My name is Andrei Czolak, I've studied the MSC in Criminology and Criminal Justice
at Edinburgh University.
I was given the
opportunity to write a dissertation on
behalf of Police Scotland, to help shape
their stop and search policy going forward.
Having worked with my tutor, who
herself has worked closely with the
Police Scotland, I was afforded a lot of
opportunities to go out there and
look at information that I otherwise
wouldn't have been given.
For me, as someone who really enjoys the research
aspect of academia, that was huge.
I really enjoyed being able to be afforded that
opportunity.
A lot of the skills that you
are using throughout the year can be
used in any workplace, really.
Particularly with regards to the
opportunities - you get to present your
work, not just to your fellow classmates
but to professionals, and also members of
various professions. So we had people
come from Her Majesty's Inspectorate,
constable, of the Constabulary and also
members from the Scottish government.
To be able to share your work, your ideas and
your research with people there who can
give you feedback that others can't, was
huge, and you've noticed over the years -
um, over the year - in different modules
that you do start improving, because you
learn from the previous one what type of
information they're looking for, how they
want it presented, and more importantly
when they ask me tough, difficult,
questions that you previously struggled
with, you're far more capable come the
end of the year to answer them, and
that's going to be so beneficial in any workplace.
Being able to challenge
people who know more than you, and still
being able to come across in quite a
professional and knowledgeable manner.
