The Social Sciences explore, investigate and, crucially, give recommendations for changes for the better.
Many things are happening in the world around us that leave us confused, angered, frustrated, making us feel insecure and uncertain of our future.
These include technological changes, social upheavals, the rise of populist movements and the polarization of society.
The COVID 19 pandemic, social movements such as BlackLivesMatter, MeToo, labor automation or even closer here to home in Aberdeen with challenges from the fishing industry, the near collapse of the oil industry triggered by energy transitions and a move to a more sustainable future.
These are just a handful of the types of topics that can be explored, understood and investigated through the social sciences.
The world we are currently living in is unsustainable, and we need people to support the change.
Social sciences look at the world in a different way than the hard sciences look at the natural world.
The school is made of three departments Anthropology, Politics and International Relations and Sociology.
I've been interested in politics ever since the 2014 Scottish independence referendum, when as a 16 year old, I was allowed to vote with such a big constitutional question it really sparked my interest runs about the same time as I was looking to go to university.
At Aberdeen, there was a whole range of courses that really stood out for me, such as Scottish politics, global inequalities and the rise of non-Western powers.
Certain skills that I've been able to pick up include analytical thinking, data analysis and understanding policy and how it connects to the real world.
I just came to acting because I loved the atmosphere.
I got a feeling as soon as I walked on campus that this was somewhere that was friendly, that was warm and frankly where you were going to have fun, you know, like there was a real life to it.
And I love that.
And for me, that was really borne out in the time I spent there.
Like, I actually ended up coming back to do my PhD in Aberdeen.
And that was just because everyone was so friendly.
There was a real community spirit.
And I really loved my time that.
Loved it!
and I chose to study anthropology because it opened up more questions than it answered.
And that was my way of becoming a curious learner.
I chose Aberdeen because of the beautiful location and the history of the country and the landscape, and because of the specialisation in indigenous studies and environmental studies and sustainability.
So the reason I chose to study in Aberdeen was because when I was looking at the programmes available at different Scottish universities, I actually found that Aberdeen kind of ticked more of my boxes and I was lucky enough that my dissertation supervisor was actually the leading expert in the field on the topic that I was wanting to do my thesis on.
I graduated from the University of Aberdeen and 2019 and since then I was able to capitalise on my work and academic experiences and launched my agency, which currently provides services to organisations such as Facebook Journalism Project and International Center for Journalists.
I've always wanted to study abroad when I was in high school, so when I graduated from high school, I did some research and I found that the quality of the education that the University of Aberdeen provided was one of the best in the UK.
The social sciences have so much to say about the world we are living in right now.
Have you ever looked around yourself and thought somebody should do something about that?
You might be that somebody.
As it stands, you're inheriting a world not of your making while you were not part of the world's long history, you most certainly can be part of its future.