I graduated Safety and Security Management Studies (SSMS) in 2024. The course was well-rounded, and I learned the professional and academic skills needed to work in the world of safety and security.
What motivated you to enter the world of safety and security?
Looking back at my decision to study in this field, my motivation was primarily to join the military or work or an intelligence agency after graduation. However, SSMS introduced to me many other alternatives, one of them being humanitarian work provided by NGOs. These organizations are constantly busy with the safety of their staff, especially in places of conflict, while at the same time providing basic human needs such as water, food, and healthcare.
Where and when did you complete your internship? What was your focus?
As I know friends and family who spent their time and effort to these missions, I was curious to see what this field was like for myself. I decided to do an internship at Doctors Without Borders (MSF: Médecins Sans Frontières).
This internship was my first time working in an actual ‘office job’ and was not at all what I was expecting, but I rolled with it to see where it would take me. As it turned out, I was one of the first interns in the operations department in a long time and a very young one too.Usually, only experienced staff can apply for positions of safety and security.
The topic of my research thesis at MSF was misinformation and disinformation. As I wasn’t going to visit any field projects, the whole thesis could be done from a computer. Nevertheless, I underestimated the difficulty of this topic as the concepts are ill-defined, and preventing or stopping misinformation and disinformation seems improbable without breaking the right of free speech.
What were some highlights of your internship?
The internship required a lot of self-initiative which was new to me. Despite this, the internship was very informative about the role of safety and security in field operations; I got to know many wonderful people who would help me in my thesis; and I was glad I could be a small part of an organization that helps people in need.
While my thesis was not the success I had anticipated, the project on incident data analysis could be considered something that I did really well and enjoyed doing. The project was primarily working with Excel and Power BI to categorize incidents and visualize incident trends over the years throughout specific countries and projects. In the end, the results were later presented during safety and security training to inform project coordinators.
Where are you now and what are you doing next? How do the skills you developed during the internship and your studies contribute to what you do now/your future plans?
The internship left me with a lot of experience in research, data analysis, and teamwork which I have come to value a lot. What I missed was actual experience in the field where I think I could have been of greater help as I am operationally oriented rather than academically.
For now, I have just graduated my Maters in Crisis and Security Management where I mostly studied intelligence and national security topics, and I am in the process of joining the Dutch army. As an ending note, I think that students with high initiative and networking skills who consider this type of work can have an amazing experience.