2021

In 2021, I completed the final year of my undergraduate degree remotely from Jakarta during the pandemic. Living in Indonesia during this time gave me a front-row seat to the country’s rapid technological advancements. I observed high-level collaborations between government agencies and unicorn founders working to scale impact-driven startups tackling challenges low-income families face. Churches also adopted innovative approaches, displaying QR codes during televised services to enable instant donations for COVID-19 relief efforts supporting orphanages. These experiences showcased how emerging markets like Indonesia were solving systemic challenges with creative, scalable solutions—insights I saw as critical for addressing similar inefficiencies in advanced economies like the UK.

 

Motivated by these observations, I focused my undergraduate dissertation on comparing how the rule of law could have mitigated the 2008 financial crisis in Eastern Europe and Southeast Asia. This ambitious project earned me the highest mark in the Department of Government and two prestigious academic awards, including the Oscar Arias Prize for Best Undergraduate Dissertation. It also strengthened my skills in political-economic analysis and quantitative research.  Following my undergraduate studies, I chose to pursue a specialised master’s degree focusing on the political economy of emerging markets, further deepening my expertise and commitment to leveraging insights from these economies to foster innovation and inclusivity on a global scale.