Since my last blog post, I’ve transitioned into a new project to work on. During my last project, I was doing more reading and analytical work. I enjoyed doing this first project for the first two weeks or so. However, by the third week, I was ready to move on to something new. Furthermore, the new project I’m working on allows me to be more creative and inventive. This is a nice contrast from the work I was doing before—it gives me variety and keeps things interesting.
The research center where I’m interning at, the Anti-Corruption Unit Research Center, is a relatively new unit at the Dublin City University Business School. Since its launch was about a year ago, its website isn’t very developed. This was something I noticed after doing research on the company after hearing confirmation of my internship. After finishing my last project, I brought up the idea of revamping the research center’s website as one of my duties to my supervisor. He was very fond of this idea and suggested I create a brainstorming document containing details on modifying and adding to the website.
My vision for this project was to examine each part and tab within the website. Then, take notes on what I thought should be altered or added in that particular section. I found this work very satisfying because as I was executing the work, I would visualize an end product. Specifically, there were some suggestions I made towards the website which I thought were particularly valuable and worth mentioning. First, it looked like the last time the website was updated was months ago and by now, many events and news within corruption studies had already happened. Therefore, I recommended making an archive amid the events section of the website. Moreover, they would archive past events like the Summer 2020 launch, webinars, and anything not mentioned on the website thus far, as well as any recent or upcoming events should be added into the events section. Second, there was an existing research tab which included “projects” and “publications.” Obviously, the projects and publications needed to be updated. In addition, the links to the research center’s offered projects and publications where in the form of works cited, making them very difficult to distinguish and understand their purpose. Therefore, I suggested modifying the layout of these pages to include the projects and publications’ title, link, and sufficient summary. With this layout, the page will be more organized, and it’ll be easier to comprehend and access the projects and publications. Third, I believe the most worthwhile idea I’ve brainstormed is the creation of an anti-corruption blog. This idea stemmed from me thinking of methods to display student interaction with the research center. I thought students who are involved in the center and corruption studies could upload blogs about the research they’re conducting, material they’re studying, or anything relevant to the research center. Also, this platform could include online discussions and debates. When I mentioned this idea to my supervisor, he was intrigued, even describing the idea as “brilliant” (in an Irish accent of course). My next step towards this idea coming to life was researching inspiration and direction for the blog. Luckily, I found Harvard doing a similar idea with an anti-corruption blog; however, theirs was more engineered for the classroom. Nevertheless, I sent it to my supervisor as a template and he was pleased.
In regard to my host country’s culture, I’m not finding it very hard to assimilate to, in general or in the workplace. In reality, I’m actually finding it quite comforting. I like the way Irish people articulate themselves because they still incorporate tendencies of Old English. This proper form of speaking is very satisfying to hear for me. I’ve always felt this way when listening to Irish or English people speak. It’s refreshing to hear people communicate eloquently and intelligently.
If I have to pinpoint one difficult thing, it might be the time difference. This is no big issue or problem, my work and communication with my supervisor is still sufficient. Nevertheless, in the moment if I’m working on something and want to send him an email about it, I quickly recall I may not get a response soon enough since our work hours differ in real time. Still, I’ve adapted and know what time it is for me and him in the moment. I try to be conscious of that if I have a question or need direction from him.