Students got the chance to take a peek behind the scenes at real life diplomatic work, with the Embassy team putting on a diverse panel of London-based American diplomats to speak to them. Discussions saw the panel reflect on decades of experience in international affairs from working in China, Ukraine and Moscow, to talking with prime ministers and interacting with NATO.

Our students have had real insight into how global diplomacy works but have also heard how challenging it can be,”

says Journalism Course Leader Alison Hawkings.

The US Embassy staff were incredibly welcoming, open and engaging with them. It was a brilliant experience and a relationship the Journalism course will now build on."

The day also saw the students, who were joined by other student groups from Oxford University, Kings College London and Durham University, take part in Q&A sessions with a number of specialist diplomatic practitioners. There were also opportunities to talk through and debate challenging global issues, explaining why and how countries respond to them. Topics covered a range of areas such as serving governments, AI, climate change, security, defence and conflict.

Second year Broadcast and Digital Journalism student Joe Bowring says, 

If I hadn't come to UWL, I would never have had an experience like this. We got to talk with people I wouldn't normally have access to."

• Find out more about studying journalism courses at UWL