I couldn’t think of another department that I’d fit into as well as I did here

Why did you decide to do a Masters, and why at the University of Sheffield?

I studied my undergraduate degree at Sheffield and decided to stay for my masters because I just couldn’t think of another department that I’d fit into as well as I did here. I know the staff, I was familiar with the atmosphere and the environment and knew what they were looking for, so it was just the place where I knew that I wanted to stay.

I thought that the Global Political Economy MA course that they offered looked like the most interesting out of the ones that I’d looked at and the opportunity to be taught by Liam Stanley again really sold the course to me.

What advice would you give to anyone thinking of going into postgraduate study?

Definitely do it! If you’re passionate about the subject in your undergraduate, definitely do it while you have the opportunity to, because it gives you the platform to carry on studying, to study a PhD if you want to, but at the same time it just gives you another year to research something that you’re very passionate about.

What are your plans now that you’ve graduated?

I’m considering doing a PhD, so I’m thinking about drafting an application to start in 2020, but for now, I’m just working until I figure out whether I do want to do a PhD or not. I’m sure that I do and I will, and if I did do it I’d want to do it in Sheffield!

What’s been the highlight of your time here as a postgraduate student?

Doing the PREPPE project with my peers on my course and researchers in the department and SPERI, because working alongside such experienced researchers really gave me an insight into what it would be like to carry on further study and maybe make a career out of academia.

Read about Tom's part of project: "#MeToo and Harvey Weinstein: Telling stories of vulnerable bodies"

Watch the full project video below.