 First of all, welcome to all of you wherever you may be, whatever time zone you may be in, a very, very warm welcome. I am Dr. Balavi Roy, I'm a senior lecturer in international economics at CISD. I'm joined by my colleague senior lecturer Dr. Harold Hubung, he will have a few words to say and he'll also introduce himself. He's the climate star and the climates are at CISD and so as, and we've been colleagues for a very, very long time. So very warm welcome. It is rather unfortunate that we can't do this face to face. This is a day that as academics we really look forward to. We love the buzz, we love the energy in the room when all of you come trooping in with so many questions that you have. But equally, we look at the positive side of it. Many of you who wouldn't have been able to make it are here with us today maybe with your cup of coffee or tea or your bowl of cereals. So again, we're very happy that we can actually reach out to you to all of you who wouldn't normally have been able to make it to our sort of on campus at this discussion. What makes CISD special? What makes SOAS special? I'll let you in on a little secret. I've been a SOAS product. I came to SOAS after 10 years as a financial journalist in South Asia. I came to SOAS to do a Masters. I stuck around. I went out to the private sector, worked for a bit. Then I decided to come back and do a PhD at SOAS and then I just couldn't leave. It's really that kind of a place. It sort of does that to you. One can say that London is sort of the centre of the academic universe. SOAS is sort of at the centre of London where we're right there with the British Museum next to us. A wonderful environment. You can walk to many beautiful places, a lot of cultural hotspots, social hotspots, whatever you want. SOAS is special. We do talk about the Middle East. We do talk about Asia. We do talk about Africa. We do talk about a lot of developing contexts, keeping them front and centre. I think that's what makes SOAS very, very special. There are other universities, of course, that talk about developing countries, but we look at development as a particular framework where developing countries are really front and centre. What are their problems? Where do developed countries come in in terms of solving those problems? You see it from a myriad of frameworks. You pick your framework and then CISD. CISD is extremely interesting because we are genuinely one of the few multidisciplinary centres at the school. So you might learn diplomacy, which you will, if you do join CISD and we hope you do, but you will learn it from a variety of perspectives. You can learn it from, you can take on courses that are legal. You can take on courses that have climate in them. You can take on courses that have economics in them. You can take on courses that, of course, are much more tuned to a diplomatic career. And that's the reason why CISD is actually very special. And our topic for today is diplomacy in the 21st century, upskilling for that. Harold, do you think we can have the slides up? You're the tech person. So are you figuring it out? You're on mute. You're on mute is the line of the century, isn't it? This is what we've always said all the time. I didn't really have anything interesting to say. I was just sort of mumbling to myself. We'll try and make it interesting for you guys. Let's see. I've got the PowerPoint here. You figure it out. I'll talk to our guests in the meantime. So that's CISD for you. Most of you have probably done your homework, Centre for International Studies and Diplomacy. We offer two campus courses, the ISD course, and the Global Energy and Climate Policy course, which Harold convinced. And we also have, of course, a roster of courses online, which includes courses like Global Corporations and Policy, and a whole host of other courses. Okay. And when we said global challenges, diplomacy in the 21st century, diplomacy no longer just means stuffy old shirts sitting in a room with mahogany and oak and smoking pipes and having cognac and deciding where to put the pins on a world map. It's really moved very, very far away from there. It's also not just about negotiating during war. It's about how to keep the peace and how to keep a sustainable peace, how to keep a peace that's progressive. And most importantly, for the 21st century, you need to also understand a lot of other aspects of what is going on around the world. I mean, look, just look at how the world has changed in the past one year. Did any of us think that this would really hit us like a bolt from the blue, but overnight diplomats have had to learn the language of an epidemiologist. Do you keep international borders open? What international borders do you keep open? Who's international borders and who do you allow to come in? What about vaccines? If I get my vaccine from this country, what protocols am I breaking? Am I breaking something that the World Trade Organization says shouldn't be done? And if I hoard too many vaccines, is it good for me as a soft power? You know, something, a question that let's say the United Kingdom is grappling with or India and China are saying, well, we're sending vaccines to developing countries. Suddenly, diplomacy has an epidemiological slump. It's not something that any diplomat was trained to deal with. So you really need to have to learn on the job. And we believe at CISD, we can equip you for that. Whatever the 21st century challenges and we've got it lined up here, you definitely have the sustainable development goals. You've moved on from the millennium development goals. You're now moving on to the sustainable development goals. And as a diplomat, a lot of countries, whether you are in the developed world or in the developing world, the SDGs are front and center of what you want to achieve for your country, for your region, for your neighborhood, and indeed whatever block you might be sitting on, a trade block that you might be sitting on or political block that you might be sitting on. So trade becomes very important. Livelihoods becomes very important. The language of the agreements that binds together becomes very important. So that's the legal structure for you. Climate change and Harold will talk much more to climate change. Climate change is of course, you know, you can you can link what's been happening with the pandemic and how it started and why we have the kind of situation that we have today. You can link it to climate change and climate policy. All of this is actually extremely interlinked. So you are not just a diplomat learning diplomatic skills, you have to learn a host of other skills. And here's where it gets interesting. You might learn it from a program that teaches you diplomacy, but you can deploy the learnings in any sector you can actually go work at a think tank after this you don't have to be a diplomat. You can work in an NGO you can you can work in CSR because corporate social responsibility that is, because if you know the language of what a corporation wants to talk about if you know the language of a trade deal. You can actually do a lot more in terms of helping companies formulate policy, you can become an academic that's what a lot of us wanted to do but we are also practicing academics that's what we like calling it Harold does a lot of very very grounded work as a climate policy expert as as an economist and a political economist. I do a lot of work with some wonderful colleagues and so as and I'll come come to that. So it is all about the skills that we provide you which you can actually transfer. It's not about just being a diplomat. It'll be great if you do that it's a great life. So also transfer those skills into any other sector that you that you might want to move into. So that's that's a very very interesting thing about this this particular course. Of