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Spotlight on SR:EPT MSc graduate Kuan-Hao (Matt) Tung

18 August 2023

Matt graduated from the Sustainable Resources: Economics, Policy and Transitions (SR:EPT) MSc in 2022 - here he shares his experience on the programme in the UCL Institute for Sustainable Resources.

Photo portrait of Kuan-Hao (Matt) Tung

Matt’s educational background was in finance - he completed a Finance BBA at Chung Yuan Christian University in Taiwan. Before undertaking the SR:EPT master programme, he secured working experience at a leading sustainability NGO and found his passion in sustainability.

According to Matt, after completing his undergraduate degree he struggeld to find his future pathway during the early pandemic period. He realised the importance of sustainability and joined the Taiwan Institute for Sustainable Energy (TAISE), one of the largest sustainability NGOs in Taiwan, as a sustainability intern. Due to the lack of structured learning experience in sustainability, he wanted to gain more analytical perspectives and sustainability knowledge through further study, leading to the MSc here in the UCL Institute for Sustainable Resources.

In Matt's view, SR:EPT gave him a well-structured learning methodology focused on sustainability:

With the comprehensive combination of lectures, seminars, tutorials, group projects, visiting speakers’ presentations, and detailed feedback of every assignment, SR:EPT effectively improved my sustainable resource knowledge, critical thinking, collaboration, and independent studying skills."

During the time that he was writing his dissertation, Matt found the teaching staff of SR:EPT to be supportive and accessible:

I have a strong curiosity about the wind power industry. Therefore, my supervisor assigned me to her wind power research project team with other knowledgeable researchers. They friendly mentored me, discussed problems, and shared their datasets, helping me form and complete my final dissertation titled Characteristics of the investors in the wind power investment market in the UK."

To get the most out of MSc SR:EPT, Matt would like to encourage future graduates to narrow-down their particular research interests and work to proactively self-learn more about them:

This programme will offer you sufficient learning resources about various disciplines and critical topics, such as energy, forestry, water resource, carbon emission, waste and recycling, etc. Personally, I’m keen on renewable energy, especially wind power. Throughout the whole programme, I have had opportunities to research the wind power industry deeply by conducting my essays and final dissertation."

Since graduating in 2022, Matt has worked as a Programme Assistant at the UCL Institute for Sustainable Resources, supporting dissertation allocation and holding events for students. He is now a Graduate Trainee at one of the Big Four global accounting firms

By completing this programme, the transferrable skills I have gained allow me to critically assess information, smoothly collaborate with multinational colleagues, and independently absorb new knowledge and skills in my new position."