HCRI PGT Outstanding Achievement Award winners

Every year, HCRI honour the students with the highest overall mark for Global Health MSc, International Disaster Management MSc, and Humanitarianism and Conflict Response MA respectively. Below, this year’s award winners reflect on their studies, their experience at HCRI, and their plans for the future.

Ines Böhret, Highest overall mark for Global Health MSc

"In 2017, I read about the MSc programme in Global health. I had just finished my BA in International Emergency and Disaster Relief, my son was learning his first words, and I decided to look for a new challenge. The significance of health in all its facets has always been fascinating to me and discovering Global Health issues in an interdisciplinary way sounded perfect.

"The plan to do my PGCert changed to the idea of doing the whole MSc programme and I experienced three - sometimes intense and challenging but also rewarding and exciting - years at UoM. I’m very grateful for everything I learned and for the team spirit we created in our cohort while writing our dissertations during this special time.

"During the course, my interest in issues of health equity was deepened and I started to put a particular focus on women’s sexual and reproductive health and rights. I am now involved in various projects and organisations aiming to do my part in reaching the goal of health for all by applying a gender and health equity lens. The knowledge and skills I gained in my MSc already support me in this endeavour."

Inès Decoster, Highest overall mark for Humanitarianism and Conflict Response MA

"Following several volunteering experiences in the humanitarian sector, this master’s degree offered me the opportunity to further explore the practical and theoretical challenges of humanitarianism. I have enjoyed the broad range of topics covered from mental health in humanitarian practice to the experiences of young people in conflict and displacement or specific regions’ issues. Most of all, I have enjoyed learning from my lecturers and course mates’ variety of backgrounds and experiences and engaging first-hand with humanitarian actors and projects. I am currently working with an NGO that supports unaccompanied minors in Calais and my training guides me in my everyday practice."

Jessica Hambley, Highest overall mark for International Disaster Management MSc

“I really enjoyed my year studying at HCRI. It was a privilege to be taught by researchers from such a wide variety of interdisciplinary backgrounds, and to study alongside so many amazing and inspirational classmates. Studying disaster management in the midst of a global pandemic definitely had its challenges, but it was also a particularly unique experience that really highlighted the importance of the discipline itself!

"I’m now working in local government research on a range of different projects. One of these projects is a COVID-19 dashboard that helps leaders in Greater Manchester to plan and manage the pandemic response. Another project uses some of the GIS skills that I developed on this course to support the expansion of environmental initiatives, like sustainable urban drainage systems or enhanced tree planting. I wouldn’t be where I am today if I hadn’t studied this course – thank you to my wonderful fellow students and to the HCRI staff for such an invaluable experience.”

A final congratulations to Ines, Inès, Jessica, and all of HCRI’s graduates of 2020.