Meet our MA Cyber Crime and Terrorism Graduate, Chamin
My name is Chamin Herath, and I have recently completed my MA in Cyber Crime and Terrorism. I spent my entire time in higher education at Swansea University. In 2016, I started my undergraduate degree in Criminology and Psychology.
After finishing my degree, I chose to study an MA in Cyber Crime and Terrorism. What drew me to this course was its focus on two broad areas that are rapidly growing in importance – online harms and violent extremism. Having touched on these topics in my undergraduate degree, I felt that there was a lot more to learn and as the area is continually evolving, there would be space for new perspectives.
The best thing about the programme was its multi-disciplinary focus. I felt there was a lot of room to engage with topics and debates from a variety of different areas such as such as law, history, psychology, criminology, and philosophy.
Additionally, I really valued how well connected the lecturers were to those who are working in areas such cyber policy, counterterrorism and countering violent extremism. Through their connections, we had some fascinating guest lectures from individuals in organisations such as RUSI, Hedayah and Facebook.
Moreover, Swansea Law is also home to the Cyber Threats Research Centre (CYTREC), and as a result there is the opportunity to work as an intern on a research project, towards the end of the academic year. I was lucky enough to get one of these internships and, despite it being virtual, it was great to get some hands-on experience working with data and conducting new research.
As there will be lots of opportunities to engage in an out of the lecture room, my advice to prospective students would be take as many of these as you can. There will be some great chances to meet and learn from people working in really interesting, important, and relevant areas.
Whilst the prospect of finishing the course virtually was daunting, the staff remained supportive and were always available for advice and feedback.
Since graduating, I have been working as a Research Assistant on several projects examining the Far-Right online. Later this month, I am due to start as a Cyber Research Analyst at RUSI.