course, if you're interested in international studies, particularly in diplomacy, we give you the skills to do that, but they're also transferable skills. So we teach you about issues to do with human rights law we teach you about issues to do with. The March National Corporation is is investing in in let's say Kenya. What does it mean for Kenya or does the March National Corporation walk away with it, you know there are no black and white answers in this world and you know as a student. We tend to see and we've all been there done that we've been students, some time ago and and you do tend to see the world in a black and white but when you go out there, especially in diplomacy, you have to handle a host of nuances. And that host of nuances is something that we try and give you when we talk about when we teach you our modules at CISD. There is a grayscale, and you need to engage with arguments and debates at all ends of the scale. You can't have a diplomacy which is, you know, you're holding a gun to somebody's head. That's, that's the last resort, if at all it's a resort. So it's it's it's that perspective that we give you we are approach is critical our approach is heterodox which means we take from all sources. We teach you what the mainstream is where required we with our experience we teach you how to critique it. Then, of course we have our opinions but it's for you to synthesize and process it because you're coming in as master students you already have a worldview out there. We probably help you finish it a lot more and then there's a lot that you can soak up from so as it's not just as I said it's not just CISD. There are a lot of other interesting departments where they have interesting events apart from from what we do so. So there are a lot of you know layers that you can add on to what you do it so at CISD but this is this is pretty much. Let's say a summary of how we introduce you to the world of world of diplomacy it's it's multidisciplinary. It's nuanced, and it allows you to create your own perspective and we are always there to help you along in creating that perspective I think that's that's extremely extremely important. At CISD, I will also quickly talk about some of the extremely groundbreaking research that we do CISD is one of the few centers or departments at so as which gets a lot of funding from some very important donors. You know the FCDO which is a foreign and Commonwealth Development Office some of you might have known it as DFID, which was the UK's International Aid Ministry actually funds some very very innovative and interesting research across the world. I'm very lucky to be part of one of those research projects is a six million pound project which primarily works in Nigeria Tanzania and Bangladesh I work a lot in Nigeria but we also work across the globe in Lebanon and Malawi and Pakistan and Indonesia. But we don't just talk about for instance, you know, what is corruption we actually try and talk about what what evidence there is to ensure that this corruption through a policy can actually be addressed. And then we come back and tell you in class. That's what I mean by this is you know we're very research oriented in that sense action oriented academics we can come back and tell you from our own research experience on the field. Carol will talk to his work on climate change, and then you can take away what you want from there but it's also very very informed by the kind of tractable real research that we do. There's some very interesting research for those of you going on interested in sports in sports and diplomacy and you know you might wonder what sports got to do with it. Think about the Chinese Winter Olympics. Think about the football World Cup in Oman. Think about how Japan is trying its best to put up its best Olympics show in the middle of a pandemic and how it's extremely important for Japan at the risk of athletes to actually sort of leverage its soft parts with the Olympics. So there's a lot or if you're cricket fans it's it's a rather unfortunate bit of diplomacy between India and Pakistan I'm a cricket fan I think we're much the losers for the fact that Indian Pakistan don't play anymore but you know sports and diplomacy well there you go. So and we also do very interesting research in that area of sports and diplomacy let's say we also have a very interesting program was crap which is on nuclear disarmament again funded by some very interesting organizations actually including the Vatican. So so you can see that we have a myriad of sources where we do our research we come with very informed research oriented backgrounds and I'm going to stop here and let Harold talk about his his work his research and the teaching specifically that we do at CISD Harold over to you. Thank you. I'm Harold you are my senior lecturer in global energy and climate policy and I direct our MSC in this space both on campus and online. I'm also director of our global public policy degree in the online space because as a center we do a lot of our teaching not just on campus but also you know online for I will speak to that a little bit on on the next slide even though I didn't put down information on specific online degrees and a lot of the work that we refer to earlier that we do with the foreign office foreign common office now foreign common development office is also through online spaces where we teach global diplomacy but not just as a general discipline as a general degree but also with very focused streams focused on the Middle East, North Africa focused on East Asia focused on regional South Asia on regional specializations. My own research, in addition to the teaching is built around climate energy and sustainability of course that's a very large field, apart from my role in CISD and also deputy director and co founder of our center for sustainable finance. I'm currently in the climate finance lead for the 26th University Network so it's a network of UK universities that advise the government and that input into the process to prepare for a successful conference parties on climate change at the end of the year in November in Glasgow. And in this space, there's also a lot of opportunity for students to engage and some of the current students of the current cohort are working with me and working with the network to try input into this briefing note, as well as through a number of other channels which participation for students is possible and desired in this in this forum. I have some of the recent projects that I've been working on have been for the World Bank and currently for the World Resources Institute where I look into adaptation, climate adaptation issues as well as sustainable resilient infrastructure as a World Bank project in the MENA region so the Middle East and North Africa. And in addition to the MENA region, I have a focus on Asia Pacific. So it's a module I also teach in this coming year on energy policy in Asia Pacific. So there's a lot that we do in a number of different spaces, including in climate sustainability and really the climate sustainability agenda is already alluded to in comments cuts across a lot of these other agendas, the SCG agenda. It's no secret that the SCGs are now very much focused on climate energy and sustainability in ways that the Millennium Development Goals were not. So it's been a clear shift in the agenda of the goals that we have for development for growth, growth for prosperity around the world today. And of course, thinking around cultural diplomacy, sport diplomacy, the sustainability of large sporting events, for example, there are a lot of ways in which climate sustainability intersects with some of the other issues that we're looking at and researching as part of our work, our research and our teaching in the center. So we can speak of research-led teaching