
“Similarly the skills agenda doesn’t show up much in PhD applications. Even highly relevant skills such as research, independent working and communication don’t tend to get scrutinised. It may be more of a feature if you are applying for a funded PhD when the awarding institution may produce specific guidelines. What you will need to demonstrate though is a willingness to be flexible in the direction your research takes. By definition we are talking about relatively unexplored territory and you need to show a capacity to navigate around an area as things are uncovered. Your supervisor ideally is someone who can then help you as things unfold supplying insight, support and even useful contacts and lines of enquiry. Your draft research question probably won’t survive till the end of the programme . By the end of the MPhil stage which is typically 12 to 16 months in depending on the institution your area of research will have clarified.
“There really isn’t a specific CV format for PhD applications. Applicants might make sure though that their autonomous research skills are clearly evidenced. Ensuring that their breadth and depth of reading around their proposed area of study is clear. Engagement needs also to be demonstrated in other ways. For example conferences attended and key players connected with. They wouldn’t expect any publications in academic journals from Masters level students. Material published in anything other than peer reviewed journals –student magazines, for example, wouldn’t carry any weight.
You can read Terry’s blogs on PhD matters at http://kclgradschool.wordpress.com/
Other useful site include
Careers Tagged search term ‘phd’ http://bit.ly/gA5MPv
Studying in the developing world September 27, 2010
Posted by Jeff Riley in : courses, international development, internships , add a commentJoe Powell took a Masters course to help him kick start a career in international development. Unusually though he went to the developing world to do it. At Makerere University in Uganda. We talked to him about his experience.
Were you a pioneer in doing this? They were very few northern hemisphere students studying at Makerere. There were a few students on short term scholarship studies and lots of students from the rest of Africa but, yes, I was unusual.
Why Uganda and Makerere University? Well I had been to Uganda before and I like the country and I knew I wanted to take a development/international relations related masters but I wanted to go to a place where I could learn just as much outside the course. Makerere because it still has a residual reputation – there have been a number of African presidents who had studied here though it really needs some investment now.
It was a research based international relations Masters. While I was there I was able to obtain a Leverhulme scholarship which funded the research part of the course. Again if I hadn’t been on the ground and being interviewed on a video screen from Kampala they wouldn’t have found it such an interesting project I’m sure.
What worked? I didn’t realise it at the time but the formal parts of the course really made it more of a part time course which gave me lots of time to do work. So I was able to work for Action Aid and Saferworld, as well as a local Ugandan magazine..
I picked up most of them when I was there after I realised the academic workload was easier than I anticipated. I think it would have been difficult to set things up in advance and being on the ground made it a lot easier
What were the downsides? Well it was quite nervewracking. On the aeroplane it dawned on me I didn’t know many people there. I lived on campus and that was good as it gave me a chance to meet people. The social side of things worked really well. You very quickly realise you get treated the same as everybody else. Which is how it should be.
The books in the university are quite old, lecturers are overworked and underpaid and they are dealing with loads of students. This can impact on their attendance. The bureaucracy can be hard to deal with also. You get used to it though and adapt and if you realise you aren’t going to get swift replies to emails and that kind of thing you will have a better time.
Someone suggested the quality of the course may not have been as high as in the UK and also that you wouldn’t have built up networks of people who may be working in the UK. How do you respond? I really feel the quality issue is more about the facilities. I learned a lot from my lecturers and fellow students. In any case at Masters level what you get out of the course really depends a lot on what you bring to it. The upsides are so much about the environment you are learning in. Even the simple fact you are reading the daily newspapers in a developing country makes a big difference.
Lots of people who work in the sector do study at places like SOAS and King’s but remember though that a lot of country staff who work for NGOs are from Africa and study in Africa and they are a great network as well. Where I worked there were hardly any expats at all. It is great to run stuff past local people and make sure it’s in line with their way of thinking. From a professional development perspective it is very hard to get jobs and if you can build up developing country experience and do something different it is going to get you noticed in a way that going to a college that may be higher up the league table wouldn’t.
Tell me about the research part of your studies? I was exploring Uganda’s trade with Europe. I talked to a lot of medium and small companies about the kind of support they wanted from their government. Again it was helpful being on the ground. I got to talk to some key trade ministers in a way that I couldn’t have done if I was talking to UK ministers. Maybe the fact I was from the UK helped me get these interviews as well. The Leverhulme grant really helped with fees and flights home and it gave me the space to focus on the research.
You also did some paid work? Yes, for Action Aid Uganda. Starting as an intern working on food security as part of their hunger free campaign. I worked with local coops, wrote reports, some campaign work. A mixture of things. I also did a short term consultancy for Saferworld in an area of low level insecurity. I worked for a local magazine on politics and business. A real breadth of experience.
