Career and studies lead to new path for Master of Communications student
"After being a GP for twenty years, I was looking for a different direction," says Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington Master of Communications student Emma Dunning. "I loved my work as a GP, and I loved writing, so I wanted to find a way to combine those two interests."
Emma worked just up the road from the University’s Kelburn campus, so studying at Victoria University of Wellington made sense. When she investigated study options, she discovered the Master of Communication, which would allow her to combine her love of writing and her knowledge of health and science into a postgraduate qualification.
“As a GP I feel like a conduit of information for my patients,” she says. “I wanted to take those skills and experience and combine them with writing to move into health communication.”
Emma is specialising in science communication, and her studies and previous experience have already paid off in the form of a part-time role with a website as a clinical adviser on their health information pages.
“Although I got this job largely out of my clinical experience as a doctor, the skills I’ve learned during my Master’s have made me far more skilled and confident when doing this work,” Emma says.
Emma first studied as a doctor in the early 1990s. Although there have been a lot of changes in the university environment since then—mainly when it comes to technology—Emma says that she has felt welcome on campus and found it easy to adapt.
“I’m usually the oldest student in my classes, often older than the lecturer,” Emma says. “But age isn’t a barrier—you can participate the same as any other student regardless of age. There are also a lot of benefits to returning to study when you’re older— I’m more organised than when I was younger and keeping up with work is easier because I have life experience. Study also seems much less stressful compared to the rest of my life!”
Emma says she enjoys studying face-to-face and she gets more out of her studies when she’s on campus, but that studying during the COVID-19 lockdowns worked well for her.
“It was great to have something else to focus on,” Emma says. “I worked as a GP during the day and then switched tracks to study my Master of Communication when I wasn’t working, which was a nice change of pace.”
Emma is studying her Master of Communication part-time over three years.
Emma says the best part of studying a Master of Communication has been the wide range of courses available and the wide range of people who are studying alongside her.
“I’ve met so many people from completely different backgrounds to mine and been exposed to completely different ideas,” Emma says. “Students come from science, humanities, arts, design—all sorts of backgrounds—and they all bring own experience and views.
“It’s so exciting to see what happens when all those experiences and ideas come together, especially at postgraduate level where you can have such in-depth discussions.”
Students studying the Master of Communication study core courses on communication methods, and then have the option to specialise in the area of communication that interests them the most, followed by either an internship or a research project.
“I’ve learned a lot about human behaviour theory and how we use media to form our identity,” Emma says. “I also enjoyed a course on combining science and the humanities. I’ve been able to combine the communication skills and knowledge I picked up working as a GP and the formal communication knowledge I’ve learned as part of my degree to broaden my mind and continue to improve and learn new skills.”