and to an extent also teaching-led research, which is very beneficial for us and I think it's very beneficial for you as potential students joining us in CISD. One of the things I wanted to add to this list that Pallavi went through at the start and really what we wrote down here in terms of no shortage of diplomatic challenges. The number of issues in the turbulent 21st century is just this election of issues. There's obviously a lot more that would deserve to be on this list that we gave you a taste. There's also, not just in terms of the content and what you now need to know as a diplomat, it's also about the way in which you engage diplomatically because over the last year due to the global pandemic, diplomacy and diplomatic engagement has shifted into online fora, has shifted into virtual environments which makes a lot of diplomatic engagement very difficult. Think about the way we build trust in negotiations, in international diplomacy. You might do so at a conference or a meeting of the parties and the usual diplomatic channels of engagement, face-to-face contacts and you pull someone aside and you have a conversation all the way and you build an understanding and you meet these people again and again at conferences and meetings and expert gatherings but now there's a challenge because you're trying to not just get information across but also build this rapport and build this understanding in a virtual environment which is difficult but there are ways in which it's possible to do so and those are some of the ways that we're currently thinking through, not just in the way we teach diplomacy but also in the way that diplomats will have to engage with each other in an environment even when we come out of the current situation, COVID-19, we will likely be in a space that relies more on these types of communication than it did before. So there's a challenge here in addition to just the content work that is an exciting field for diplomatic studies and understanding diplomacy in the 21st century by drawing on modern technologies. On to the teaching. Now I don't know how I press on to the next slide. How did you do that? You just press slide. There we go. I was just talking about modern technology. Just one quick thing before you go on. I realised that for some reason I said that the football World Cup was in Oman, it's in Qatar. I'm really sorry. It's the Qatar World Cup, certainly nothing to do with Oman but that's it. Yes, Harold. Maybe one future year at some point, maybe it'll be in Oman. So there we go, but yeah, Qatar. What do we do specifically in terms of our teaching? I've already spoke to some of these elements and I've just written down some information on our two main campus degrees. The MAIC, the MA International Studies and Diplomacy, and this degree as our flagship degree because it has the largest number of students and it has been around for a long time. Indeed, the first iterations of this degree reach back two decades. So it's been a journey for us as a centre as an institution in terms of diplomatic training and diplomatic development over time. So our focus here is on understanding modern diplomacy in theory and in practice. What I mean by practice is of course negotiation and media skills training that is provided to you as part of our teaching, not just looking at the various different issue areas like international security, international economics and trade and international law and perhaps history and future of the United Nations or sport diplomacy or sustainability, but also practicing negotiation, mediation, practicing diplomatic challenges in these skills building environments. And there's been a challenge for us because transitioning into a virtual only environment is a new way for us to try and provide this. So we have grown and developed our offerings over the last over the last year. So to adapt to this new challenge, we're hoping very much of course that by the time that the new academic year comes around, we're able to fully go back into campus mode, but of course there might be limitations on our ability to do so certainly when classes reach a certain threshold of student numbers 30 and above, where it might remain in an online forum. But this is all subject to to guidance and subject to potential changes forthcoming in the in the next several months. So we're hoping that we will be able to return to a teaching mode that is tried and tested and that has been running for very many years very successfully training current and future diplomats as well as other policy makers in this in this space. But if not, then it will be a mixed approach that draws both on our ability to establish ability on campus as well as some of those virtual environments in which negotiation we discussed training is delivered. The other degree is the MSc Global Energy and Climate Policy, which was hibernated for one year this last year due to the crisis and our ability to to offer the campus training and teaching fully as we had hoped. So we decided to take a break for one year, although we continued in the online space as it as we did before, and we're now fully back. So here I take on the political and economic aspects of the climate emergency and transition to a low, I should really say zero carbon economy by the middle of the century, and the implications that this has for a variety of different policy areas the diplomatic diplomatic skills training arm for energy and climate policy focuses on risk, understanding risk in policymaking understanding risk investments and different projects on the ground, and on policy analysis, how to write advisory within a government corporate not for profit context, to an extent this is also done in the diplomatic skills training and the MRAC, but the focus in terms of topics of the focus in terms of a level of decision making look at is somewhat different. More generally seeking going beyond the focus on those two degrees and the units that are specific to those two degrees. We have a broad teaching portfolio and how have we already spoke to this in terms of the approaches we have and the multi disciplinary approaches we take within those individual marginals and we teach not just diplomatic studies and not just climate energy policy but international economics international security international law international relations and a deep degree such as the MAISD is very much focused on you studying a number of different disciplines, and a number of different approaches within this field of global governance or global studies, as it were, to position you in a way that you can speak to economic debates as much as to legal debates and policy debates and international relations. Public policy, global public policy module I teach a very, very popular module, which of course looks not just that it's national dimensions both domestic policy developments and and connects up with a lot of the other modules that we have often you can study specific topics so that the headline items the perhaps cutting modules are the ones I've written down. Those are the ones that have these very particular disciplinary approaches, which you can combine the multi disciplinary passion. Then of course we have a lot of modules that are focused on specific topics and specific issues, including multinational enterprise in a globalizing world which is returning to our on campus teaching in 21 22. This is a module that Pallavi is very familiar with perhaps wants to see to a little more after I'm done. This is a module that approaches multinational enterprises corporations from both an economic and the legal perspective. This is these approaches in a very effective way of the course of the year. Another module that is more specific and focus is energy policy in Asia Pacific which I teach looking at the Asian century and developments in