HISTORY

WITH
PLYMOUTH
UNIVERSITY
WHAT THEY DID NEXT
LIFE AFTER BA HONS HISTORY;
BA HONS HISTORY WITH
ENGLISH/INTERNATIONAL
RELATIONS/POLITICS

History with Plymouth University Japan 400 Festival 2014.

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Tom Baycock

BA (Hons) HISTORY WITH

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
I graduated from Plymouth University
in September 2013. Following my final
exams in May 2013, I was offered the
position of Parliamentary Research
Assistant. Since then I have been
exposed to a variety of experiences.
My day to day role involves media
briefings, drafting press, drafting
articles, writing parliamentary
questions/speeches, carrying out
research, scheduling and other office
administrative tasks. On top of this I have
been lucky enough to attend meeting
with Secretary of States for example
in the Department of Environment,
Food and Rural Affairs to negotiate
plans to alleviate flooding. I have also
attended meetings in the Home Office.
History at Plymouth University equipped
me with a variety of skills. The diversity
of the degree is what has been
most valuable to me in a position of
employment where the responsibilities
are so disparate. Politics is largely
communication, be that through
correspondence with constituents,
social media, or questions in the House
of Commons, therefore my ability to
communicate effectively has been

enhanced by my degree. My ability to

research and write effectively, has also
paid dividends in my work given that my
boss, Jeremy Browne MP, has written
two books since I have worked for him,
one of which focused upon globalisation
and the changing world order, my minor
in International Relations at the point
became invaluable!
I also worked as a member of the Crime
and Criminal Justice policy group,
which really drew upon the written
and research skills I obtained through
my degree. I was pleased to find that
much of the research I carried out was
published in the final policy paper.
What I learnt has been invaluable, and I
genuinely believe the skills obtained by
studying history at Plymouth University
have suitably equipped me to carry
out my job and they would also be
very applicable to a number of other
career paths. Above all the course was
stimulating, interesting and fun, as was
studying in Plymouth, and it has also lead
me to where I am today. I couldnt really
ask for much more in a degree course
and university experience.

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Lucy Huggins

BA (Hons) HISTORY WITH POLITICS

In 2010 I enrolled at Plymouth University
to study BA (Hons) History with Politics.
As a mature student, I was initially
apprehensive but thanks to the warm
and friendly atmosphere at Plymouth
I quickly found my feet. There is a wide
range of modules on offer, which, due
to the first class expertise of the staff
are detailed and interesting. Soon
into my degree I discovered that I was
passionate about early modern social

history and wanted to pursue my studies

to the highest level so upon completion
of my BA, I enrolled on the MRes History
degree at Plymouth. The training and
skill set which I had developed during my
BA well equipped me for postgraduate
study, and, as I was finishing my MRes
dissertation in 2014. I was awarded an
AHRC funded PhD studentship at the
University of Sheffield.

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Charlotte Rockey
BA HONS HISTORY

I studied at Plymouth for both

undergraduate and masters level
degrees. I began with a BA in History
with American Studies and MA in Social
History. The decision to start an MPhil/
PhD here was made all the easier by the
enthusiasm and support of the faculty.
Plymouth is my home town, so one could
say I am biased, but I thoroughly enjoyed
my time studying history here (and still
do). The staff are friendly, engaging and
specialise in a wide range of subjects.
I still remember my open day experience
a lasting impression was made!
As I go further in my PhD journey, it is
with the knowledge that the University
will be both supportive and inspirational,
as it has been from the beginning.

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Danny Saxby
BA (Hons) HISTORY

Undertaking a BA (Hons) and MA

at Plymouth University completely
prepared me for my career as a
teacher. I have found that the modules
that I took from culture, society
and politics in Britain 1640-1900 right
through to regimes and dictators in
twentieth-century Europe have all
been so useful in supplying me with
the necessary contextual knowledge
needed in a secondary school. Yet my
time at Plymouth engendered me with
more than historical knowledge; the
confidence gained from presentations
and the collaborative skills gained from
group work and shared assignments
ensured that I left university as a wellinformed and confident individual.
In a final note; Roald Dahl once said that
he valued kindness in a human being
above every other attribute like courage,
bravery, generosity of anything else.
The reason I have highlighted this
quote is that each lecturer that I had the
pleasure with dealing with at Plymouth
was always happy to help and were
kind, friendly and informational. If you
choose to study at Plymouth you will find
a plethora of resources, course content
that is both stimulating and interesting,
and staff who supply you with the
necessary support and guidance that
you will need to excel; leaving you in a
great position to really think about
what future career path you would like
to go down.

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Rachel Coke

BA (Hons) HISTORY WITH

POLITICS
After completing my BA (Hons) in
History with Politics, I chose to start
my MA History part-time. The MA felt
like the next step for me, it gave me
the opportunity to explore areas of
History in more depth. The support
that the department has given me has
been invaluable. Last year I was lucky
enough to receive one of the Roosevelt
Centres International scholarships to
research my MA dissertation on FDR,
the Court-Packing case of 1937 and the
greater politicisation of the US Supreme
Court. It focuses on the notion of judicial
impartiality as a concept and whether
or not this is achievable. In exploring
this I have encompassed elements of
judicial, legal, constitutional and political

history. The interdisciplinary approaches

of my dissertation have allowed me
to build links with colleagues in other
departments. I chose the part time route
because I took a job working as a Cover
Supervisor part-time in a local secondary
school, which led me to the decision that
I want to work in the education sector.
I also want to do a PhD to explore my
research interests further.
Plymouth University has been a massive
part of my life for the past five years. It
has been a great environment for me
to grow from the first year student who
wanted to sign up for everything to
the masters student who can use the
opportunity to network and connect
with others in the academic community.
I have been able to merge my interests
in history and politics into a cross
disciplinary approach which has allowed
me to widen my options.

