MSc Regulation, 2011
Researcher, Forrester Research
After completing my MSc at LSE, I started a few internships in a variety of companies working in policy implementation. It was during this time that I realised the importance of technology in policy making across both the public and private sector. This rising importance is what encouraged me to focus my career on technology in policy making and I secured a job as a business technology researcher. My work involves looking at internet regulation and data protection and the effects this has on technology initiatives in business. As a researcher I am involved in both primary and secondary research and I then use this to write reports, prepare presentations and collaborate with our teams broader projects. During my time at Forrester I took a summer break from my job to attend the cyber law programme at LSE which was extremely useful as it further developed my practical knowledge and skills for my work.
I chose my job because it was about what I was interested in. However, I only realised how interesting it was to me after a few months into the job. Sometimes, you really need to get involved to understand if something is really what you were looking for. And, I think that being an LSE graduate gives you the freedom to try, and experiment if you wish to do so. I really enjoy the research process: looking at new topics, build hypotheses, and then testing and challenging them. It is extremely satisfying reaching the end of the process and realising your thinking was correct and more so when you have improved and changed your ideas on the way. I hope that in the future I work my way up within my field of research and work on even bigger projects.
When I came to LSE I was convinced I knew what career path I wanted to follow and that LSE was just a never step in this path. However, coming to LSE gave me new options I hadn’t even considered before and opened up lots of new ideas and paths for me. I chose my degree subject because it was a very good fit with my background, and with my area of interest. I must admit that I did not know LSE very well before choosing my MSc, so upon starting I was overwhelmed with excitement when I discovered what LSE has to offer academically and socially.
My warmest advice to current students is to make the most out of the possibility of being at LSE. LSE really hosts a number of unbelievably influential and inspiring speakers on a daily basis, and if I could go back I would definitely attend as many of those events as I could. As a student, you may decide to spend your time between the library and your friends. It’s all good of course, but allow some time for those LSE events.
There is so much you can take away with you from this experience, and this will certainly make a difference in your future professional and personal life.
Undoubtedly LSE helped me shape the woman I am today. Being a student there inspired me, gave me confidence, and thought me to look at things around me in a different way. I believe that being in London also adds incredible value to the overall experience, and this is something that students need to consider as well. If the campus was located somewhere else in the world, it would not be the same thing at all. Many of my current network connections, many of my friends and my amazing husband are all people I met at LSE. I am so proud of my time at LSE. Regardless of the challenges, the endless pages to study, the pain of the exam time, the hard days and nights you might get as a student, I would still attend LSE 1000 times over.