The years roll on by, and early this year I challenged myself to do one thing a month that would support personal and professional growth. Here’s what happened behind the scenes across Aberdeen, Elgin, Edinburgh, and Mexico City.
January: In January, I took a trip up to Gordonstoun to share lessons from the #FutureLeadersConnect Program with secondary school students. We used I-phones to google government policy and make the connection between the issues identified by the pupils and see what the government was already doing; then we mind-mapped to fill the gaps we identified. The best bit was receiving a screenshot of this tweet where the pupils built on the process and applied their own thinking.
February: I travelled to Edinburgh and attended the cross-party group meeting on International Development at Holyrood (Scottish Parliament), to listen and ask questions as a non-Member of Scottish Parliament participant. The theme was “Global Citizenship in the Scottish Health Service: the value of international volunteering”. This is the kind of thing I do for fun.
March: As part of a follow-up event with the British Council Future Leaders Connect Program, I was lucky enough to attend a Policy Incubator Conference in Mexico City.
April: Having been elected onto the Alumni Association (AA) Executive Committee Meeting as a Member earlier in the year, I was able to join the first meeting remotely. The University of Bradford is an institution I am proud to have earned a Development and Peace Studies BA Degree from and I sit on the Committee because I want to be as proud of the University in fifty years’ time as I am now. The Committee gives me the opportunity to shape the future of how the University engages with Alumni and maintain that #TeamBradford pride through relationships between Alumni and the University.
May: As part of the LLM in International Commercial Law with Arbitration I am completing, I sat an exam with two Professors and a colleague who has been in law school for eight plus years. One of the Professors literally wrote a book on the subject. It was quite something to be in the same exam room as these individuals, and we were all there to take The Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (CIArb) Technical Award Writing Exam to qualify to apply as a Fellow with the Chartered Institutes of Arbitration. CIARb is an international centre of excellence for the practice and profession of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) with15,000 members across 133 countries, supported by an international network of 39 branches. I’m currently waiting on final results.
June: I booked myself a massage, it’s the first day of the month – time for a break!