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Max studied Politics and International Relations and graduated from UCL in 2022.
While studying at UCL, Max reflected on his time undertaking an extended 15-week SODA internship with the Climate Policy Initiative (CPI).
“It’s no exaggeration to say that my internship changed my life. Getting into research and policy organisations is typically really hard so this internship has been invaluable. Since spending time with the CPI I have a much clearer idea about my future career direction and I’ve decided I would now love to use my data science skills in a policy setting.
“The whole experience was wonderful and I was surprised by how I was able to get involved in two new projects looking at big topics straight away. The first was a novel project using policy and literature data within cities to understand how the building sector can reach net zero. The second looked at investment in relation to climate resilient infrastructure.
Through key word searches and statistical data I was able to approximate global levels of money flowing into climate resilience infrastructure. For example, as Japan showed, we can’t invest in nuclear energy if infrastructure resilience isn’t there to handle flooding.
“Supporting the wider team and working alongside them was really rewarding and I was able to contribute a lot, putting my theory and working knowledge to the test. I was even able to write two sections of a report being published in November, increasing my knowledge of different writing styles and how to reach different audiences. Things I thought I could do I was able to try, cementing my practical understanding of processes and techniques. I learnt new skills such as Python programming and got quicker at using existing skills. I had to juggle many competing demands on my time so I’m much better now at prioritising and time management.
“This internship really demonstrated to me the importance of data and its use in society. As I learn in my degree, politics and money hold the power in the world. Data is fact and can be used to support or argue against this power. If we don’t have clear data then we can’t properly evaluate our impact on topics such as climate change. If we can collect data to measure progress we can understand what does and doesn’t work across society.”