•    Why did you choose to study at the ANU over any other institution?
I thought that the ANU has a great international profile, and as it’s a member of the International Alliance of Research Universities, it would be great to be linked in to the international network.

    •    What was the best feature of studying at the ANU?
In our Honours group, I’m actually the only arts student, and all the others come from a science background! This has been a refreshing experience for me – having the opportunity to be in an inter-discipline community, and gain different perspectives from others.

    •    How do you feel the ANU is preparing for your future?
We have been given many chances to speak in public, particularly at conferences and seminars. In fact, I’ve just been invited to give a speech on PowerShift 2009 that’s held in Sydney – I’m very excited about it!

Apart from being able to develop my practical skills, I found that members of the ANU staff are very committed and passionate about what they do, and that was very encouraging and motivating to me. My experience so far has been like standing on the shoulder of the giants, where I met a lot of researchers who are not only brilliant scientists, but brilliant teachers as well.

    •    What has been the highlight of your ANU experience to date?
Due to the nature of my project, I had the chance to interview leaders of various environmental and humanitarian NGOs. This included the leaders of WWF, Red Cross, and the Australian Conservation Foundation. As they are generally high profile figures, I was fortunate enough to have ANU support me in order to get the interviews, and I had very warm responses too!

    •    What do you enjoy about living in Canberra?
So far I’ve been very impressed with Canberrans, it seems that people are very environmentally aware, and want to do their bit in helping with the climate change situation. For instance, we have the Food Co-p and the Bike Co-op. Apart from that, Canberra is surrounded by a great natural environment, so we have easy access to the wilderness. It’s nice to have an outdoor activity on the weekend and come back to the university refreshed!

*Powershift 2009 is Australia’s first Youth Climate Summit. It is held in Sydney from the 11th to 13th of July. For more information visit http://www.youthclimatecoalition.org/powershift/wordpress/.