MSc Environment & Development
Research Assistant, United Nations’ Economic Commission for Europe
Christina has a BA in Integrated Social Sciences from the International Jacobs University Bremen in Germany. She took some international development courses during her Erasmus at the Sciences Po in Paris, before moving on to her MSc. During her studies her focus was on environmental economics and evaluation, doing a non-market goods analysis of the nuclear phasing out in Germany for her dissertation.
After graduation, Christina did a traineeship at the European Commission in Brussels, where she worked for the Directorate General of Development. Specifically, she researched the EU policies on biofuels as well as private investment into biofuels and the consequences these have on agriculture and landgrabbing in developing countries. Christina was also in charge of reporting financial commitments to the G8.
Christina is now a research assistant at the UN’s Economic Commission for Europe. She is analysing data on the use of forest resources for renewable energy purposes.
Christina’s advice to get a job is to invest time in practical courses and to learn skills which you can directly apply on the job, such as statistical knowledge or GIS. Employers like to see some hands-on skills, alongside knowledge of the sectors.