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Christina Anderl, Senior Lecturer, Economics
After working in industry for 3 years on contracts for hedging, margin adjustments and risks, Christina is in the early stages of a research project around international financeChristina always knew she wanted to study in London and first came to LSBU as a student in HR: "I received offers from many universities but LSBU was the only place that seemed to care about me being there. They contacted me and made me feel like they really wanted me to come here". After studying on a business degree for the first term, Christina quickly learned that the economics module was her favourite and decided to change course. “I was really involved in lots of projects as a student so lots of the lecturers got to know me well."
“Everything happened so quickly”
After completing her undergraduate degree in Economics, Christina moved away to study her Master's degree in MSc International Business Economics and worked in industry for 3 years. She felt that she wasn’t being challenged enough and realised that she “wanted to study forever”. As she had stayed in touch with her lecturers from LSBU, they mentioned teaching Economics. “Everything happened so quickly. I started working as a part-time associate academic and became very involved in projects”, she explains.
Christina was respected by colleagues due to her reliability and quickly moved up to a permanent teaching position and then to a full-time lecturer. She has recently been promoted to Senior Lecturer and is in the early stages of her research.
“I used to work in the Foreign Exchange Market”
Christina uses her background as a backdrop for research she does in addition to teaching. After working in industry for 3 years on contracts for hedging, margin adjustments and risks, Christina is in the early stages of a research project around international finance. She mentions that she is interested in economics because she likes puzzles and that there are lots of alternative solutions to problems. Put simply, she says, “I like to explain what is not explainable. For example, exchange rates and why they don’t behave in the way we expect or countries and their behaviour with inflation rates".
She acknowledges that academia is more suited to her but, in the future, would like to combine her experience in industry and research with academia: “I would really like to work more on how academics can work with businesses, for example consultancy and supporting smaller businesses that might not have the knowledge and the means to get professional consultants in".
“Working with students is very rewarding”
Our economics students get the opportunity to develop areas that they want to, “around areas other than subjects such as emotional intelligence, professional presentations and confidence”. Christina notes that it is very rewarding watching students gain in confidence: “from year 1 to year 3 their confidence always grows massively”.
When studying economics, the students don’t just learn about economics. Christina says they also “develop a really good sense for being critical and analytical to form their own opinion. Students learn facts and how to objectively assess situations”.
Our students are exposed to our good links with the government and private sectors for internships or fast track placements. “We have good employment outcomes. Students that are hardworking and get good degrees end up employed in really good companies such as JP Morgan or any of the Big 4 companies in areas such as data analysis."
Advice to students
“Come to Open Days. Ask questions and meet people. Be curious and find out more about LSBU and the courses available to you. It’s really important to know what you're getting in to. If it feels right, then it’s the right place for you."