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Peter Bowden
BA (Hons) HISTORY

I work in the city for Catlin, a FTSE250

specialty insurance and reinsurance
company which writes business in nearly
every country in the World. I work in
compliance which is the function which
ensures that the company operates in
line with all of the many laws to which it
is subject. Studying history at Plymouth
University gave me some of the key skills
I have needed in order to have a career
in the city. These are namely; the ability
to get to grips with difficult subjects
quickly, the ability to independently
manage a workload (and operate
under pressure), attention to detail
and the skills and confidence to put
my arguments and ideas across.

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Robin Frost

BA (Hons) HISTORY
As my group filed off the plane into the
heat of Nairobi, none of us had much
idea of what to expect for the next three
months. We had been selected to go
abroad as volunteers in the International
Citizen Service scheme, which is run
and funded by the Department of
International Development (DFID) in
partnership with Voluntary Service
Overseas (VSO) and other development
charities. Our new home was a small
town called Machakos, to the southeast of Nairobi, and after a few days of
training we found ourselves living with
a local family alongside our partner
volunteers from Kenyan. It was a big
adjustment the local population
werent used to having Westerners
around, so we got a lot of attention and
were accompanied by cries of Mzungu
(Swahili slang for white skin) virtually
everywhere we went. The food, the
frequent power cuts, the crazy traffic
and the occasional football riot all
added to the challenge!
My placement was with the local
branch of the Red Cross, and involved
working on sustainable greenhouse
projects in a nearby school, participating
in awareness campaigns to increase
blood donations, helping to map
problem areas of waste disposal in
Machakos, and working to increase the
local Red Cross membership. After we
got used to the Kenyan working culture
and their sometimes flexible approach

to punctuality, we were able to really

get stuck into our respective projects
and make an impact. My time at the Red
Cross culminated with a blood donation
event in the centre of town, organised
and publicised solely by my group, and
we managed to break the Machakos
record of the number of donations at
an open-air session. Three months
seemed such a short time to develop
our projects, but the work my group
started will be carried on by a new
cycle of volunteers who are currently
in Machakos. Its not a holiday and at
times it was incredibly challenging
and frustrating, but overall it was just
a fantastic experience which let me
do something positive for people less
fortunate than me, and it gave me a
really unique insight into another culture.
Im currently pursuing a masters
in International Relations at the
University of Cape Town. My time at
Plymouth helped to develop the focus
and organisational skills that I used
throughout my time in Kenya, as well
as providing me with an independent
outlook that was a help in dealing with
the cultural differences. The work I
did at the Red Cross was aided by the
abilities in writing and presentation that
I honed during my History degree, and
the constant collaboration with other
students during seminars was a great
foundation for working under pressure
in a volunteer group.

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Lewis Broadway
BA (Hons) HISTORY

Since graduating in 2014, Ive begun

working as a research analyst for a
company called River Path Associates.
It is a very small company I am one of
five employees and the company itself
has worked for a wide range of clients
including UNICEF, The British Council,
Vodafone, New York University and the
World Health Organization.
The sort of activities I undertake on a
daily basis heavily involve the skills I
developed while studying History with
Politics at Plymouth. These include
independent research, initiative, thinking
and writing critically, and developing an
informed opinion on sources. Since Ive
started work here, one of the biggest
projects I have been involved with is
finding a way to make schools safer in
Nigeria in light of the kidnapping of 219
schoolgirls in Chibok by Boko Haram
in April 2014.

which will hopefully influence the

programme in Nigeria and help more of
its children achieve a good education.
In my third year at Plymouth I took a
module on the United Nations which I
have found crucial in my job as we do
a lot of work on this topic, for instance
on the Post-2015 agenda and towards
the election of the next UN Secretary
General. These topics require me to
have a very good grasp on the history
of the United Nations and how it, as
a body, has developed. In my politics
minor I did a large-scale piece of
work on opinion polling and surveys,
which is very important in the field
I am working in as we monitor and
evaluate different global programmes
which involve collecting vast sums of
data, and asking the right questions.

I chose this career because it suited

me really well, it involves topics I have
Even prior to this kidnapping, school
enjoyed studying in the past, and I dont
attendance in Northern Nigeria has been do the same thing every day. Recently,
drastically low. This has presented an
I have been doing lots of background
opportunity to develop a programme
reading of reports. Prior to that, I was
which will ensure that attacks like
working with survey data, and I am about
Chibok dont happen again, and that
to start a report which will involve me
more children begin to attend, and stay
putting together an array of infographics.
in school. My role in this project was to
In the future, I will be looking to take
pull together as many reports, books
on my own projects which may include
and evaluations of programmes which
travelling to countries such as Pakistan.
have been used in similar situations
Future positions which this job may
as possible, and to reach a consensus
lead to include governmental research
of what works and what doesnt. My
within Parliament, or working for larger
research formed the basis for a report,
companies such as IPSOS MORI.

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We are grateful for the help of all our

wonderful graduates who kindly agreed
to contribute to this brochure.
Thanks also to all the companies and
clients they work for.

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HISTORY
WITH
PLYMOUTH
UNIVERSITY
WHAT THEY DID NEXT
LIFE AFTER BA HONS HISTORY;
BA HONS HISTORY WITH
ENGLISH/INTERNATIONAL
RELATIONS/POLITICS

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Contact the programme team
artshumadmin@plymouth.ac.uk
School of Humanities and Performing Arts
Faculty of Arts and Humanities
Plymouth University PL48AA
T: +44 (0)1752 585858
E: admissions@plymouth.ac.uk
www.plymouth.ac.uk

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