The Impact Lab Course gives all students an equal opportunity to further refine their transferable skills that will help them in the future. By partnering with numerous social impact organizations, it also exposes students to the wide spectrum of areas where they can create positive social impact.
Despite being a postgraduate, Aurora reached out to the Impact Lab Course to apply what she has been learning to real-life scenarios. She started working with Foundation for Shared Impact as a Learning Development intern during the 2022 spring semester, helping with promotional videos, ESG research, and Community Connections. By surrounding herself in a supportive environment with FSI, Aurora was able to form a better idea of what she wants to do with her future career.
Can you give us a brief introduction about yourself? Which year are you in and what major are you studying? What do you do to relax or self-care?
Hi! My name is Aurora. I’m a postgraduate at The University of Hong Kong studying environmental management. I previously completed my undergraduate studies at Wuhan University.
Dancing is one of my hobbies. I first learned how to dance when I was six. I still love it and will also dance with my friends. It is also a great release of stress. So when I’m stressed, I’ll usually go dancing.
Why did you apply to FSI?
Environmental management does not only focus on nature conservation, but also involves corporate sustainability. One of my major courses is called corporate sustainability governance. I thought this course was very interesting as it introduced me to numerous strategies a company will use in their governance, including human resources and other sustainable methods. I became really curious about how CSR (corporate social responsibility) could be applied to the real world. That’s when I found out that FSI also focuses on this CSR concept, which intrigued me to apply to FSI.
FSI has many connections with various social impact organizations. It provided me with an opportunity to learn not only from a social business aspect but also from the perspectives of different organizations. Within FSI, there are different types of programs. Some focus on students and youth, some on social businesses, and some on the private sector. It’s really interesting to see how all the programs focus on different topics but all work towards the same goal of making life more impactful.
How did you join FSI as a postgraduate?
I first found out about FSI through the Impact Lab Course and was really interested in their work. So, I sent an email out to Lucia Loposova, the TA of the Course, and asked if I could join as a postgraduate. Since my major is related to the ESG course FSI is currently curating, Lucia connected me with Andrea, who is the ESG course supervisor, and that’s how I started working with FSI.
Tell us about your experience at Impact Lab thus far. What are your roles and responsibilities in FSI?
There are three parts in total to my work. The first part is organizing online courses, and I would create transcripts for videos, edit video drafts, and create short promotional videos for the public. The second part is about the ESG courses. It’s a big topic so I gather lots of materials and articles to support our idea. Since my major focuses on ESG, I am responsible for researching resources related to ESG and arranging and highlighting them into key concepts. The third task is related to Community Connections. For the briefing sessions the team conducts with Corporate Participants of the Program, I help to arrange these meetings and incorporate these meetings into videos.
What is your one major takeaway from the Impact Lab experience? If you had previous internship experiences, how is Impact Lab different from them?
Before joining FSI, I was really confused about my future career path. I thought that what I was learning right now with environmental management was just an ideal concept that can not be applied to the real world. However, interning at FSI helped me realize that there is a way for me to utilize the concepts I’ve learned to make an impact. The people at FSI believe that these concepts can create change. Surrounding myself in this environment has helped me to form a better idea with what I want to do with my future career.
In my previous internships, I mostly focused on human resource, marketing, and business development. Because my undergraduate major is about new energy science technology, in these internships, I worked on developing tangible products instead of concepts. That’s why before coming to FSI, I was confused since social impact is not a product that we can see or measure. But now, I understand how it works.
How has this experience benefited your personal growth? Has it influenced your way of thinking about creating social impact, whether personally or through your future work?
Because my undergraduate major focuses on engineering and my current major is related to science, my problem-solving techniques are hugely influenced by the engineering framework. I mainly depend on science and logic. However, when I joined FSI, I’ve realized that while we do need to have a structured step-by-step framework for tackling issues, there are so many opportunities and connections to be gained in between the steps and throughout the problem-solving journey. It’s hard to calculate every scenario as you will face unpredictable happenings and opportunities. This whole experience somehow has crushed my existing logic system.
If you could solve any one world problem/issue, what would it be? Why?
An issue that I’m interested in is about the relationship between youth education and family. I think that families have a great amount of influence on their children as they grow up. Therefore, I want to do some research on how people can help children with an unhealthy family environment, or find ways to consult the family to create a more suitable environment for the child’s growth.
How are you dealing with the new Covid restrictions? What is the main thing that you have learnt from the pandemic so far?
Now I work from home. Sometimes, I forget what life was like before the pandemic. I think that mental health is really important during the pandemic. Time to time, I will force myself to go out for a walk or a hike to maintain peace and think of happy thoughts. On top of that, the most important thing I’ve learned is that when you want to do something, don’t be afraid to start and just do it. All you have left is time and especially during Covid, we can’t take a normal day for granted.
I’ve actually made plans to go to Turkey two years ago but it never happened. I feel like Covid is always chasing me. Wuhan was hit first when I was still studying at Wuhan University, which left me no choice to move back to my home in Beijing. However, Covid ended up spreading to Beijing. After a few months, I left for Hong Kong thinking that it would be a bit safer. Just when I thought I was finally safe, the fifth wave hit Hong Kong.
Who do you think should take the Impact Lab Course?
The Impact Lab Course gives students the opportunity to learn many new concepts. Through this experience, they will get to understand how they can apply these concepts to real life and how the different social organizations transform social impact into a real product. While this course is recommended to business students, I think that anybody at HKU who is interested in this course should take it. By joining this course, they can really gain a better understanding on how their interests can be applied to their future life.
What is your advice for future Impact Lab students?
Just learn as much as you can. There are going to be a lot of new concepts that you have not experienced before. On top of learning new topics and concepts, you can also learn from your supervisors as well as your groupmates about communication. Overall, learn about the professional environment the course provides.
