Advertise on podcast: Queen's University Belfast - Alumni Anthologies

Rory talks about working with the PR team in Deloitte, emphasises how transformational his year abroad studying in Spain was, and how learning languages trains us to pay attention, process information and connect. After graduating from Queen’s with a BA in English and Spanish, Rory started his career at Public Relations agencies in New York City, including global firms Hill+Knowlton and Weber Shandwick, before going in-house to a storied Private Equity firm, and then joining Deloitte.

Evelyn talks about her commitment to advocating gender equality, and how being adaptable and flexible led her from dreaming to be a pop singer at 15, to studying Law, and finally, her lifelong achievement as advocate of Equal Rights. Evelyn is an Honorary Professor at Queen’s School of Law and the Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Equal Rights Trust.

Michael shares how postgrad life in Queen’s changed him as a person, his proud mom’s moment of having strawberries and cream at graduation for the first time as he was the first of his family to go to university, and his passion for social change. Michael completed his PhD in sociology in 1985 and has led a very successful career, including serving as the Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland, Chief Inspector of the Criminal Justice Inspectorate in Northern Ireland, and 10 years as a Partner in a global consulting firm specialising in strategy and organisational development.

Alice talks about how Queen’s offered her the “I’m a filmmaker!” realisation moment, gives advice on how to deal with difficult personalities on TV, and urges students to make connections earlier than later. Alice completed her degree in Film Studies in 2011 and has gone on to Produce and AD content for Netflix, Amazon Prime, Discovery and National Geographic.  Alice specialises in unscripted television and feature drama docs.  Recent projects include Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy and an upcoming Netflix series Exec Produced by Steven Spielberg.

Manus completed his degree at BSc in Business Management at Queen’s and is now based in Dubai as an anchor and European Editor at Bloomberg Television. He talks about how his career path was shaped by the heady financial climate of the 1980s. In this episode, Manus shares why it’s important to take pride in your education, and has lots of good advice for students deciding on where to study and how to make those important first career choices.

Peter Dickson is the UK’s most prolific voiceover artist. He has enjoyed a stellar career spanning almost 40 years. His unique and powerful vocal delivery is the choice of global TV entertainment mogul Simon Cowell. His voice has featured on “Britain’s Got Talent” and “The X Factor” in the UK. In a national poll, he was voted as one of the top three iconic UK voices of the decade. Peter gives us a fascinating glimpse into some career highlights, and speaks about how important it is to find a balance between living life to the full and following your heart while also maintaining discipline and focus at university.

Marie Anderson became the Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland in 2019 having gained a classification in Law at QUB. Marie reflects on how her background as a solicitor lead to her current role investigating complaints about public service providers here in Northern Ireland. In this episode, hear how an incident from her childhood lead Marie to develop a strong passion for advocating for justice. She reminds students that a university degree is a passport that can take you anywhere: “If you work hard you will succeed, you’re the only person who sets the boundaries.”

BBC News Correspondent, Mark Simpson started his journalism career when he left Queen’s and joined the BBC in 1988. With a career spanning over 30 years he has become a household name and a familiar face on our TV Screens. He describes his time at Queen’s as “an academic Disneyland” and speaks about the value of having a rough plan of what you want to do after education.

Meet Sean Doyle. Hear about his incredible career journey from studying politics at Queens University Belfast to becoming the Director of Unscripted at The Walt Disney Company. He tells us about how using unexpected free time to take advantage of work experience helped him break into the media industry.

Meet Kelly Andrews. Kelly is a woman of many talents. Hear about her incredible career journey including how getting involved in the Green Party while studying English and Politics at Queens University Belfast and working as a part time hairdresser kick-started her career.

Meet Matthew Thompson. Writer, podcaster and founder of ‘Best of Belfast. Hear about the highs and lows of his career journey to date and how getting experience as a writer can come from the most unexpected places.

Meet Rebecca McKinney. A popular and very successful radio presenter who now has her very own radio show on Cool FM. Rebecca is also a fashion stylist and blogger. Hear how she transitioned from studying Law at Queens University into the successful business women she is today.