What do you do now? I got a post with the One Campaign– a global campaign with 2.5 million members who we use to create political pressure. It developed out of the USA equivalent of Make Poverty History. I work on policy issues – on climate change and on things like the Robin Hood tax. Day-to-day that involves things like preparing briefings for events such as the Millennium Development Goals summit last week, meeting with other NGOs and talking to decision makers about how to improve a country’s development policy.Quite varied really.
What do you earn? £25K
www.reliefweb.int – the professional resources lists colleges by country
http://joeinuganda.blogspot.com
http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2007/dec/13/postgraduate.highereducation
Microfinance February 2, 2010
Posted by Jeff Riley in : Microfinance, courses , add a commentBack in December we posted a piece about this growing area of international development – http://thecareersgroupgid.wordpress.com/?s=microfinance&searchbutton=go%21
We are pleased that the Microfinance Association have accepted our invitation to run a workshop at our ‘Getting into International Development’ day on March 23rd (details at careers.lon.ac.uk/dev).
In the meantime you can read some reports about the association including a pdf about their introductory courses at http://www.careers.lon.ac.uk/output/Page647.asp#J
Study India January 27, 2010
Posted by Jeff Riley in : courses, international development, internships , add a commentJanuary 27th 2010. Just returned from a lunchtime talk about ‘Study India’. The talk came about because I met a couple of students visiting the careers centre who took part in the inaugral ‘Study India’ programme in 2009. Applications for this year’s programme will close on March 17th (applications aren’t considered before then so don’t break your neck getting one in too early). Top tips from Selma, Rebecca and the Study India coordinator, Eleanor Salt include
* Go. . . it’s a fantastic scheme. Once you have found your air fare (under £400) all other expenses are met.
* Make sure you meet the eligibility criteria – undergraduates only I’m afraid though it doesn’t matter if you are graduating this year. Get your references in on time and make sure you address all the criteria. Around two hundred places and over a 1000 applicants – actually not bad odds. Especially if you get your application checked by your Careers Service.
* Make sure you relate your application to things like your studies or your career aspirations. It will be a great experience but it’s not a holiday!
* its not designed for serial visitors to India. It needn’t be your first visit but the programme is partly about introducing people from Britain to India and reconnecting those old links.
* Be aware that programmes take place in either Delhi or Mumbai. You don’t need to specify a preference but a good application will understand the differences between the cultures and orientation of those two cities – eg Mumbai as a financial centre and Delhi as a political centre.
RedR May 12, 2009
Posted by Jeff Riley in : courses, emergency relief , add a commentI had a nice invitation to meet with RedR the international disaster relief training and recruitment charity. I admitted that I’d first spoken to them around 4 years ago and I was so embarrassed at how little I knew that I hadn’t contacted them since. I knew of course that they were well respected in the sector and that they had really useful courses for both experienced professionals and for those just considering the sector but I’d not developed proper links. However, I will now be looking to enrol them on the next ‘Getting into international development’ course. Perhaps to run a workshop on the relief sector. In the meantime you can read the report on my conversation and download some information about their courses at www.careers.lon.ac.uk/development > employers > RedR
Course Feedback April 8, 2009
Posted by Jeff Riley in : courses , 3commentsThe ‘Getting into International Development’
The one day course took place on Friday, April 3rd. This was the biggest course of its type we have ever put on. I’ve been involved with it for the last four years and it has grown every year. This year two of our speakers – Jude Burchett from Merlin and Jo Kemp from The IDL Group – had previously attended the course as participants. When I was pointing this out to the audience I immediately had to break off as I realised I was beginning to sound like Ricky Gervaise from ‘The Office’. We look forward to welcoming back some of this year’s participants as development professionals in the future
A number of participants went out of their way to let us know how much they had appreciated the course. Which was really great to hear. In conversation with one of them I found out that when she had first heard about the course she had approached her college, The University of Northampton, and persuaded them to organise a subsidized block booking to the event. Great initiative and leadership.
Our speakers have also been very supportive. Dr Kate Laburn-Peart, for example, has now attended the event for the last three years. It involves her coming in from World Vision offices in Milton Keynes to share her experiences of the sector but she has already indicated that she is willing to attend again next year. As has Mary Woodgate from Accenture Development Partnerships
On the other hand I did have a couple of suggestions from participants. One flagging up the fact that it seemed a very ‘youth oriented’ event and perhaps we could consider the needs of mature entrants. I do think there is something to be said on this issue. In fact Kami Dar from Devex pointed out that many people move into the sector after developing a career in another area and transferring their experience across to development. I’ve met many people who have done this. Accountants have a specialist agency called Mango who facilitate this kind of transfer and The UN and VSO organise voluntary placements specifically for this type of person. Breaking in without this kind of segue may be more difficult. I’ll give some thought to having one of our speakers address this as an issue next time.