this town region has absolutely fundamentally critical for our ability to address the climate emergency in an effective way and to address issues captured near CG's energy access energy poverty infrastructure development etc in an effective way. The other modules are already referred to earlier for example the study of the United Nations has perhaps our last best hope and hope that often seems to fail internationally but is going through a lot of challenges and development over the last few years the international system. Where does it come from? Where does it go over the coming years? Modules such as for diplomacy looking at mega sporting events and their role in diplomatic engagement and a number of other modules too. So I should perhaps add the project management is back in 2122 as well as another skills module. So for those of you wishing to specialize more into the economic track and perhaps a more corporate track although not exclusively so you may wish to combine a number of different skills modules for example in risk and policy analysis and project management in addition to your study of international economics or international law. So there are ways in which you can tailor your degrees and tailor your study and tailor your research that is not entirely possible in the same way in other departments that perhaps are a bit more focused on a specific disciplinary position or be it in economics be it in law school be it in politics in development studies you have opportunities there too to choose electives but the very idea of CISD is this multi-disciplinarity and this approach that we encourage not just in your electives but even in your core modules and the core that makes up the teaching in our courses. So the teaching that goes beyond CISD you're able to choose modules from other departments from the ones I've just mentioned and beyond for example there's a very exciting development in the poetry currently around global challenges and global futures which aggressive climate change and other issues and I'm very much looking forward to adding some of these modules to our electives list as well as in some of the languages and cultures arts and humanities subjects that we have but so as that makes so as such an exciting and interesting and unique place to be and to study in the 21st century. So I'm going to leave it at this and hand it over to Pallavi if you have any further thoughts and comments and things I've forgotten. I'm sure to have forgotten something but what I wanted to leave you with is this more overarching dimension of the kind of teaching and training that we offer and I'm very happy to go into detail on specific topics and specific issue areas and specific ways in which we deliver teaching and training and give you a little bit more detail in our Q&A. No, Harold. I think that was just perfect. I was actually trying to reply to some of the questions that you had in the chat box. I was typing it out but Kim, what would you suggest that I just speak to them or wait for a few more questions? Kim, you're on mute. We can answer this question now I guess and then obviously if more questions come in the meantime, then we can also answer those as well. So do you feel free to write any questions in the chat box that you can think of that's related to what we've mentioned before or any questions that might come to you. So yeah, maybe we can answer this one first. This is the one about the international politics and the overlaps, right? Harold, do you want to take that question and I can maybe take the one on, there was a second one on what's the difference between the MA and the MSC. I could leave that. Yeah, so I would just, this is one of the international politics. Yes. So if, so just to repeat this, if one's mid-career looking to retrain, you're not quite sure of your career direction is the best to choose something like the MSC international politics. If you know you want to follow a diplomatic route, there is a bit of overlap. That's right. I think in terms of the both the interdisciplinary approach we take as well as the skills training we offer that are unique elements to teaching that we offer on the MA international studies and diplomacy. In terms of pursuing a diplomatic career and being exposed to some of the skills and the challenges that you will encounter and deal with in a diplomatic career, the MAISD is very much focused on preparing you for that. On preparing you for this but giving you the skills to engage in these sorts of environments, the international politics MSC is also focused on key issues in the space, but it's perhaps a more theoretical engagement with some of the key disciplines and some of the key topics in this space of international politics. Whereas the MA international studies and diplomacy offers in addition to engagement with these core topics, a skills-based element to train the key skills important for career in diplomacy and expose you to some of the challenges that diplomats face in this space. This is what we've built for a great number of years in terms of our expertise in this area and in terms of our delivery in this area and that I would say is one of the main distinctive elements of the MAISD. So if you want to pursue that kind of career, this may be better for you but in the end of the day it's up to you and it's your choice. Yeah, I mean I do think it is that the kind of skills that you gain, the skills training that you gain and kind of the way the program is both taught but also assessed and the fact that, I mean generally speaking it's to us as well as being academics, it's very much an idea of being a practitioner in the field and sort of looking at what is happening in the here and now as well as what has happened kind of historically so it's that you know that great kind of mesh I guess of in terms of having that academic rigor and that academic background but also being able to then transfer that into a field and a career moving forward. Absolutely, I agree. Yes. So again, as I began it's transferable but if you want to keep to diplomacy as Harrell said it gives you those specific skill sets so it really is up to you where you think your interests lie the best, career interests lie the best. We're very happy to give you a multidisciplinary teaching but with skills equipped for diplomacy. So yeah, I can add to that that I think it's important this transferable nature and being a diplomat that operates in a number of different spaces and focus on a number of different issue areas we as a center do capture some of the regional dynamics and the specific issues but the politics department does so in a in a more intense way by drawing on the expertise of many of its academics that is not just an expertise in political science or international relations but an expertise that's also regional in East Asia or South Asia or the Middle East. The politics department does have a great expertise and that focus can be studied in very specific degrees that are regionally focused. Whereas the main international studies and diplomacy is geared towards a an international career doesn't have to be in diplomacy it can be in the corporate world or not for profit world indeed a lot of our alumni have moved into careers in those spaces not just in, you know the public sector and the in actual diplomatic engagement. But it is for a career where you will move around a habit where you might address a range of different issues from economic concerns and security concerns and legal concerns and violence and stability concerns and yet you're able to speak to them because that's what diplomats what civil servants what those working in large corporations and also in smaller enterprises do they address different portfolios over the span of a career I think that 21st century career is not one where you prepare for