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My internship experience at Centre for Human and Economic Development Studies (CHEDS), China

发布时间:2021-04-16

In July 2019, I interned at the Centre for Human and Economic Development Studies (CHEDS), School of Economics, Peking University, Beijing, China. This was a significant opportunity given the legacy of CHEDS in hosting world-renowned scholars, like Amartya Sen. At the CHEDS, I was tasked to provide research assistance to Dr Minquan Liu. Dr Minquan Liu himself is a student of Amartya Sen and has published widely on issues including health, education, poverty, inequality and development.

Learning from him about China’s human and economic development was a dream come true.

During my internship, I worked with other research assistants on projects covering social policy in Asia. However, the main project on which I spent most of my time was researching the health policies of India and China. This involved conducting extensive literature reviews and data analysis relating to different domains of health policies of both countries (e.g. health system, human resource etc.).

Here the skills gained at the LKYSPP were extremely useful. For instance, the search and summarization methods I learned in the ‘Evidence-Informed Policy-Making’ course aided in preparing rigorous literature bases for the projects. Furthermore, the communication and team-work skills emphasised in LKYSPP pedagogy came in handy whenever language and cultural gaps with my colleagues hindered progress.

However, the biggest advantage was my policy school training. It allowed me to look at problems from a more practical perspective. Consequentially, my research strategy always focussed on finding information that could directly inform a policymaker. Given the dearth of time-relevant and practical policy advise in Asia, this internship gave me an opportunity to contribute to this gap—a mission to which the LKYSPP is committed to.

Health is one of the most significant factors in human development and hence requires global attention as a topic of research (e.g. through SDGs). Furthermore, creating accessible, affordable and good quality health system is a highly complex challenge for policymakers in Asia. Hence, at CHEDS, I wanted to deepen my understanding of this field not only through research but also by attending conferences and seminars.

In doing so, I not only gained valuable research, management and communication skills but also made excellent friends. Working at Peking University was especially rewarding because of the institution’s historical legacy and its close connection with senior policymakers. Being from India, I also played the role of a knowledge broker between the world’s two most populous developing countries. Such comparative work is essential to building the indigenous knowledge base of Asia.

This internship was rewarding and I am really glad that I did it. I am grateful to LKYSPP for providing with initial motivation and courage to undertake such work. It has contributed to my aim of being in a policy advisory role where I can act as a broker between academia and policymakers. Internship story by Mohnish Kedia, MPP Class of 2020

 

Original link:https://lkyspp.nus.edu.sg/news-events/news/details/my-internship-experience-at-centre-for-human-and-economic-development-studies-(cheds)-china