Alumna Update: Martina Carlucci about her career in International Affairs
In this article we are catching up with alumna Martina Carlucci. She graduated International Studies in 2017 and now works at the prestigious international affairs Think Tank Chatham House in London. How did she get there? And what did she wish she would have known while being a student of International Studies? We asked her to describe her journey so far.
“As my eagerness to explore different realities became clearer and clearer, my family prompted me to spend a trimester in New Zealand as part of my fourth year of high school. In the words of a famous Disney Movie’s song, those three months so far from the comfort of home at the age of 17 opened “a whole new world” to me.
This experience made me realise I wanted to know more about life outside of the Italian borders, and – most importantly – showed me how enriching it is to spend my days surrounded by friends coming from all corners of the world. This led me to enrol in the BA International Studies, from which I graduated in 2017.
I currently work as the Coordinator of the Queen Elizabeth II Academy for Leadership in International Affairs at the international affairs Think Tank Chatham House, based in London.
I support the organisation of the QEII Academy’s fellowship programme for young leaders, and I lead on our Next Generation work. The latter aims to bring the world of international affairs to a diverse audience of students and young professionals outside of London, promoting the role that the next generations can play in tackling major global governance issues, and encouraging cross-generational dialogue.
Next to my project management-oriented job, I dedicate my free time to my passion: research. Working at Chatham House, I am very lucky to have access to experts on the Latin America region – my area of focus during my BA – and to be able to publish relevant articles. My research focuses primarily on ethnic minorities and socio-economic inequality in Latin America.
Undertaking a career in International Affairs is not straightforward, but my time at Leiden University contributed to creating a truly solid foundation. Following five years of Italian high school where memorizing information seemed at times more important than understanding it, I was amazed by how each tutorial during my BA aimed at making us students reflect, contrast, and compare, pushing us to form our own opinions while understanding different ones – which I soon realised is exactly what think tankers do.
The road to working in International Affairs (and be aware that I definitely do not consider myself to have reached the end point… quite the opposite in fact!) has been studded by many different activities. I spent a semester in Santiago de Chile during my third year at BAIS and, following graduation, I continued my education with the MSc Emerging Economies and International Development at King’s College London, keen to improve my understanding of the Global South.
Throughout my university education, I seized the opportunity to put in practice my passion for international relations. I contributed to the organisation of the Model United Nations of The Hague 2016, volunteered at the EXPO Milano 2015 and the BOND Conference 2018, and interned at Medair UK to gain a deeper understanding of the humanitarian sector.
Following all these experiences and four years of education, I embarked on the demanding task of finding a job. Although I had always imagined that finding my first job was going to be tough, I never thought it was going to be that tough! Following endless months of motivation letters and interviews – and a brief parenthesis working at a clothing shop for kids (you can now ask me anything about babies’ bodysuits!) – I obtained a position as project assistant at the UK Royal Academy of Engineering.
Although the focus of my first job was not international affairs, it involved constant communications with our US and Chinese counterparts and, therefore, had that international dimension that I was looking for and provided me with transferrable skills, which I am currently applying at Chatham House.
In conclusion, my advice for current BA International Studies students is (1) to make the most of the opportunities offered at Leiden University, while ensuring that these do not take away precious time to build important and true relationships with your peers, (2) not to worry when feeling lost after the end of your BA and of your academic education – and in fact throughout the whole of the beginning of your career – as it is a common feeling (and I wish someone had told me this!), and (3) to remember that as International Studies graduate students you are one step ahead, as you are aware of cultural differences, social constructs, and international dynamics like no other graduate student!”
Get in touch?
If reading Martina's story sparked your interest, and you would like to contact her, to ask questions or network, you can get in touch with her by email:martina.carlucci@outlook.it