Shell Personal Development Award - real life examples

Whatever you want to do, we can fund it - no strings attached. If you need some inspiration, click on a student's name to see why they applied for a Shell Personal Development Award, how they spent the money and what they got out of the experience.

I had been learning Mandarin for two years and my interest for China and its culture was growing enormously. So I decided to spend two months in Beijing in July and August to get a real insight into the country's culture and way of life. The Shell Personal Development Award enabled me to do just that.

I studied Mandarin at Beijing Language and Culture University while living with a Chinese family. It was a culture shock at first. However, not only did my Mandarin improve greatly, but I also discovered the Chinese way of living and thinking and opened my mind to an entirely different culture.

Thanks to the Shell PDA I had an exciting time full of unforgettable experiences ranging from Tai chi lessons with a Chinese Master to trips to Shanghai, Xi'An and its Terracotta Army, and horseriding weekends on the grasslands of Inner Mongolia !

I was fortunate enough to win a Shell Personal Development Award (PDA) to support a debating tour. Competitive debating has been one of my great interests, and I wanted to meet other students from around the world and understanding how they perceive important global issues.

I took part in Sydney's Australasian University Debating Tournament, which brings together the best teams from two continents. Topics for the debate are only released half an hour before the debate so you have to think on your feet and be ready to discuss all kinds of current affairs - from the torture of terrorist suspects to smoking bans in public places.

After travelling around Australia, the trip was also a chance to give something back by teaching debating in schools in Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand. By helping give schoolchildren the confidence to communicate ideas to an audience and encouraging them to view issues from several points of view at once, it helps them with the sorts of soft skills that we all need in studying, working and everyday life. Teaching these skills also forced me to analyse my own strengths and weaknesses as a communicator and to adapt my actions accordingly.

My experience was invaluable when it came to applying for jobs and particularly in being effective at interviews. More broadly, I want to use my skills to analyse complex business and public policy problems, to explain them at an appropriate level to those involved, and then to be able to persuade stakeholders to adopt a solution.

The Shell Personal Development Award recently helped me fund a research project to study Morocco's healthcare system. The trip was fascinating and the project proved more of a challenge than I'd expected - but for that reason it was particularly fulfilling.

I now have a thorough understanding of Morocco's healthcare, its attributes, faults, and the consequences for Moroccan society at large. In particular, the project encouraged me to talk to a wide variety of people and focus my conversations in a structured way.

"This project was a great opportunity for me to realise my dream to travel, as well as contribute to the progress made in renewable energy."

During an internship I gained experience in the field of renewable energy - specifically in the development of solar cells. I was interested to find out more, and Shell's Personal Development Award gave me the opportunity to undertake  an internship in an international team at the ISEM (Institute for Superconducting & Electronic Materials) lab in Wollongong, New South Wales.

The experience reinforced my desire to work as an engineer in the energy industry, more specifically in renewables. This project was a great opportunity for me to realise my dream to travel, as well as contribute to the progress made in renewable energy.

In addition to the knowledge gained through this investigation, the trip has also encouraged me to observe more and ask more relevant questions of the people I meet. I'm now considering other projects (with a more precise field of research) that could be investigated in future trips.

Thanks to Shell for giving me the opportunity to take this trip and further my investigative and photographic skills.