Life at the Department: Views from Kyle & Claire from the Evidence-Based Social Intervention and
As we approach the end of Week 7 in Michaelmas term, two students reading for the MSc in Evidence-Based Social Intervention and Policy Evaluation (EBSIPE), Kyle Edmunds and Claire Weil, reflect on their first six weeks studying in Oxford.
It’s a surprisingly overwhelming feeling, reflecting upon my first six weeks here in Oxford; although, I suppose it’s always hard to contextualize everything in such a short amount of time, still freshly caught up in the whirlwind of life as an international student. Still, I can definitely say that this university has been everything I dreamt it would be: from its awe-inspiring, ancient architecture to its vibrant academic culture.
I came here from Iceland, where a budding career as an adjunct professor in biomedical engineering left me with two nagging-yet-confusingly-nebulous career goals: to strengthen my understanding of the social impacts of my field, and to transport the foundational framework of social intervention to my NGO, Verkfræði fyrir Alþjóðlega Þróun (Engineering for Global Development). So far, the EBSIPE program has proven applicable to both of these career goals, with its informative lectures intermixed with real-world case studies, practical sessions, and statistical programming training. This combinatorial focus on theory and application has been equal parts refreshing and surprising, given that we’re only six weeks in; I can honestly say it took me all of four years as an engineering undergrad to feel like I could do anything truly applied.
In the coming weeks, as we wrap up this first term, I feel particularly energized towards developing my thesis ideas while sorting through the remaining readings and assignments. Another objectively important goal of mine is finding Oxford’s best pint of house cask ale. For now, my money is on Eagle and Child; it was the first place I heard glorious reviews about, so there might be some serious confirmation bias there, which is something our professors have warned us against. Once you learn about it, you really do start seeing it everywhere!
You sit at your large coffee-stained desk wondering how time slipped by so fast. Your brain is numb from reading through the dense Cochrane handbook. Maybe focusing on the Imai statistics textbook would be more productive, but let’s be honest—you can’t remember the last time you were on top of statistics and coding. How is it week 7 already? In the words of Dr. Seuss, “How did it get so late so soon?”
You try to think of when you could potentially fit in reading time before lecture tomorrow but remember that your bike brakes are broken; you’ll probably have to head out early to walk to Wellington Square. You think about how the sun sets so incomprehensibly early in this part of the world. There is not enough sunlight, and not enough time! Time here is a bit like those water wiggler toys from the 90s that kept slipping through your hands. The whole point of the game was to…stop it from slipping away? You’re not too sure what the point of that toy was, but you certainly know there was no way of being sure you were winning.
You wish you could pause time just for a bit so you can finish those readings and work through your R worksheets. You figured Oxford would be intellectually stimulating and challenging, but you never imagined the biggest challenge to be the inexplicably water-wiggly aspect of time. Although you bemoan the fact that time here is constantly slipping out of your grasp, you can’t help but love it, the way you loved those strange, sparkly water tubes from your childhood.
You slap down the computer screen, resigned to the fact that, no, Cochrane will not get any easier to read. Instead, you decide to see a renowned economist speak at the Oxford Union. On your way there, you walk past the Radcliffe Observatory, smoking your cigarette and remembering, as you always do, how you found an article there about Richard Doll’s world-changing studies on tobacco and lung cancer. Then you’ll pass by several food trucks where the rich and tempting smell of kebabs and chicken nuggets intertwines with the melodious sounds of another Sunday evening choral concert emanating through an old church’s stone walls, as they have for hundreds of years. You’ll bump into course mates on your way there and drag them along with you to walk under the peaceful and ageless gazes of the Sheldonian figureheads. It’s wonderful that in such a short period of time, you’ve connected with such brilliant and intimidating beings.
As you sit on the ridiculously uncomfortable wooden benches of the Union waiting for the speaker to arrive, you look forward to the walk home, during which the laughing and singing of rum-filled students as they spill out of the pubs will be strangely comforting. The warm coziness of your home will welcome you back. Exhausted by your day of chasing time, you’ll curl up in bed feeling tired but so alive, and so grateful for time’s passing. There’s something incomprehensibly magical about it being so ephemeral and finite here. You’re not sure you truly belong here, but maybe in time—just like riding your bike on the left side of the street—you’ll get used to it and this place will feel like yours.
Kyle is pursuing his MSc in the Evidence-Based Social Intervention and Policy Evaluation program. Prior to moving to Oxford, he was an adjunct professor in biomedical engineering at Reykjavík University in Iceland, where alongside his research interests in computational image modeling and neural engineering, his passion for applying engineering practice to international development projects led him to found an NGO, Verkfræði fyrir Alþjóðlega Þróun (Engineering for Global Development). Managing the implementation of these projects through grassroots collaboration with local stakeholders and policymakers led him to reflect upon the intersection of engineering and social intervention, which he hopes to further investigate through his studies at Oxford
Claire is pursuing an MSc in Evidence-Based Social Intervention and Policy Evaluation. Having studied conflict management and development economics during her bachelor’s degree at the University of Oregon, she went on to work in the field of humanitarian and development aid as a monitoring and evaluation officer for various NGOs in sub-Saharan Africa implementing health interventions. The experience that she subsequently gained through designing and evaluating various health interventions in conflict-affected areas led her to reflect on the quality of health services and their impact, which she wishes to explore in depth during her time at Oxford.