A First Year’s Experience as an Official Development Assistant Intern

Abstract

Fresh off the plane from Jamaica and newly arrived in Leicester, Akilah Maxwell was in search  of a familiar setting outside of academic research that related to her previous work in national  development and projects. Akilah’s passions encouraged her to sign up for the Official  Development Assistant (ODA) internship at the University of Leicester between January  and April 2017. This was an eye-opening experience that built on her knowledge of national  development, but it also revealed how Akilah could use her existing project and programme  experiences in her PhD research. Below Akilah shares a first hand account of some of the  lessons she learnt along the way and how they shaped her journey as a researcher.