Life as an IGDC Visiting Fellow

Dr Gale TC Rigobert reflects on her experience as an IGDC visiting fellow.

Through 2022 IGDC were honoured to be joined by visiting fellow Dr Gale TC Rigobert.

Gale is an International Relations Expert, Author, Lecturer, Former Government Minister, and TV Host. As a Climate Change Champion, she is an intrinsically motivated, highly driven, energetic, passionate and innovative thinker who has combined over twelve years of experience in academia specializing in International Relations and ten years in political leadership and representation, to bring to fruition tangible solutions to complex socio-economic challenges.

Why IGDC?

“I was very impressed with the diversity of perspectives, the diversity of cultures, and the geographic reach of the Centre’s work.”  

Delivering a MasterClass

The IGDC community of students was able to benefit from Gale’s career experiences during a Master Class. Gale explains how it felt to be back in the classroom after having been away from academia for over a decade:

“It was a very friendly space, the students were very engaging, and the range of issues that they were interested in, not only as global citizens but also with respect to what they were pursuing… made for a very rich exchange.”

Gale shared her view on what she thought students took away from the Master Class:

“For them to be interfacing with a politician in such close proximity…humanised politicians so to speak.”

‘Leave no-one behind’ reflecting on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals

Visiting Fellows also have the opportunity to hold IGDC events to share their experiences of specific topics and bring together panel members from their wider network of contacts. Gale explains what inspired her choice of Leave no-one behind: Taking stock of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals:

“The frightening reality is that many people, many nationalities, many ethnicities, many countries will find themselves falling way short of SDG benchmarks… what are the issues that bar countries from realising the goals, what more can be done to ensure countries are better poised to benefit from the goals promised.”

Gale goes on to talk about how the webinar was received:

“We had participants from across the globe, we had persons from academia, practitioners, and policy makers.”

Policy and Emergency Responses

IGDC also benefited from Gale’s contribution to the ‘Emergencies, wellbeing and social justice in the Anthropocene’ webinar where she shared her thoughts on policy and emergency responses. Read Gale’s blog following the event.

Transforming Education Summit

During her time as a fellow with IGDC Dr Gale TC Rigobert was selected by Unicef, UNESCO and UNDP to undertake research in the Eastern Caribbean linking into the United Nations Transforming Education Summit.

What’s next with IGDC?

IGDC are pleased to say that Gale is joining the Centre in 2023 in a new capacity as a member of the External Advisory Board. Gale shared with us her excitement for this new role:

“My relationship with York will continue to be mutually beneficial…it will feed my academic curiosity as well as afford me the opportunity to give back… the role allows me to bring to the fore small island developing states perspectives, the black perspective, the female perspective”.