From very early on in the course of my undergraduate degree at Bangor University I knew that I wanted to pursue a career in International Development. Following my graduation in B.sc Agroforestry in 2005 however I encountered the common problem of limited employment opportunities due to my lack of experience in the field.

Within three months of graduating I applied to the Tropical Agricultural Award Fund, having seen their posters on display at my university, to help me gain practical experience in my particular area of interest. In November 2005 I was awarded a grant to investigate the impacts of agricultural globalisation on subsistence farming communities in southern Mexico.

For six months from January to July 2006 I worked with a number of rural communities in the remote highlands of Chiapas on participatory appraisal exercises for identifying opportunities for improving land use. During this time I developed skills in interviewing farmers, facilitating workshops, subsistence farming and agroecology. While I was in Mexico I also became interested in journalism as a way of publicising the impacts of agricultural globalisation to a wider audience.

Following my return to the UK I was accepted on a four-month Post Graduate Diploma at the London School of Journalism. Here I was taught the practical aspects of journalistic writing as well as techniques in editing, design and production of small publications. I was also offered a two-month internship at the UK's longest running environmental magazine The Ecologist.

While working at The Ecologist it became clear that my area of expertise- agricultural globalisation- was becoming increasingly relevant in the current climate of food insecurity. Following my internship I undertook an extended research trip to Eastern Europe to investigate the impacts of the Common Agricultural Policy on New Member States.

Since finishing at the London School of Journalism I have worked as a freelance journalist with featured articles published in The Ecologist, Resurgence, Permaculture Magazine and the TAA journal. In June 2007 I joined the editorial committee for the TAA's newly re-launched journal Agriculture for Development. At the same time I also began working for the International Society for Ecology & Culture (ISEC), a non-profit independent organisation raising awareness over the impacts of global consumer culture.

In May 2008 I completed a national public-speaking tour for ISEC taking a presentation on agricultural globalisation to over twenty towns across the UK. From September 2008 I will be conducting ISEC's activities here in the UK with a particular emphasis on building solidarity between agricultural development initiatives in the tropics and re-localisation here in the UK.

Although my work so far has not followed a typical template in terms of International Development, I believe my varied and diverse experiences have given me the practical skills, knowledge and confidence to now launch the next phase of my career. My TAAF award was fundamental in enabling me to develop these skills and provided not only a perfect complement to my academic qualification but also a solid foundation on which I have built my career.

Ed Hamer