Juan Franco Bermudez
Juan Franco Bermudez, a recipient of the Geoffrey Oldham Scholarship, reflects on studying for a Science and Technology Policy MSc at SPRU.
Profile
Juan Franco Bermudez, Science and Technology Policy MSc, 2020-21
Why I chose this course
I am an industrial engineer from Medellin, Colombia. This Masters course has been my main goal in the last two years, while I was still an undergraduate. The road to Sussex has been long, with many challenges such as learning the language, applying to different sources of finance, overcoming the uncertainties of COVID, saving almost 80% of my salary during the last two years, getting support from my family, my company, my teachers and many others – and in the end, here I am, completely determined and motivated by what I am doing.
I am a person who always thinks in the longterm, defines very specific and clear goals and trusts that I have a huge potential, as well as the capability to think big, to transform, to challenge myself and not be just another engineer working in just another firm.
I believe that I am one of those people that the world needs to design a better future with topics on the agenda like social values, equality, sustainability, inclusion and innovation. All of this is why I chose the University of Sussex. SPRU is the best school in the whole world in my areas of interest, with the best teachers and the best students.
Academic life
The end of the first semester was challenging because of the number of essays we had to write, but I felt happy with the papers that I was able to produce. I really learnt a great deal and gained a lot of new concepts and perspectives to better understand the world around me.
I grew as a person and I feel like I have become a more mature and skilled professional after those months. In the second semester, the focus shifted from open debates to being more quantitative and analytical.