Deciding to be #PartOfLSE is definitely one of the best life-decisions I ever made. I gained lifelong memories that I wouldn’t have been able to experience otherwise. I’d like to wrap up my first year at LSE by sharing my favourite highlights.

Model United Nations

I’ll start with my social life at LSE. I joined the LSESU United Nations society in September 2022, and soon became a fervent member of the Model United Nations (MUN) division. Ranging from ULMUN 2022 to WorldMUN 2023 (in Paris!), I attended four university-level MUN conferences as a TeamLSE member. I’ll be brutally honest here – I can’t describe my first-year without discussing MUN. I had to juggle between academic coursework and conference preparations over the whole year, with an ambition to nail both of them. At the end of the day, my public speaking and research skills improved at a phenomenal level – I’m no longer afraid of leading the discussion and reaching out to lobby other people.

I’d pick WorldMUN, in March 2023, as a bittersweet highlight. Yes, I loved the Eiffel Tower and the beautiful scenery of Paris (it was definitely worth skipping a full week of classes for this conference). However, it was not a good time to be in Paris because of the nationwide strikes – I struggled so much just to get to the conference venues; it would have been impossible for me to stay safe in Paris without my dearest TeamLSE people. I grew so much both as a delegate and as an individual through this process; I’ll never regret joining TeamLSE and will be part of the team until I graduate from LSE.

LSE Careers events 

Until I joined LSE, I had a vague goal of working at the United Nations to contribute to peacebuilding in international conflicts. I attended the Discover International Organisations series in November 2022, and consulted with Vicky Chinn, a LSE Careers consultant who offers support for disabled students like me. I realised that working in IOs requires postgraduate degrees at a minimum, and one has to travel between multiple countries depending on the office locations and positions. The UNDP session, however, was an eye-opening experience that introduced the field of international development (focusing on socio-economic improvement at an international scale). From there, I developed my interest in the field and attended the LSESU Grimshaw Club’s Careers in the International Development session. As we discussed the ethics of aid and international development, I found myself connecting international development and the modernisation theory from my history class. In fact, as I spent more time exploring international development through LSE Careers, the more I found myself intrigued by similar historical injustices than the current affairs themselves. 

Office hours with professors

I finally realised that I desire to work on something that connects human rights and history. After doing extra research beyond my academic curriculum, I found out about transitional justice. This was in fact, part of peacebuilding – my primary motivation to work in the UN. Transitional justice has to do with providing recognition to victims of past conflicts and repression, and preventing its recurrence. Two ways to achieve this are through history education reforms and memorialisation of the past. Wanting to examine transitional justice from a historical perspective, I had long conversations with my history professors and Professor Meierhenrich, who teaches transitional justice at LSE. This was my true highlight as I gained insights into multiple case studies that show the importance of history to peace studies. Based on these findings, I’m planning to conduct independent research and submit an article to undergraduate history journals over this summer break. There was a huge career interest shift from international relations to history, and I think this was possible thanks to the abundant opportunities at LSE to discover my interests. I’m more than looking forward to where my second year will take me!