This is the second student interview in our series, reflecting on last year’s experiences and offering guidance for first-year students. To enhance student representation and foster community across the University and DEN, we’re interviewing second and third-year students whose stories share insights to ease peers’ integration. We hope this initiative gives you clear guidance and practical strategies to help you succeed personally and academically.
- My name is Negena Mahmoud, and I am in my second year of studies.
- Since I am a home student, I feel like I had a slightly easier transition from A-Levels to university since I didn’t really experience the ‘new city or new home experience’ during my initial months at the University of Westminster, but what I can say is by attending events that interested me helped me with my confidence and meeting and conversing with new people opened up new opportunities which I took on gladly and happily.
- I use an academic planner to plan EVERYTHING regarding my university schedule alongside other extracurricular activities and employment, which I juggled with and will continue to use going forward into my second year and onwards. Writing everything out makes it easier for me to visualise my tasks and deadlines, and what to prioritise when etc.
- I tried to do my readings when it was made available on Blackboard, so I had enough time before the next seminar to somewhat (if not fully) understand the topic. As I mentioned in my previous point, which now goes hand in hand with this point, my academic planner really helps me out in terms of assignments, academic work and meeting deadlines. It makes it crystal clear for me to know my time schedules and what needs to get done by when, so my priorities are accurate and I am not falling behind on anything.
- DEN has opened a whole new avenue for me to navigate in terms of my interests in politics and international relations, and how students can get involved in so many different ways and be part of something influential in the world of politics, no matter how big or small it is. It ALL still counts.
- The skill that I developed the most last year was public speaking. I practised it a lot throughout the year on multiple occasions, but the most memorable one is opening the 8th Annual DEN Conference in May 2025 with 2 of my fellow DEN members.
- The feedback I received from my academics and friends last year influenced my development by incorporating the suggested changes into my work to make it better and achieve a higher percentage rate in my assignments.
- The first semester was the most difficult since I had to adjust to a new environment with new people and new methods of learning, which, overall, overwhelmed me and made me make sacrifices in order to achieve the goals and grades that I wanted. I somehow overcame the feeling of being overwhelmed by just getting into a rhythm and knowing what is expected of me and how to handle everything with other extraneous factors outside of university that affect my life, e.g. work, family, etc. I still feel overwhelmed at times, but I believe that I have managed to somehow have control over it and not let it affect me too much, like it used to when I first started as a university student.
- The DEN Summer School and the field trip to Uzbekistan became a defining moment that changed my direction because these 2 different situations allowed me the opportunity to grow and learn from people all around the world who I may not have met had it not been for DEN. It was definitely the highlight of my academic year and something that I will always be grateful for having experienced.
- I first discovered DEN when I joined university and was given a guest lecture by Dr Farhang for one of my modules. The one advice I have for new students entering this year is to be a regular attendee in DEN. You’ll benefit so much by attending every session and constantly learning from your peers on various topics, which you may not have even considered or thought of as much as your peers may have. It’s definitely a welcoming place and I could not recommend it enough!
- DEN has connected me with the broader community by opening a form of communication using the DEN conference to engage with people from around the globe and working on projects together to achieve our goals. The connections have been nothing but phenomenal, and I am excited to see how it progresses in the future.
- Considering the fact that I joined DEN quite late into the academic year (I joined in March 2025), I was still given opportunities to participate in discussions and help with the summer school in general, which I am really thankful for since it allowed me to input my thoughts and contributions to DEN at such short notice.
- Thank you to Dr Farhang Morady for accepting and welcoming me into DEN with such warmth and light. You have supplied me with amazing opportunities that I will forever cherish close to my heart, and I hope that we can continue to do even bigger and better things at DEN to spread our message as much as possible to people all over the world.