GOOD FOOD OXFORD First Year Masters, MSc African Studies, Remote Working Work Projects My internship project involved researching Oxfordshire resident’s food related lived experiences during COVID-19. My main tasks involved drawing up a research design, contacting research participants, interviewing them and writing up a report on my findings. I am happy to have completed the report as completing the research was really fulfilling, enlightening and a nice break from my degree. It was so refreshing to meet new people through various online video calling platforms and have the privilege of hearing their stories. My line manager was supportive but also gave me room to work by myself. I enjoyed that I was not being micromanaged but also could reach out to her or anyone else on the team when I needed to. Daily Life Initially, I found the idea of working from home to be really strange and struggled to have that work/home division but now I love the flexibility working from home brings. Eventually I settled into a routine where I would work from early morning to mid-afternoon with some breaks in between. My official hours were 8am-3.30pm but, as I wake up early, I would start before 8 and then exercise for my mid-morning break which helped me push through to 3.30pm. My daily tasks were varied and included desk-based research, contacting people and conducting interviews. The interviews were more taxing than I thought they would be, so I tried to only have two a day. Lasting Impressions I definitely enjoyed this experience. I was definitely given more serious responsibilities than in previous internships and I felt like my ideas were valued. I gained so much from this internship including strengthening my research abilities but more importantly I gained knowledge of food insecurity and poverty and just how complicated the whole issue is and also how important it is that we continue to fight food insecurity and poverty and the misconceptions surrounding it. My career ambitions were 80% set on academia prior to this 20% set on the non-governmental organisation sector but I am now at 50% academia and 50% non-governmental organisation which is exciting.
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