working for a lifetime on a very particular issue with social policy or social policy education policy, but where you actually move around a fair bit and you move around between industries, the public sector, the private sector, not for profit sector to apply those skills and that's why I think I'll be very much pointed out I would emphasize this that transferable skills are important in this context skills that you take from one of those areas and disciplines to another, enabling you to succeed in those. And I did see that we had another question in which have you kind of answered in terms of what's the typical class size and what we would say is there is a distinction also between lectures and seminars as well so it depends kind of what you're thinking in terms of a class so with our lectures they can be kind of larger lectures depending and and some of them can be taken within different degrees so you might find that actually you have a student who sits within another department who's taking one of the modules as their open choices and then you'll have students who are in the exact same program as you. So those, those can always different sides, but then we do have our seminars or tutorials which are much smaller and those are really kind of when you're very much kind of interacting and engaging those those tend to be a little bit smaller with us so class sizes can differ, but it's also interesting to note that you don't necessarily always have the same students in your classes it can, it can differ but that also within itself brings in a very interesting perspective because then you have lots of people who come to a particular module, a particular class as some might call it, but with very different perspectives and viewpoints and kind of reasons for coming to that so I think it adds all to that kind of flavor of the program. Yeah, I would add here Kim that on average and you're right the difference from from class to class but on average our tutorials are our total groups around 10 strong. So that's a sort of a good measure of how many others will be in the total group. We don't want it to be too big, because then it can be very difficult for everyone to get a word in, and sometimes for students who are perhaps a little bit more shy and not as willing to be used to engaging in a group environment might might not feel very comfortable talking, but if the group size is too small, you want to avoid that as well because you want to have a critical mass of engagement within a tutorial to really get to the heart of a debate and invite a number of different opinions of viewpoints informed by your reading and the work that we've done together in class. So we think this is a good amount and this is what you will encounter in your tutorials. And I guess the other interesting point of view that just doesn't stop just in the classroom itself, whether you be an online student or whether you're a student in person as we go back I think that's one of the kind of key parts of so as is that our programs are very much interlinked and interconnected so the idea being that when you leave the classroom. You could have just had a great lecture on a particular area you go out into the campus and you have a conversation with another student who doesn't necessarily wasn't necessary in that lecture isn't necessary in your program and yet they're able to have a very strong dialogue with you about that because there'll be some aspect of their program, which would have touched on that and they may kind of mentioned something you haven't thought of and it just keeps growing and growing and growing in terms of in terms of your knowledge and in terms of your perspective and a viewpoint. I wanted to add to that as a student myself for all in tutorial groups always arguing with one another is a good argument but I'm always trying to get our points across and we've all got strong points to the government personally I'm studying international relations and I want to follow into a diplomatic route or so working within the UN. And so getting my point across in tutorials really difficult with such strong minded people and even in the lectures everybody's got a lot to say. So, I wanted to build on that point you made like always talking about with one another about all the things wellening. I just realized we didn't give you a chance to introduce yourself properly at the start of my apologies. Can I ask them following up on that. What made you choose. You want to work in this sort of environment but you must have had some particular ideas. I chose international relations because my older sister is she works within the government she's a civil servant and I the work she does she like it really like I see her she's enjoying it I think it's like really meaningful work she's she's making a difference and you know, being of an ethnic minority and being female, I want to make that difference I want to work within the government where other people like myself can have that ability to make that difference you know that they can work in the government at such a high level so that's why I wanted to I've always been interested in politics but I didn't know how to go about it. I didn't really want to do the politics side so I chose international relations because I'm more into that history of politics wasn't arguing about all this policy or let me write this strategy and you know all of that. And how have you found it entering into so as they obviously you have lots of opinions and ideas and you kind of shared that a little bit within talking about kind of those tutorials and those seminar groups but kind of would you say that coming into so as you were very kind of confident student or your very public speaker or how would you say that's changed over your time with us. I was going into so as I was quite shy because I was like the only one within my school in my friendship to leave to go to a university university by myself. But so as really helped me, you know, transition from that big step from A level to university and being around such a supportive environment such as people like so like minded like you but they're also different in their own ways. So I was learning new things every, every day whether it be from my peers or whether it be from lectures and like my professors and like all my professors so caring and kind to understand that. If I'm struggling with something or because I've never done international relations before. So if I'm struggling with something. At first I was a bit shy, so to be like, I don't understand this, I don't know what's going on here. But your teachers and your peers make you like feel so comfortable that you know, all the time at first I used to email now I'm like, what does this mean can you help me on this and they're all more more than welcome to help so that I'm really enjoying so as I now feel like I've become more confident you wouldn't see me doing helping out like here because I would have been too shy would have been like I don't know what I'm doing. But I've been put myself out there and that's because so as I don't think I would have been able to do that had I gone to another university had I studied something else. But yeah, so it's been really great with my transitioning and with my hope. Thanks for time because honestly, I mean, you know, people want to listen from you you're a student, you're the experience you know Harold and Kim and me we can we can talk about our experience but you're the one that, you know, comes with the credible sort of answers Thank you very much for that and I just wanted to quickly ask you so that you know for the benefit of our audience that you know you're doing IR it's very topical sort of area of work. Are you are you also able to therefore relate to what you see outside the campus because that's also something