Brigid Flay, ITED ’18

ITED IPL Experience in Geneva

My Immersive Professional Learning activity was a student-led trip to Geneva, Switzerland over spring break. During this trip, we met with government officials working within the World Trade Organization, the International Trade Centre, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development, and other organizations. Through several private meetings, we had the opportunity to discuss our own trade-related interests and research with these officials, as well as discuss their professions as negotiators and policy-makers in the world of international trade.

Meeting with these international trade negotiators was an extremely important opportunity for me, personally. I am currently in the process of completing a Directed Study with Dr. Liang concerning China’s recent shift in its agricultural trade policy, from a tremendously conservative, over-subsidizing standpoint to a more trade-liberalizing approach; being able to meet with negotiators from the Permanent Missions of both Japan and Mexico to the World Trade Organization, who have hands-on experience negotiating with China regarding agriculture, has provided me with an exceptionally unique insight into my area of study. Hearing directly from trade negotiators on how they plan on navigating China’s policy change in current disputes involving China that have been brought before the World Trade Organization has helped me gain a much deeper understanding of my research. Dr. Liang and I crafted this Directed Study to allow me to pursue my academic and professional interests in agricultural trade policy, and this IPL trip served as an incredible jumpstart in this endeavor.

Further, as someone who is very interested in working abroad in the future, this trip was a great opportunity to network and discover job and internship opportunities at the international institutions in Geneva. We were able to meet a MIIS alum currently working at the WTO, and he was able to answer our many questions about the hiring process at that organization and connect us with other professionals at the WTO.

A tip I would have for future students doing an IPL trip such as this one would be to do as much background research on the professionals you are going to be meeting as possible; having questions prepared for our speakers really made a difference in the quality of information we received, as well as left a positive impression of MIIS on those speakers.

“MIIS students meeting trade professionals at the Permanent Mission of Mexico to the UN and WTO in Geneva.”

Click here to check out Brigid’s video on her experience in Geneva

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