Another participant wondered why there weren’t bigger ngos at the event such as Oxfam and Save The Children. I was less sympathetic to this suggestion. Partly because we actually did have some big ngos there – Christian Aid, World Vision and War on Want. Partly because both Amnesty and Oxfam had declined invitations to attend but mainly because we invited organisations to attend not on the basis of their size but on the basis of them having specific and distinctive to offer our participants. So The IDL Group who, truth to tell, I’d never heard of before they approached us, offer a fantastic rolling programme of paid internships in research and consultancy. Helping our participants find these niche opportunities and adopt a flexible, proactive career strategy is more important to us than having headline names on board.
Oxford Forum January 21, 2009
Posted by Jeff Riley in : courses, international development , 2commentsGetting into International Development – April 3rd
Those of you who are registered as fans on our Facebook Page on ‘Getting into International Development’ will be aware that our line up of speakers and exhibitors for our forthcoming course is now pretty well complete. We are delighted to have been able to attract a wide range of key organisations in the sector including World Vision, Merlin, AMREF, VSO, Accenture Development Partnerships and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office will all be coming along together with a wide range of ngo exhibitors. We ran this course last year and one of our attendees has put up a post on the site saying it ‘changed his life’ – for the better I hasten to add. We are now taking bookings for those wanting to attend the course and we have significantly reduced the price of the event for our participants.
Incidentally one of our participating organisations – 2Way development have also launched a Facebook Page. They will be coming along to the event to talk about the development volunteering opportunities they provide
International Alert
The Oxford Forum on International Development. Weekend of February 6th/7th – Each year the international development student network at the University of Oxford put on a two day event focusing on the sector. As well as a series of high profile speakers there are lots of workshops and presentations many of which have a careers focus. Headline speakers include the head of Wateraid’s Policy department AND the head of policy at Oxfam plus John Hilary, the Director of War on Want. I went to the event last year and can highly recommend the event. Tickets for the whole weekend cost around £10 for students and this includes two meals.
Australian Aid Training and Resource Guide
A new resource published by an Australian consultancy is available on the site careers.lon.ac.uk/development > Resources and Links > General Most relevant for Australians but has lots of useful links
Considering a career in International Development?
The Development Executive Group provides information services to the Development sector. They provide regular email services including information and vacancies – though not geared at entry level. However, they do have a web site that includes a new article for those considering a career in development
It usefully presents all jobs in the sector into three broad categories – technical experts, Project managers and research. You can read the article at www.devex.com/articles/development-101
Aidworkers Forum
There are very interesting discussions taking place on the aidworkers forums including some solid advice for people considering the sector. Recent discussions have focused on psychology as a foundation for an international development career, choosing between getting language skills and getting experience (I can save you time here – the advice was do both at the same time!) and a lively discussion around a very cynical post on volunteering by an ex-aid worker
2Way Development December 8, 2008
Posted by Jeff Riley in : courses, international development , 3commentsOur main focus at the moment is organising the one day course for next April 3rd on ‘Getting into International Development’. In the course of doing this it has helped us get in touch with some of our friends in the sector. We’ve been delighted by their response to our invitations and within a week of starting to make the calls we have our panel of speakers almost complete. So far we have AMREF, Merlin, 2 Way Development, Accenture Development Partnerships, SPW and the FCO. You can get more details from the Facebook page called Getting into International Development or go directly to
http://www.facebook.com/wall.php?id=1449198697&banter_id=608600894&show_all#/pages/Getting-into-International-Development/49218503056
One of the benefits of having a specific project like this is that it gives us a chance to get an update from the sector. For example Katherine Tubb from 2Way development – an organisation that arranges placements for those without heaps of experience tells me that the credit crunch is actually leading to an increase in traffic. Both from volunteers who want to use their skills overseas while the British economy is struggling and also from ngos who want to use volunteers to help with their work. I have posted up a report from my discussion with Katherine on the site at http://www.careers.lon.ac.uk/output/Page647.asp
In fact Katherine has also asked us to tell you about a one day a week (for 3 months) volunteering opportunity she has in their London Bridge office. You will be responsible for liaising with 2Way’s Latin American partner organisations coordinating placements, researching new potential partners and generally contribute to the efficient running of the programmes. The details will be posted on 2Ways website http://2waydevelopment.com Obviously as its Latin America some Spanish would be helpful but it’s not mandatory. In the meantime write to Katherine via Katherine katherine@2way.org.uk obviously read our report as mentioned above first
While I’m on the subject of opportunities do have a look at the vacancy page associated with our site www.careers.lon.ac.uk/development Right now there are opportunities with UNHCR and the Kurdish Human Rights Project as well of course as the UNICEF India internship which I mentioned in the last newsletter.
Forum 3 August 20, 2008
Posted by Jeff Riley in : courses , add a commentEvery year the Forum3 brings recruiters in the third sector – including some development organisations – to the Business Design Centre in Islington. This year it is taking place on October 10-11 and you can get a free ticket from their web site www.forum3.co.uk Development organisations in attendance include CAFOD, 2Way Development, Progressio, Skillshare International, World Vision and World Service Enquiry. As well as exhibitors there is a comprehensive seminar programme including seminars on getting into development and presentations by organisations such as VSO. See you there!
