UGS Talks: Inspiration from our International Alumni
UGS Talks returned with alumni talks and postgraduate networking for its sixth iteration on 20 February 2024.
‘UGS Talks: Inspiration from our International Alumni’ invited back two UoB postgrads who first came to the University as international postgraduate students to discuss their career journeys: the highs and lows, the vital skills they learnt as postgraduates, and their advice to those graduating in the coming years.
Director of Student Employability and Careers, Etta Parkes-Firth, opened our event, detailing the collaboration that takes place between the University Graduate School and the Careers Network, while also highlighting the bespoke postgraduate careers support that the Careers Network offers. Professor Duncan Shepherd, Postgraduate Dean, told us more about the UGS Talks series and introduced our alumni speakers.
Our first alumni speaker was Haripreeth Iyer, a graduate railway engineer at Ramboll. Having attained a Distinction in his MSc in Civil Engineering at the University of Birmingham in 2022, Hari was familiar with the ups and downs of postgraduate study, offering reflections on how and why he chose to come to the University of Birmingham, how he managed a busy and diverse schedule of curricular and extracurricular activities, and how his MSc - especially his dissertation - prepared him well for the world of work. Hari concluded with some advice for current postgraduates about how they can further enhance their employability through networking, asking for professional feedback, and seeking continual professional development opportunities.
Our second speaker, Professor Yemisi Takwoingi, is a Professor of Test Evaluation and Evidence Synthesis at the University of Birmingham. After qualifying as a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine from the University of Maiduguri, Nigeria, Yemisi completed several postgraduate qualifications in the UK, culminating in a PhD in Biostatistics at UoB in 2016. In her talk, Yemisi shared her career journey, which includes a 23-year-long working relationship with the University of Birmingham in a variety of roles. Yemisi's inspiring talk reminded us of the value of hard work, the importance of being kind and collaborative, and the need to be brave professionally, feeling the fear but daring to do and daring to ask all the same..
Professor Duncan Shepherd then led our audience Q&A, which included questions around preparing for job interviews, the importance of finding and building a mutually supportive community, and top tips for effective networking. Attendees got to put our speakers’ networking advice into practice afterwards, where speakers and postgraduates joined us for refreshments in the Bramall Rotunda.