Marc Emanuel chose to study MSc International Development with Conflict and Humanitarian Action after discovering his passion for the subject during his undergraduate degree.

We caught up with him to talk about why he chose the skills he’s gaining, his career ambitions and what he likes most about studying at Bath.

Choosing to do a master’s at Bath

I did my undergraduate in International Relations at Leeds. It explored international development from a more state-centric perspective, which got me interested in focusing on development as a broader field as part of a master’s. I wanted to better understand the issues that make up and define the sector, as I knew I wanted to go further into a career in this field.

I chose Bath specifically because they offered different pathways on the MSc. I've always found myself very interested in humanitarian action and some of the organisations I've worked with are based in that field. But more so, a lot of international development courses around the UK just don't offer that specificity in terms of the content that you can curate for yourself.

At Bath, everyone is welcoming on the course; the teaching staff and my peers are all lovely and incredibly passionate about their work. The course has been fantastic so far - I've made some really good friends and am getting new perspectives on the course as well.

Course highlights

It’s great how in touch with the development world all the lecturers are. They're all obviously really passionate about what they do. You also get to speak, quite frankly, with people who are just huge names in the sector and are very influential in their specialist areas.

That has been amazing in terms of the course’s units. I’m currently taking a module on Humanitarianism and I’m thoroughly enjoying its deep focus on how specific humanitarian programmes and projects are practically designed.

Gaining hands-on experience during my studies

The opportunity to complete a placement as opposed to a standard dissertation was also a driving factor in choosing this course.

Obviously, a dissertation can lead to fantastic career opportunities, but the placement suited my goals to gain field work experience in a development organisation and gain a deeper understanding of different functions within organisations. This option, and the content of the pathways, really outs the course ahead of other development degrees out there.

I am planning to complete a placement in Nairobi, Kenya, to support an organisation I have already worked with, Windle International. They deliver quality education to refugees and internally displaced peoples across four countries in East Africa.

The placements team at the University offer brilliant opportunities and support in securing placements. Luckily for me, Windle are an organisation I have a long history with, so it was quite an easy jump to extend that relationship and actually support their country offices where they run the programmes.

Plans for the future

I am set on pursuing a career in the development sector and want to focus on the intersection of development and humanitarian action – ideally taking roles outside of the UK.

I have also been volunteering with educational development organisations for the past year and that has been incredibly valuable: learning how development organisations work and the process in which programmes and projects are developed has been really influential. It’s helped me understand the content of the course and put it into a real-life perspective, which I think will help me further into the career.

My advice for anyone interested in studying International Development:

Go for it. It's a great opportunity to position your career through a specific pathway. And it's a fantastic place to meet like-minded people who are either really passionate about getting into the sector or people who are already in the sector and are going to refine their own understanding of development itself. I'd say, jump into it headfirst, hands down.