This summer MIOIR welcomed two students undertaking the ‘Learning Through Research Internship’ with Professor Cornelia Lawson and research team, working on the project “UK Doctoral Graduates’ Contribution to Innovation”.

Sanya Panda MEarthSci Earth & Planetary Science (Geochemistry) Department of Earth & Environmental Sciences, University of Manchester

Bahaar Dahiya BSc (Hons) International Business, Finance and Economics Alliance Manchester Business School

We welcomed them to the department with an interactive round of questions learning about their research interests, skills development, extracurricular activities, and future plans:

1. What inspired you to apply for this internship?

Bahaar: I’ve been passionate about academia since I started university, and as someone aiming to pursue a master’s degree followed by a PhD, this project seemed like the ideal fit. Plus, having been a student of Dr. Lawson in my first year, I was thrilled to finally get the chance to work with her. Being a student at AMBS also provided a sense of comfort, helping me manage the anxiety that often comes with starting a new job or internship.

Sanya: Having gained experience through internships in Secondary Research, Oil & Gas, and FMCG industries, I realised that out of all these fields I thoroughly enjoy Research & Innovation. Therefore, when I came across the opportunity to be a part of a research group at MIOIR I was delighted and my willingness to explore innovation through an interesting project like UK DGCI compelled me to apply for this internship.

2. How are you finding the current project and working with the team?

Bahaar: Working on this project has been even better than I imagined! The team is incredibly helpful and supportive—I feel so lucky to be learning and working with them. They’ve created an excellent learning environment for me to develop both my technical and soft skills. I started out focusing on technical and coding tasks, but now I’ve moved on to data-matching, which has taught me how to be detail-oriented. Overall, this internship has been an amazing experience!

Sanya: Right from the time when I was offered this role, I was excited to meet the team and work on this novel project. I am so grateful to have the support and guidance from the kind and enthusiastic team that has helped me transition into this role efficiently. I am currently working on content creation and publication dataset matching which allows me to nurture my creative and technical interests in a balanced manner.

3. What are the skills that have helped you so far? What are the skills that you look forward to developing during the internship?

Bahaar: My biggest takeaway from this internship has to be the significant improvement in my coding skills. In the first four weeks, I worked extensively with R and Python, using them in new and challenging ways for this project. I also enhanced my report writing skills, which had been a weakness for me due to my objective-focused high school background, thanks to guidance from the experts here. Additionally, working in such a diverse team and meeting so many new people has taught me valuable lessons that go beyond technical skills.

Sanya: The major skills I am focusing on developing through this internship are analysing data and crafting content to advertise our project ‘UK DGCI’. This is the first time when I am interacting with a large database which motivates me to learn ways to analyse it more meticulously and efficiently. Moreover, drafting blogs and reports pitched at the appropriate level for different audiences is another skill I am working on. Networking with the MIOIR community has also been a great opportunity to learn about their unique roles and skillsets.

4. Apart from your work and studies, what are your extracurricular interests?

Bahaar: Growing up, I was always the kid who used to do all the extracurriculars, so I have a long list! I’m quite musically inclined and I can play 10+ instruments, I’m also an ex-international taekwondo player as well as a badminton player for the university and, I’ve recently developed an interest in geopolitics, world economy and the works. During the pandemic, I also became interested in the stock market and started trading and have since read nearly all the books available in the library here!

Sanya: As a child, I was encouraged to participate in different extracurricular activities ranging from tennis and swimming to Indian classical dancing and singing. I have continued to pursue Indian classical dancing at University as a Choreographer for the Indian Dance Society and have led the Society as their President organising events in collaboration with other UoM societies. In my free time, I also enjoy exploring nature and practising yoga that allows me to de-stress and relax!

5. Last but not the least, what are your future plans and how do you think the experience from this internship will help you achieve them?

Bahaar: My ultimate goal is to join an intergovernmental organization like the IMF, TWB, or ECOSOC to work on policymaking around wealth disparity, gender pay gap, and other socio-economic issues. Before that, I aim to complete my CFA charter, pursue a master’s degree, and hopefully earn a PhD in economics and public policy. This internship has been an excellent opportunity to develop the technical skills needed for academia and to gain insights into the UK PhD process.

Sanya: I aim to make a positive impact on the world through working with organisations associated with the United Nations and create mass-scale awareness about environmental protection, sustainability, and innovation. To materialise this ambition, I seek opportunities to develop innovative critical thinking and problem solving skills. This internship is an eye-opener for me in terms of the immense potential of our STEM community and the challenges that need to be overcome to contribute towards global holistic development.

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