A Giant Week for Daisy - PRME Week in Belfast

This blog is written by Daisy Hudson, god-daughter of PRME Lead at Ulster University - Marc Duffy - where Daisy spent a weeks work experience in May 2026.

by Daisy Hudson, Year 10 Student, near Sheffield - England.

I am Daisy Hudson a Y10 student based in Sheffield England, in Y10 at my school you must complete a weeklong period of work experience placement. We use Unifrog as a careers and guidance platform, that helps students explore future pathways, record skill development, and manage work experience placements. In September, I started to think about what I would want to do for my experience, I was originally contemplating going somewhere law related as I've always had an interest in law and politics. I’d also investigated doing work experience for one of the Formula 1 teams but discovered they didn't offer it during the week i needed to complete my placement. Then when Marc came to visit during the October break I was helping him with edit a poster for his workplace, Ulster University, Business Engagement Unit where he works as a Lecturer and PRME lead and we started discussing my work experience, which was then when he offered for me to go and work with him.

I made the decision to go to Ulster University Belfast when I found out that i would be working under PRME, which is linked to the UN (United Nations) and based on the fact i would be far away from home, even though i was conflicted about this i decided at the time that it would help me grow in not just my confidence but my independence and inquisitiveness, yet i did still have that worrying gut feeling about everything that could go wrong.

When i arrived in Belfast we spent the weekend exploring the city's features and beautiful structures and going on a walk-up napoleons nose. Then on Monday morning we did a tour of the campus on which i met some amazing people and was faced with the shocking reality of how titanic a university is in comparison to a secondary school, and in the afternoon, we went to The Giants Causeway. My first impression of the Belfast Campus was how structured it is and how do people know where to go?

The campus is based in the middle of the city with roads in between some of the buildings, this just added to my initial impression of the complicatedness of the campus. It felt strange stepping into a university environment for the first time as I received the nostalgic feeling of seeing my secondary school campus for the first time in 2022. The most explicit difference was that the size in comparison. The university is probably at least ten times bigger than my current school which i  thought originally would've been overwhelming and intimidating but i loved it, i was overcome with excitement for the new experience, all the places in one building to discover, all the inspiring people i would meet over the next week.

Getting Hands-On with UN PRME and the SDGs

Within the first ten minutes in the office on Tuesday, I had already provided my digital skills to help update the PRME UK & Ireland website by correcting some typing errors and attaching links. After this i supported planning for a monthly PRME catch up meeting, which ended in great outcomes and solutions to issues that had come up. One of the results of this meeting was for me to write a blog for the PRME Ulster University website asking people from the university for their stories to add to Ulster’s yearly SIP (Sharing Information on Progress). To follow this up and advertise it more i then also created a linked in post to advertise it (here). This resulted in two replies on the same evening of people sharing their experiences for the report. 

After this I began to research the 17 SDG’s (Sustainable Development Goals) and made notes on what each one is and all each ones' targets. This has inspired me with ideas to take back to my school and my student leadership team; it has also given me the initiative for my English GCSE speech. Before I came here i didn’t know what I wanted to do my speech on and i wasn't to worried about discovering what i wanted to base it on as it hasn’t even been spoken about in English to start it yet but as i was researching the SDG’s and idea came to me.

..Is it actually possible for the SDG’s to be reached by 2030?

When i communicated this i was given documents/ blogs that are going to help me write this when it comes to it.  

I also sat in a few classes throughout the week that have linked presentations to the SDGs for example, how their business would be sustainable environment and how they might change things in an existing business to create more sustainable choices. I have also experienced what the PRME unit here does to be more sustainable and make sensible decisions that would result in benefiting the most people possible.

I grasped the idea of the United Nations “family tree’ whilst there as I had begun to become confused about all the different groups/ stages of the UN. I wrote a note of this as it going, UN, UN PRME, UN PRME UK & Ireland, UN PRME Ireland, UN PRME Ulster University. 

