IGDC welcomes Cecily

For a week in July 2018, Cecily Perara came to the Interdisciplinary Global Development Centre (IGDC) for a work experience placement. Cecily chose the IGDC as an ideal place for placement as she would like to study geography at university next year, and hoped her time at the University of York would help to broaden her geographical knowledge and would give her a better understanding of university life. The areas of research carried out by the IGDC (especially into sustainability), tie into many areas of geography that Cecily is interested in, specifically challenges in coastal areas and resilience to changes in the environment.

When Cecily arrived on the Monday, she was given a comprehensive tour of the Politics Department and was greeted with a warm welcome by the IGDC Team. As the week progressed she was introduced to a current IGDC project, investigating the mangrove-lagoon ecosystem surrounding the Cienaga Grande de Santa Marta, in Colombia. Cecily was asked to research the history of this area and investigate the historical and present day causes of damage to the local ecosystem, and this included creating a timeline of the significant events that might have impacted negatively on the ecosystem.

On her final day, Cecily gathered her comprehensive research and awarded the IGDC Team with an informative and confident presentation of her findings. To conclude her week of work experience, Cecily attended an Environmental Histories meeting at the University of Cambridge alongside IGDC Co-Director Professor Piran White and IGDC Post-Doctoral AssociateMaria-Eugenia Giraudo.

The IGDC Team would like to thank Cecily for all of her hard work during the week she spent at the Centre, she was a pleasure to work with and we wish her the best of luck for the future.

The IGDC are keen to work with local students to provide work experience opportunities, if you are interested in learning more please get in touch!