Bursaries

Current role and title

Currently working at the Land Warfare Centre in Warminster as an Operational Analyst. My role is to perform analysis on data we receive from operations. For example, we receive polling data from locals in Afghanistan every quarter, and this is analysed to see if objectives are being met.

What attracted you to the MOD and DESG?

The DESG scheme offers great opportunities to meet other like minded people, and get a real insight into the workings of the MoD. The bursary through university takes away some of the financial pressure that students face, and a guaranteed job at the end of university takes away the pressure of finding a job once you have graduated.

Highlights of your career to date

The most enjoyable task I have done during my placement is analysing airfield attack data from Iraq with a view to identifying trends. This developed my statistics knowledge, and helped with my university course. I found this particularly interesting. More generally, the opportunity to work with people who have experience in the MoD, and have a lot of extremely valuable knowledge to share has been an enlightening experience. Working alongside the armed forces on a daily basis has also provided a good insight into military knowledge, and I have met some very interesting people.

What you hope to achieve in the future

I hope to become an operational analyst within the MoD and hopefully be deployed on operations in Iraq or Afghanistan. Looking further ahead, I would like to become a team leader leading a group of analysts, and readily share my knowledge to help them become better analysts.

What advice would you give someone thinking of a career in the MOD

Definitely go for the DESG scheme, as it offers something unique. The training and experience you will gain while on the scheme will give you a solid grounding, which could lead to an excellent career in the MoD. The whole experience is invaluable, and will offer a varied and exciting job.

The MoD does a very important job of supporting the country’s forces, and to be a part of it and be able to see the changes you are making is amazing. There are so many people of different backgrounds in the MoD, so the variety of people you meet is vast.