On Thursday afternoon we attended a PRME webinar training session from 2pm till 4pm, before this session i had never actually heard of a webinar and now i have been present to one and now do know what they are. I have now signed up for seven webinars/ online classes about things I'm interested in to attend over the next month. 

Stepping into the Classroom and the Boardroom

On Wednesday I attended two classes the first being a Level 7 Masters Project that was enjoyable to sit through as the students were doing some type of presentation on the business that runs Titanic Belfast and the key performance indicators. Then in the afternoon we went to a Level 5 Apprenticeship Cohort where I had the opportunity to listen to an assessment feedback session and meet their tutor, originally from the University of Galway (MacDara Tobin) where we discussed the differences between British and Irish Educational systems, it was a pleasure to meet him and discuss this as I found the comparisons to be particularly intriguing.

Finally, we met PwC about their apprenticeship programme and organised for them to come sit in the class on Friday. On Friday we attended this class and after grabbed a drink with an apprentice called Sophie Scott (the PRME Regional Leader for Europe). During this I spoke to her about the course she studies and her plans which I found very useful in looking towards my own future. It was an absolute delight to meet her as she was very nice and intelligent with amazing plans for the future.

Exploring the History and Landscape of the North

A work placement isn’t just about the office; it is also about understanding the region. We went to multiple different places so that i could learn more about the Ireland of Irelands History whilst i was here as i was keen to learn more. On Sunday after our day out in the city on the drive back i saw a big cliff out of the window and asked what it was, I was told that it is named Napoleons nose and researched that it is a prominent basalt cliff feature on Cave Hill. I decided that i wanted to walk up the steep hill and see the view from napoleons nose and convinced Marc to come with me. Once we were at the top we sat down for a moment and watched some of the boats come in to dock and some planes land to the airport, where i developed a thought ...why is it called Napoleons nose, is it because it looks like Napoleons nose? Which once id asked to google it turned out i was right and it's because it resembles his side profile.

The next place we went to was the Giants Causeway on Monday where we walked to the bottom and the top covering the paths all around which in total ended up being a 13km walk. Whilst we were at the bottom, on the actual causeway the scenery of the sea prompted me to take another photoshoot for my GCSE Art coursework as my current theme is natural forms which we then had to pick a sub genre for around two months ago and my choice was the sea. So, this trip worked to my advantage and not only allowed me to see all the beautiful features of the causeway but also allowed me to be pre-emptive and complete another piece of work that hasn't been set yet. 

Subsequently on Thursday we had to have an early start of being out the house by seven am so we could drive down to the Derry Campus for a visit. We arrived there about an hour before we needed to be on the campus so went to visit the Free Derry wall and other murals around, many of which covered the sides of houses and buildings. This led me to learn a great deal about the history of both Ireland and Northern Ireland, which I would highly recommend exploring if you enjoy history. I learned about Bloody Sunday, the Good Friday Agreement, and the history behind Derry/Londonderry itself, I found it particularly interesting that even Google Maps displays both names for the city. After our visit to the campus, we took a quick trip over the border into Donegal for lunch at a cafe called Tank and Skinny's which I found quite peculiar how you can just drive into another country.

On the Derry/Londonderry campus we were hosted by Lisa Harkness who kindly showed us around the sunny campus and Business School.

Conclusion: Looking to the Future

Overall, this experience has been incredible and so inspiring, I've met so many amazing people and been overcome with new ideas/emotions towards my future. This week has helped me narrow down the original seven A-level options i had in my mind to five which I still need to manage to get down to four, but progress is progress. I have also been introduced throughout the week to new paths that i could take once I've completed my A- levels such as apprenticeships.

I want to say a big thank you to the team at Ulster University for hosting me and giving me this amazing experience, i am looking forward to hopefully coming back at some point. I also want to thank all the amazing people whom i met and wish you all the best for your futures.