CEDEUS - CENTRE FOR SUSTAINABLE URBAN DEVELOPMENT

CHILE

CEDEUS - CENTRE FOR SUSTAINABLE URBAN DEVELOPMENT

Shamsa Derrick, Lady Margaret Hall, Masters-level student, MSc Refugee and Forced Migration Studies, Remote working

Work Projects

I conducted a literature review of over 20

low-income settlements in and around

Santiago, Chile. My work involved reading

many academic papers and other publications

and summarizing them in a database that logs

each source. The goal was to create a spreadsheet that codifies all of the published research

on these settlements. The organization will eventually publish its report on the settlements.

While this was year two of a four-year project, I was able to do some of the key leg work to

ensure that it goes smoothly in the future. I received a lot of support from my supervisor

who is leading the project. He included me in all of the team meetings and met with me one

on one to make sure that I was up to speed and understood my tasks. He made himself

available for questions via email and WhatsApp.

Daily Life

Since my internship was remote, I tried to designate a certain area of my house as my

workspace so that I could focus. Each day I set a goal for how much work I was going to get

done. It was helpful to take a walk after work after sitting for so many hours. It was also

important to make sure that I actually took a lunch break! I made sure to make time go see

friends and family too.

Lasting Impressions

I was surprised by how much this project related to the research I had done for my

undergraduate thesis. It was fascinating to learn about the politics of urban poverty in a

different region. I also gained a lot of practice analyzing academic papers. Reading and

writing in Spanish and attending group meetings in Spanish definitely improved my language

skills. It was a great experience! Thank you CEDEUS!