Angharad Devereux - Global Challenges Scholar
Angharad Devereux grew up in Swansea and is hugely grateful to have done so. Studying in its university under such an incredible scholarship programme is nothing short of a dream come true for Angharad. She has been an avid follower of US politics for years and Secretary Clinton’s example has had a genuine influence on her life and so when this scholarship appeared she felt like it was meant to be. Anghard thinks the team around the scholarship are incredible and the programme has lived up to expectations and much more!
Educational and Career Background
Angharad was educated in Swansea state schools before going to Cambridge University to study Human, Social and Political Sciences. This was an inter-disciplinary course in which she eventually specialised in Politics and International Relations. In her time at Cambridge, she created the role of mental health officer within her college student body and spent a lot of her extra-curricular time working on increasing awareness of mental health and access to support within the university. She also worked on increasing access to Cambridge from state schools, particularly those in Wales.
After Cambridge, she began a MSc Course at LSE in Global Politics. In this time, she specialised in Globalization, American Grand Strategy, and Middle Eastern Politics. She wrote her dissertation on the appeal of ISIS to foreign fighters from Europe.
Within her time at LSE, she undertook a part-time job working for an MP from Swansea, she divided up her time working in both Westminster and in the constituency office in Swansea. She worked in this time on a range of local and national issues such as air pollution and Brexit.
Areas of Expertise
Angharad is using her background in researching MENA-based extremism to combine with Sky’s work and interest in online regulation and protecting children to focus her current research on how to protect children online from ‘radicalisation’. As this course is based in the law school at Swansea, she is learning more about taking a human rights approach to this issue which she's sure will enrich her research. Swansea also holds an innovative cyber threats research department so it is the perfect place to undertake this work. Angharad is interested in finding policy recommendations both online and offline to protect children from vulnerability to extremist communication. She is passionate about working on countering extremism because it has such wide-ranging detrimental effects on people and society.
Ambitions and Hopes for the Future
"This programme has only increased my passion for wanting to enact global change and I hope that I can use the skills and knowledge I have gained to do this in some way. I am in a privileged position to help others who have not had the same opportunities available and I hope to find a position, whether it be in practice, policy or academia where I can make a positive impact and act as an advocate for those who don’t have a voice."
