As we enter another new academic year, we are thrilled to introduce two new members of the team.
Anisha and Evren are final year students at Manchester Metropolitan University, and will be completing work placements with PIE over as part of their final year study.
Whilst their placements this year are likely to look very different than students who have worked with us in previous year, we are excited to have them on board and are looking forward to supporting them in their research projects.
Whilst their involvement with PIE is currently going to be entirely virtual, we still wanted to let you know a little bit about them!
Introducing Evren
My name is Evren Vurdu, I am currently studying a BSC in Criminology with Quantitate methods at Manchester Metropolitan University.
The opportunity arose for me to base my dissertation on a placement. PIE really stood out to me as an organisation, the minute I was made aware of their work. The main reason the programme stood out to me is because of the vast amount of young lives that have been positively affected. Being brought up in a working-class household in Blackpool, with just my Mum and my brother, I have learned to not take anything for granted and have become more understanding to those less fortunate than myself.
In the past I have volunteered in different sectors, including healthcare and education. I have volunteered in Nepal, teaching disadvantaged children basic English as well as repainting their school. This experience allowed me to really see the world in a different way and appreciate how soft skills are so important for these young people to overcome these barriers to social mobility.
From this placement I would like to gain new skills that are transferrable to future jobs and would also like to help PIE to discover new research to help their project grow. In addition to this, knowing that the young people will really be benefiting from this organisation makes my placement even more rewarding.
Introducing Anisha
My name is Anisha Zaker and I am from Whalley Range in Manchester. I study Sociology and Criminology with Quantitative methods at Manchester Metropolitan University. As well as studying this course at university, I have been working as a peer assisted learning programme leader at university to enhance my skills, gain more experience and get a taste into the field of teaching. This role sees me helping other students across the university, and helping support them in a number of different areas of university life.
I transferred from BA to a BSC undergraduate course last year, with a main reason for the change being the opportunity of gaining the experience of working at a placement during my final year. This would allow me to do real life research and help me to base my dissertation on that specific placement – so I will be completing my dissertation based around the work that PIE do. PIE stood out the most as it gave me the chance to work for an organisation which aims to assist young people by helping promote their confidence and resilience. Running programmes such as the Future Ready programme has allowed students to develop mentally and academically and equips them with the right skills, something which I think will make a really interested dissertation topic.
This opportunity will also allow me to develop my communication skills with different groups of people; BAME, different genders and those of different age groups. Finally, the skills I will gain from this organisation will help me develop as a person and help develop my career in the future.
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