Why did you chose Sweden and the School of Economics and Management as your study destination?

I had moved to Stockholm in 2014 years to work in the British Embassy, I first heard of Lund University from a friend who studied in Lund and went on to a successful career. After eight years in the Diplomatic service, I wanted to focus my career to be more economics and less travel focused so decided to follow his path. Lund had (and still has) an excellent reputation in Sweden and internationally, so I was delighted when I heard I was successful in gaining a place!

What have you been up to since your graduation in 2017?

I moved back to the UK after a few months of travelling, rejoining the UK Government. I worked for the Ministry of Justice, then found myself back into the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) in a development role as Good Governance Fund Strategy Manager. After a year, I joined the Minister of Defence as Head of Policy for the Overseas Bases for almost three years. I was offered an opportunity in Vorboss, a London based tech company as Business Operations Manager. I’ve also been back to visit Lund regularly, it’s a lovely city and I’ve made some friends for life.

What are your key take-aways from studying International Economics at LUSEM?

Obviously, there’s the academic side of things, developing a strong interest in statistics (something I never thought possible!) which has passed over into my working life. 

I learned such a wide variety of things whilst studying in Lund it’s hard to pinpoint something specific. Obviously, there’s the academic side of things, developing a strong interest in statistics (something I never thought possible!) which has passed over into my working life. Then there’s the soft skills, working as a group, leading a team and collaborating, which I think the Swedish culture and education system help to promote.

As you made the transition from student life to your current career, what surprising skills or insights from your academic days turned out to be valuable in the professional world?

I think two main things have passed from my studies to my current career, the first being the evidence-based decision-making skills. Learning how to build a dataset to help to inform and justify policy and strategy decisions has been invaluable in my career. The other is the intellectual freedom we were given, to question and think about things from different angles to form new and innovative ways of doing things. 

Learning how to build a dataset to help to inform and justify policy and strategy decisions has been invaluable in my career. 

These two things are particularly helpful in a risk averse organisation like a government, because processes are often passed down and become unfit for purpose. Being able to develop a strategy and clearly articulate the decision-making process, advantages and disadvantages to Ministers and executives turbo-boosts your ability to effect change in an organisation.

If you could give your younger student-self career advice, what piece of wisdom would you offer?

I probably would advise to jump into jobs and voluntary positions a bit more, even if the path to what you want to do is unclear. Joining a government department or other organisation is a ‘foot in the door’, from there you can manoeuvre around to find the role you wanted, or even develop a new interest in something you never had exposure to before. Re-joining government in a Ministry of Justice Finance role to becoming Head of Policy for the MOD’s Overseas Bases in under three years is not the most obvious of career paths!