Arabella Liu

Career path

After graduating from UCL, Arabella joined Teach First as a delivery coordinator. Here, she supports and develops trainee teachers and programme members through teacher development and leadership programmes. 

Support from the UCL RDR Careers team helped her secure internship opportunities, including a role at the International Coalition for Sustainable Infrastructure (ICSI). During her internship, Arabella published a position paper and learnt that smaller organisations can make big impacts when working in mission-driven teams.

While at UCL, she worked at the UCL Risk & Disaster Reduction (RDR) annual conferences, where she engaged with leading researchers and practitioners working across the field. These conversations helped deepen her understanding of how academic research informs real-world risk management and sustainability practice..

Life at UCL

Arabella valued the opportunity to explore humanitarian issues through case studies and applied research. The interdisciplinary environment encouraged her to examine crises from social, political and environmental perspectives. Engaging with academic debates and collaborative projects helped her develop strong research and communication skills that continue to inform her professional journey. 

One highlight of her time at UCL RDR was serving as the Academic Representative for the BSc, contributing to improving the course and developing the student community among her peers.