that's very important so as you're not just in a classroom, you also try and and help you make those connections between what's going on within academia and outside. What would you think about that. I'm definitely I would say cut when I go into the classroom and obviously my readings looked at the lectures and stuff like that lecture slides I will go into the class not knowing a clue about what's happening. But once I'm in that class I'm learning. I'm asking my questions I come out and I'm so like get a gun and like a new perspective of everything like I never viewed Iran in the way I've viewed now because I didn't see like the I don't I was unaware of like the alliances between Russia and USA and all of the nuclear weapon agreements and treaties. And when I go outside I look at the world differently I look at my peers differently. I'm able to talk about all the things that we're learning to my peers and I'm able to take that to like when I be like I want to learn this and then I'll learn more things and it's just really interesting. It makes my mind like boggle how we live in this world. And there's so much going on around us. Yeah, I did I was I didn't know. So that's what I saw as this for so it is helping me learn new things that I did. I didn't know that I that existed so that's my experience of science always learning new things. Thank you Harold. Maybe I can just take a quick question the first one that comes up is is the main global diplomacy you've seen it an online equivalent to this program. I hope I've got your name right apologies if I have not pronounced it correctly. So this is more or less an equivalent but if you look at the core structure on the website, some of the options that that we offer you with the degree are not all available online so some of the core modules, all the core modules yes of course are offered but you might want another sort of mix and that particular module might not be offered online so it really depends on the kinds of modules you want to take but in terms of the core modules we offer you both we offer you both online and and on campus. I would add to this that there was a difference in the sense that some of the modules we offer online not available on campus so we have a wide range of modules actually online that are unique, and that offer very particular take on global diplomacy and that will prepare you in in a very good way for for this field and for employment in this field as well. Now, the difference being that as Pallavi rightly said, on campus we have certain modules been running for a very long time that perhaps not offered in the same way online but here you have other modules available to make up for that. And of course, we do offer our skills training elements on on campus and we do not offer those in the same way currently online but we're working on transferring those options into an online space in the same way drawing on the experience that we've had of this year of having to deliver in a virtual skills based skills based elements so the degree that you would have at the end of it all is a so as degree in much the same way, be it on campus or be it online. But there is some variation in the kind of modules that you could choose and the kind of elements that make up this degree, but an equally a strong contender for for for many, because of perhaps the flexibility offers in terms of doing it from far away well we've done it from far away this year but in terms of the structure of doing one module after the other, as opposed to the international studies and diplomacy on campus or the energy and climate policy ground campus which is a more condensed teaching effort. If you do it full time within a year, that's sort of the more traditional and full on student experience which many of you want, because this is a this is a it's a challenging environment you do in the year you pack up. As for an online degree, perhaps you do it while you're already working and you're in your career somewhere in post abroad, and you want to while doing that have the flexibility of adding one module per term, studying, and over a longer period of time, the two years in total, minimum for an online degree to pursue this. So this is also dependent on what it is that the situation you find yourself in and what it is that you want out of an academic education. Yeah, and then I might just quickly jump in and answer another question that's come through about the MA and the possible modules that you would choose within it. And if you look at the structure, the easiest way to do it I find is to get yourself like either a word doc open or even just write it down, and you'll see the compulsory classes and then I just, I would work through list by list if I were you so you'll see within this be that you have to take a minimum of 45 credits from that list so I would set that list out first look at those particular modules and pick out that 45 credits that you want from that. And then what you can do is you can put list C side by side with the open modules list. And then you can look at those and see where you want to get the remainder of your modules from because that's a little bit more open but what I would say is that we normally run another session later on in the year. So we are looking at probably running it around kind of anywhere between this year between kind of May and June we might even run it a couple of times, where we'll actually, you know go through that for you and possibly talk more about the particular modules that are on offer and, and possibly ways in which those modules will differ this year to last year or just new things that will be taught as part of those programs so generally speaking if you look through the modules you'll be able to see if this is the kind of program you want to take, and then you have plenty of time as we go through before you register to choose those. And then what I would say is it's a very kind of open policy at SOAS. We always have students who select their modules before they started their program and then in that first two weeks of their with us. You know, sometimes they'll try out different modules so they'll go to different lectures of modules that they maybe haven't even signed up for, and they'll see there's maybe something that they particularly like in that and there's always kind of a good kind of space of time where we let it kind of sit and sink in and see if that's what you want to take and, and as I say there's generally a lot of discussion that happens outside of the classroom in open lectures, possibly auditing though I always do put a caveat on auditing it's something that we offer at SOAS. So I do offer you to audit up to 45 credits in a year, but this is a year long program and 45 credits is a huge amount to take on, in addition to what you're already studying so I'm always like, let's just try auditing one additional class maybe and see how you get on from that. But yeah, there's just a lot of flexibility and you will see that some of the modules do overlap with each other so I think try not to get too worried about adding all of the 15 and the 30 here and this here and this here you'll have a lot of guidance to that you'll have a lot of great input with different academic staff you'll be able to meet different academic staff I mean our week one of our program is pretty much meeting our staff as opposed to necessarily starting the program as such so I think probably does I think that's the most systematic way to do it is to write it down or put in a word or however you best kind of visualize it and go through stage by stage but also don't feel like you're stuck or you know once you've made a decision you're pinned into that in any way. Should we go through some of the other questions games, some of them might actually you know benefit from your, your