I was very glad to be enrolled in the Global Fellows Programme as it was a great chance to improve our academic networking skills and learn more about climate change and the environment. I am a PhD student in the department of Earth Science and Engineering so it was a really great match for me. The research I was involved in concerns multi-scale coastal flooding from tsunamis, storm surge, etc., also associated with landslide-generated tsunami sources.

During the first week of the programme, based on collaborative team work, I felt my communication skills had really been enhanced. Some of my favourite aspects were our team name ‘Avengers’, tutor Mike, the relaxed atmosphere and the friendly relationship. My team work abilities, effective communication, defending opinions, social networking (including improving my small talk!) have all been improved, all skills which will be applied when working with my research group at ICL. In the latter three weeks, I was hosted by Professor Xiping Yu from the department of Hydrology in Tsinghua. He very kindly offered many suggestions about my research work (about coastal and ocean modelling). His Phd students were also very considerate in helping me settle into the student accommodation. I liked Prof. Yu’s team with their academic ambitions and collaborative spirit.

The overwhelming impression I had was of the Tsinghua students’ hospitability as they gave us lots of help and suggestions which were greatly appreciated. The city is so big, the weather is so hot, the university is so international, and there are so many people in both the campus or outside the campus, seemingly everywhere (of course, as a Chinese citizen I expected this in advance but as a Chinese citizen born in a small city it was still under-estimated by me!). Nevertheless, I would still encourage those interested in the program to apply, remember shorts are always enough in the heat of the summer. No chinos please!

"My team work abilities, effective communication, defending opinions, social networking (including improving my small talk!) have all been improved, all skills which will be applied when working with my research group at ICL. "