In November 2018, I had the immense privilege of being flown to Dublin, Ireland for an academic conference: the Undergraduate Awards 2018 Global Summit. This was because a piece of original research I had done on biopics had been recognised by the UA and had had me named Global Winner of the awards’ Music, Film & Theatre category.
Receiving a phone call telling me my research had won an award had felt almost like a prank – I think most people are pretty suspicious of anyone telling them over the phone “congratulations, you’re the winner of…” Happily, however, the people at UA are lovely and genuine, and the plane tickets were very real!
The result was that I had the opportunity to speak about my work at a conference full of creative, engaged, interesting people from all over the world. My only regret is that the conference was only three days: I loved meeting everyone at the conference and it was sad to say goodbye to new friends so soon. Spending time in Ireland was also a wonderful experience and it was invigorating to meet so many new people with great ideas and exploratory research.
Following the Summit, the UA released a video summarising it – you can watch it here. It turns out segments from an interview I did for the organisation made it into the final cut. As I say in the video, the Summit and the UA more broadly are both pretty special – and I’d encourage people to submit their work to the UA if they’re interested. It’s a great opportunity to become involved in an international academic community, and who knows? You could well end up visiting Dublin at some point as well.
I love photography and found Ireland to be absolutely spectacular, so I’ve included some choice photos from my brief travel around Ireland before and after the conference. Enjoy!