input. The first one I can see is about career assistance offered to students at CSD and so as in general. I think it's from Raj Priya. Yeah, so I mean in general terms I'll speak in the general terms and then you can probably speak from a department quality in terms of general it's so as we do have a career service which does have a lot of resources in terms of positions available in the UK outside of the UK. They do a lot of transferable skill sets in terms of looking at CVs looking at what people want in different countries and CVs I mean I think it varies, and some people even call it resume so it varies from country to country as to what is seen as the right way to do a CV or wrong way to do a CV what to include what not to include so we kind of take you through that. There can be interview kind of training that you can go through. There's a database of different internship options that you might want to take up. We do a lot of networking sessions as a whole across so as but even within the departments and then of course we have our alumni network which is very wide ranging and so if you want to really be put in touch with others who have been through so awesome who now might be working in the UK or might be working further afield you can do and then one other thing I'll quickly touch on is the post study work visa or what is now being referred to is the graduate route visa. So this is the visa that after you finish your studies with us if you're doing a one year masters, then you'll be able to stay in the UK for up to two years after you complete your studies through this graduate route visa. And that could be either looking for work or actually working within the UK. And that doesn't need a company to sponsor you as such so it's a little bit more open in terms of what you could be doing and then after that hopefully after you secured a position in that time. There'll be lots of other opportunities for companies and organize as to sponsor you after that time as well. And you want to add. Yeah. No, no, no, you first. The SCSC were running dedicated career events as well currently, we're in the midst of a careers talk series that we run every week with graduates and those former CSD students who have gone on to exciting positions in the public sector, the private sector, not for profit roles. We're sharing a one such session this upcoming Friday. And two of my students, former students, one who went to an English student who went to work with the international bamboo and return organization in Beijing, and it's doing some really exciting work around using bamboo as sustainable material for construction, and for reducing footprints, not just in China, but around the world. And one of my former students who's gone on to work for an investment company for a transition to look at my future and renewable investment. So it's a bit of a private sector and third sector representation, but we could equally have chosen those who currently work in government to my former students who work in government one of the cabinet office currently preparing a climate conference, helping to prepare a climate conference at the end of the year some very key positions. So this is what we offer we draw on our network, and we put together those career talks to give you an opportunity, when you're with us to meet and and understand the kind of roots that graduates have pursued to lead them to to success as it were in their careers, and then also perhaps define some of the challenges and things that you should be looking out for. As you as you embark on this really not just at the end of your studies but beginning with the day you you start with us because it's a continuing process and and we want to involve even and make sure that that you are set afterwards for for this glorious glorious career. And just to add to what Harold said, you know, some of you did raise the issue of transferability, can we just be diplomats, one of my students will be coming in at the end of this month she is working for the Department of Home. We try and give you a sort of all round view into what it is to move out of CISD you don't always have to be in international jobs, working to the civil service in this country can also be very very rewarding. It's it's very merit based so you know there's there's been a move straight from her ISD degree into the Department of Home you couldn't have had for you know asked for a more sort of opposite facing career but but there she is and she's she's using on her skills. We also encourage students to share, not just what they took from CISD but also the personal and transformative experiences you know fine I talked about being minority ethnic female and these are the kind of stories we actually champion out there. So some of our students in fact, my student was coming in at the end of March. She's also had a similar trajectory. So we also encourage these kinds of experience sharing because we understand careers is not just a technical professional part of it. There's also a lot that goes along with it in terms of how you can actually move away from the campus which is fairly sheltered to the world that's outside so yeah, I'll stop that. I mean what I would add as well is even this year where we haven't been on campus, there's been a lot of opportunities for our students so it could be working with us as a student ambassador on a number of different events that we're having we also have a global conference coming up. We're actually some of our students are also talking on that amongst our academic staff and also guests coming in from outside so they get to share their ideas, their perspectives on a range of different topics so it's really how much you want to get involved and then even outside. So as we are known as a university of activists but I think that that means so much more than what first comes to mind I think when you first think of actors and you think of student protest and which of course does happen. We support it, we support our students in getting involved in student protest, albeit peaceful and nonviolent nature. But it goes beyond that it's about building dialogue, it's about educating people at all different levels on different perspectives and ideas and it's about having sometimes some very uncomfortable conversations. But that's kind of what we allow students to do so we have over 200 different student societies. And what I would say is when you compare it to maybe other universities where sometimes the student societies are more of a sporting nature or more of a kind of hobbies and interest, even though we do have that what you'll tend to find through our different societies is there's very much a major theme running through them which is about social change. And that's kind of what you see it so as so there's so much more than just what is in the programs and what we as the kind of academic and professional services staff offer you it's really about what our students offer you. There were a couple more questions Kim should be. Yeah. This is one about the difference between the main MSc titles it's so as I don't want to talk for all, you know, degree titles it's so as but at CIS we certainly for instance when we do run the MSc in global corporations and policy it also has to do with the development and Harold can speak to GCP his his his program. It is fairly economics focused which is why it's it's it's basically the sort of analytical background, the disciplinary background that we look at, and since global corporations and policies not just focusing on, let's say policy analysis but actually gives you economic theory and economic frameworks to work with. It is called a masters in science therefore. Harold if you want to talk to your program. To an extent, I mean we do incorporate on economic dimensions in our study the MSc energy