23 June 2009

Dundee graduate to help keep the peace in Sudan

Philip Engelholm will graduate at 10am on Wednesday, June 24th, 2009.

Taking a well deserved post-graduation break whilst thinking what to do next is a luxury that will be denied to a University of Dundee student who will be jetting off to join the UN peacekeeping force in Sudan shortly after he graduates.

Philip Engelholm (26) from Copenhagen, Denmark, will graduate with a First Class Honours Degree in Philosophy and International Relations at the University’s Graduation Ceremony at the Caird Hall on Wednesday, June 24th.

He will have little time for celebration, as he is set to form part of deployment responsible for monitoring a peace treaty between factions from the north and south of Sudan is upheld as a member of the Danish army on secondment to a UN International Peacekeeping Force.

Between finishing his final exam and graduation, Philip returned to his native country for two weeks of intensive courses to prepare him for the challenges he will face in Sudan. He will also spend three weeks at a UN Training Centre in Finland before flying to Africa in September.

He previously spent four years in the Danish army, during which time he took part in a peacekeeping tour of Kosovo, before moving to Scotland to study. He explained his motivation for taking up the one-year contract in Sudan.

'It has always been in back of mind to work in conflict resolution in some way, but didn’t know in exactly what context,' he said. 'Africa is where my main interest lies, and I want to work in areas such as self-determination and constitutional change.'

'Although we’ll be part of the army, seconded to the UN, we’ll be unarmed. Even though we’ll be in uniform, we will work purely to monitor the peace treaty and whether it is being upheld.'

'We’ll be working in the countryside, and driving around to monitor the situation. We'll also be engaging with the local population and alerting other agencies such as Red Cross to a particular need if it arises.'

'This is a military job working with non-military issues. As such, I’ll be able to use both my military skill-set from my years in the Army and my academic skill-set from my years in Dundee, particularly the courses I have done on Democratic Theory and Peacekeeping, which will be directly relevant to my work.'

'I believe that the synergy between my practical military skills and philosophical academic skills will prove invaluable.'

Philip’s time in Sudan coincides with a number of events with the potential to reignite conflict in the notoriously war-torn state. Elections are scheduled to take place at local, national and regional levels, and a referendum is due on the issue of whether the south should accede from the rest of the nation.

Despite this, Philip says he is very much looking forward to the experience. He has already spent two summers working in Africa,' as he explained, 'Between my first and second years at university, I worked with a company sub-contracted by the UN to clear land mines in Uganda.

'I also worked in Togo as a UN volunteer last summer and if any students want to see a different country, and want a really fulfilling experience, I would strongly recommend they do this.'

'There are plenty of internships available with all sorts of organizations in Africa. Even if they don't advertise vacant posts, there is no harm in sending them your CV and asking! If you were going to go backpacking anyway this might be a great alternative.'

'They will learn a lot, and how they view Africa will be significantly altered as part of the problem is that try to understand these problems by applying our standards of what it means to be living in poverty.'

Before he flies out to Sudan, Philip will be joined at his graduation ceremony by his parents, who will travel from Copenhagen for the event. He decided he wanted to study in Scotland after leaving the army, and applied to Dundee after being impressed by the University’s efforts to attract international students and the courses on offer.

He continued, 'The University has done a lot to diversify its student populace by recruiting an ever increasing number from continental Europe. Also, the University enjoys a strong reputation for contemporary European philosophy, something which is very unusual in the UK.'

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