Tell us about your experience on the Fellowship Programme?

The real strength of the Fellowship is the diversity of the cohort and just what you learn from people across civic and business and political sectors: everyone’s bringing their particular perspective, their particular level of experience and it’s a really formative experience for anyone that undertakes it.

What were the standout moments for you?

The residentials are just fantastic, with great experiences in Oxford and Dublin. I would probably say, however, that the projects that we collaborated on really brought a lot of value for me. The relationships that you’re forging while you’re cocreating those projects are probably the most valuable thing and I still keep in touch with all of the Fellows and we still run into each other all the time.

So, it is actually the network that you build and the relationships you build that are highly valuable.

How has mixing with different sectors for this programme helped your work in politics? How have you found it to be important?

Totally. It’s been good two ways: firstly mixing different sectors can bring a different perspective than just the purely political. But, the fact that all the major parties collaborate on the Fellowship really helps to break down the barriers as well and it actually helps to lead to better politics in Northern Ireland and that can only be a good thing.

What would you say to encourage anyone considering applying?

I would just say go for it! I mean, when I applied, I had no idea that I’d be successful on it and but it had such a huge personal and professional transformational impact on my career and on the skillset that I bring. So you won’t regret applying and I would encourage anyone to go for it.