climate policy but also the engagement with large data sets and quantitative analysis when it comes to energy when it comes to some of the statistics that we'll be looking at. So, it's a methodological aspect as well that comes into play that does not mean that the degrees degrees we offer at the center are, you know, only accessible to those who have a strong background in quantitative analysis of kind of metrics. That's not the case we make it very accessible and we're not going to do extensive on this but we do teach and we do approach this in recognition of the fact that to have a rounded and good understanding of energy and climate policy and what might be possible in your engagement in the space and future as well as corporations and policy and some of the economic approaches that Pallavi champions requires you to understand that some of these dimensions to and requires you to be able to access those materials and draw on specific methodologies and I think that's a that's a slight difference that leads us to to to have this classification but apart from that we we offer a teaching and training that is going on on very similar approaches across the board. And I think there is. Yes, Ronox question on following a degree from CISD will I be able to apply for British Foreign Service, which is working at the FCDO. No Kim I think you're your best place to answer that you could apply to the former DFID, which was international development but I am not sure if you can become foreign and Commonwealth Office cadre that I am not sure about. Kim do you do you have an idea that it, I mean it tends to depend on the post and kind of each post may have different kind of aspects to it so there will definitely be some way in which you can join. Possibly a part of the British Foreign Office but there will be certain posts that would not be accessible to that so it's something that you would look at but again through our careers services through our academic staff and their links through our alumni. And these are different areas that you can explore within your time with us. And, you know, a lot of times you do see okay people know the British Foreign Office but they might not know all of the different organizations, and all of the different kind of players if you will that come into effect with that and that's part of the process of coming to an institution like so as is to understand how many different people are involved in a process. And what role you might want to best take up within that. I think that's a very critical point I wanted to just speak on that very briefly if I may, because what we see. So when when when you come at a problem, like energy and climate or international development. There are organizations some of the key players you might have heard of large oil and gas companies or large renewable companies don't invest us or be P and shell. But there is an enormous field out there of some smaller to medium sized companies lobby groups, research foundations that operate in these spaces that all provide opportunities for a career going forward especially if I take my own fields of sustainability that governs ESG resilience climate mitigation adaptations enormous amount of opportunities that have developed in the last few years 1000s of potential directions you could take. So it's important to move away from what we might have heard we might all want to work for Apple and Google or Facebook or maybe not. So as maybe don't work for those, but but to actually look at who else is out there and the opportunities that you might be able to pursue in this space and that's exactly what the students on our programs and other programs across so as have done and the extremely interesting careers they have pursued these spaces. And I think it's even interesting to reach out to our academic staff because, as I say, we are a university of practitioners as as much as we are a university of academics and those two can go very much hand in hand they don't have to be separate from each other and what you'll find is if you speak to a lot of our academic staff they're saying well actually I work on a policy advisory board within this area I advise on this area and these are all things that they get involved in throughout their careers, it actually helps shape their careers and help shape the areas that they then go on to do research in it's when you look at different academic staff that we have you'll see that over time. There's just not this one narrow kind of you that they're working in they've done lots of research in lots of different regions and lots of different areas and it kind of grows as they as they work within academia but also as they work in different policy setting initiatives. So this is one more question on research resources and facilities I'll very quickly answer that and then leave, because I will probably running short on time. So quickly answer that and leave Harold and Kim Kim to run that of research facilities Rajpria, the source library, you can just get lost there and not come out of the library for, you know, you can do about three masters and you still wouldn't go through what we call library, it is, it is genuinely a national resource it is, it is actually one of the libraries recognized in this country. As such, and the online and electronic resources that you have are absolutely fantastic maybe Fahima, you've got something to add to that hopefully you found mostly whatever you were looking for from from the electronic journals, and while, while in so as you can also have access to a very interesting media publications like financial times which, if you are, you know, going to study to be diplomat or work in climate change or multinational corporations is extremely helpful so you also get access to a lot of media resources. You can talk to professors and lecturers who are actually researching, you know how does climate change research my research on multinational corporations, separately and anti corruption across developing countries very separately there's that that avenue. And of course the one thing that you take away as your own in, not just in CIA in CISD but also at so as is your dissertation it's literally your baby is when you come coming to do your masters here at CISD and so as. What you spend 15,000 words and about six months of your life in CISD at formulating what you want to research and what what you know keeps you up at night let's say and we give you the resources to actually fulfill that that that ambition of this keeps me up at night and these are the answers for it. So I'm going to stop just just to say that if you are intellectually curious you will find the resources here practically as well as you can catch hold of lecturers. Well, online or or you know in the corridor and pick their brains but there is enough to satisfy satisfy all of that practically as well as intellectually. Great, well I mean I thank you all for coming along to the session we have overrun slightly so I thank you all for your time and whether it's the daytime evening nighttime there. Thank you for coming along and do feel free to watch this back when we send out the links and do feel free to come to any of the other events that we host and again thank you to Harold thank you to. And thank you all for coming to this event and hopefully this was. Oh yes. And thank you all like hopefully it was helpful to you then a bit more about our programs a bit more about the university in in general, and hopefully it's interested you to learn more about us to hopefully come to our programs but do feel free to engage with us more. On our website. We do have also chats that you can have with our current students. And so just feel free to ask as many questions as you can. Thank you everyone. And good evening good night. Good afternoon. Thank you bye. Thank you.