Forever Keele 9
" I am a member of the World Health Organisation ( WHO ) Covid-19 Ethics Working Group , where we address ethical issues related to Covid-19 such as allocation of resources , triaging , vaccines and give recommendations to governments . My previous advisor at Keele is also a member of this group and I continue to learn from him . I am proud of the work Keele is doing on Covid-19 and I ’ m proud of being a
Keelite .
" I am also a board member of the International Association of Bioethics , the only Arab board member so far . Something I learnt from Keele is that collegiality is very important . Before my work , no one had published in bioethics in my part of the world , except in Islamic bioethics . Now , we have new medical students and researchers attending the programme every year , and the changes in perceptions are becoming clear .
" My advice to Keele students is to learn as much as you can and at the same time , live as fully as you can . Enjoy the beautiful campus and student life and try to work with as many cultures and colleagues as you can , because this is the treasure we all take with us . Keele is my second home ."
Sunil Peck ’ s career since leaving Keele in 1998 has seen him work in a variety of journalism and media roles , culminating in his current role as a Media Officer with the British Red Cross . Here he speaks about how he faced more challenges than most throughout his degree , but how a supportive and inclusive culture at Keele meant this did not detract from his experience .
" During my undergraduate degree between 1994-1997 I studied History and Politics , before doing an MA in Contemporary History in 1997 . I had a fantastic time and cherish a lot of fond memories from Keele , particularly of the people I met , the beautiful campus and all of the things there were to do at Keele .
" The academics and lecturers I worked with were also fantastic . Due to the fact that I ’ m blind , I had to order books in Braille and at the time , it was such an ordeal . But the lecturers and the guys in the library all said that if I needed anything then they would help . The lecturers even lent me their own books to scan into my computer and said if I ever needed anything then to tell them . I cannot speak highly enough of the staff and other students at Keele . It ’ s a tremendous place and everyone , literally everyone I met , was fantastic .
" After graduating , I held a variety of media-based roles , including working as a reporter for BBC Radio 4 , as a researcher for BBC TV and then in the events department at the BBC , writing commentary for presenters and writing news stories . Then in 2014 , I took up my current post as a media officer for the British Red Cross .
" The British Red Cross supports a variety of people in need including asylum seekers , refugees and vulnerable people leaving hospital . We also work across all social services , keeping up to date with what ’ s going on . My day starts off looking at the news to see if there is anything relevant to what we ’ re working on , or looking at what our partner organisations are doing .
" My job might involve talking to our operations staff and other colleagues across our services , to see if there are any stories that need publicising or issues that need addressing . I also liaise with our international staff and talk with our marketing and social media departments about campaigns that they are working on to see if we can link up . A typical day in my job might also involve delivering a media training session to staff , writing a press release to publicise a service , and setting up media interviews for staff and volunteers .
" Keele gave me the experience of meeting people from a range of backgrounds , with different cultures , beliefs and interests , which provided a refreshing insight into people ’ s lives as well . My course also gave me a broader and more in-depth understanding of current affairs , a better understanding of the world , and nourished my curiosity and made me want to find out more about what I was studying . But it isn ’ t just the academic element that ’ s important at Keele , but also mixing with other people from different backgrounds , whether that ’ s at Lindsay bar , the Student ’ s Union , or wherever .
" It ’ s hard to put into words how much Keele does mean to me , but I think of myself as being very lucky for having gone there ."