Juliette Hill

Juliette is a part-time PhD student in her third year. Her area of research is Sociology.

How did the Santander Opportunities Fund help you?

The Santander award provided me with the opportunity to work in the Scottish Government for three months without worrying about paying for additional costs.

This help ensured that I could immerse myself into a project which I gained a huge amount of insight into how government operates and in shaping my career prospects.

The Scottish Government is a prestigious reference when applying for employment opportunities and I subsequently managed to get a full-time position at Abertay Security Department. 

Over the course of the internship, I was under the supervision of Gita Anand and her team on a project titled ‘Mapping the draft environment strategy outcome on ‘Everyone in Scotland benefits from a healthy environment and connection with Nature’.  

The project involved examining existing policies and outcomes across the Scottish Government and establishing the evidence base” within Environmental & Rural Analysis.  

How has the Santander Opportunities Fund benefitted your studies and future career?

I am a self-funded part-time student and responsible for my own accommodation in Dundee whilst undertaking the internship. For the duration of the paid internship, I was awarded a monthly stipend of £1,277, which ensured that I could continue to pay for the rent at my current accommodation and additional living costs.  

In addition to the stipend, I also secured a further award for funding living and travelling expenses for £2,400 whilst in Edinburgh. However, the amount was not sufficient to cover the cost for all three months, as Edinburgh is very expensive to rent private accommodation, which was particularly difficult to source over the short-term period. 

I felt that it would be hugely beneficial to live in Edinburgh for the duration of the internship and that by doing so it would allow me to network with government staff and stakeholders. But I needed help towards the extra costs to do this. Without them I could not have carried out the internship at all. 

What do you hope to do next?

As a sociologist, I am particularly interested in policymaking, and the internship provided an opportunity to explore government policy and to get some practical experience which helped me shape my career plans following completion of my PhD.

You can learn more about the Santander Opportunities Fund here.