Rosa Brandon

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My time at University 

I did my undergrad in England in Geography. After I graduated, I knew I was interested in either teaching or working in development. I moved to Peru straight after graduation to work as a teaching assistant in an international school in Lima. Here, I found that I loved teaching. I also met quite a few colleagues who became teachers straight after university. They recommended that I do something else before I go into teaching so that I don't fall out of love with it in my 30s/40s. So I decided to move back to the UK and try to work in an international development organisation.

I found that the jobs I wanted to do required a Masters and lots of experience. I was living in Edinburgh at this point.  I spent a year getting some money together by working multiple part-time jobs.  In addition, I spent all my free time gaining volunteer experience in various non-government organisations (NGOs), before applying to do the Masters in Environment and Development. I had made Edinburgh home by this point, so staying in the city was an easy choice. I decided it was the course for me because I was particularly interested in climate and environmental change in my undergraduate studies and knew I wanted to work in development.

I enjoyed the programme and the balance between development and environment studies. I appreciated the small teaching groups, the openness and availability of lecturers, but most of all, I valued the diversity of the people on my course. We had people from all over the world, of different ages and backgrounds. These varying perspectives brought invaluable richness to the course. I also made great and long-lasting friendships.

I thoroughly enjoyed our Field Trip to Nepal. I felt the approach of critically examining our positionality was a vital lesson I have carried with me since.

I found the dissertation the most challenging part of the course. My academic supervisor was AMAZING. I did my dissertation in collaboration with an organisation that worked in environment and development to boost my CV. This was great in many respects.  However,  I think I might have enjoyed writing my dissertation more if I had chosen the topic solely based on my interests, rather than trying to marry them to the opportunities within this organisation.

In terms of my student experience and extracurricular activities, I had a great time. I felt there was always something interesting that I could go to, if I was inclined, be it a pub quiz, a night out, a seminar or film viewing. I joined the Swimming and Water Polo club, which was fantastic. Even as a masters student who would be there for only a year, I felt immediately included in a community.

My experience since leaving University 

It was clear from the start that I wanted to work in international development, and doing this course was one of the essential steps to get there.

I started applying for jobs at the Easter of my Masters year, with some excellent support from the University Careers service. Several organisations rejected me before I got offered a job at Oxfam Ireland. A couple of weeks cross-over when I was doing the occasion days work for Oxfam and trying to finish writing my thesis, which was pretty tricky. I moved to Dublin the week after I submitted my dissertation. In many ways, having a job waiting for me meant I put myself under less pressure during the dissertation writing period itself. But trying to sort out my move whilst writing my thesis was incredibly stressful.

I am currently in Dublin, working for Oxfam Ireland as a Programme Quality Officer. So, in practice, that means I support our long term development programmes across Eastern and Southern Africa with various aspects of Programme Quality.

The work I do is very rewarding, and I feel like I am constantly learning, so I am happy and grateful. 

My Covid-19 experience 

Working from home has been difficult in many ways and quite lonely. I am keen to get back to the office at some point, although I know it will look and feel very different to before.

I really enjoy my work, especially the work I was doing before the pandemic. I don't feel like I have got the most out of Dublin or Oxfam yet because I was only here for a few months before we went into lockdown. So, I think I will be here for a while before I move back to East Africa to work with some of our partner NGOs.

Alumni wisdom 

Take some time to relax and enjoy it all.