(He/him) 2023 | MSc Political Science and Political Economy, London School of Economics

Hello! My name is Jacob, and I am a full-time student at the LSE studying the MSc in Political Science and Political Economy. I graduated with a BA in History from the University of Oxford in July 2022, and then spent a year working in politics, both in the private sector as a political consultant and within my local Labour Party helping to organise campaigns. Alongside my degree, I also work part-time in Parliament as the Administrative Assistant to the Shadow Minister for Europe and the Americas in the FCDO. All in all, I am fascinated by politics, both on a professional and an academic level, and I can’t wait to get really stuck into the subject this year!

My core academic interest is structural inequality, with both of my two independent research projects at undergraduate level analysing political phenomena produced by structural socio-cultural inequality, with one focusing on caste politics in India and another on the political polarisation of LGBT rights in the UK. It is that same interest in inequality – and an accompanying desire to create a fairer, more equal society – which drives my involvement in Labour politics, and my decision to study Political Economy to learn how best to tackle political and economic manifestations of inequality. I’m also studying the MSc Political Economy course because it gives me the opportunity to formally study economics and improve my ability to independently appraise economic policies, which will give me the tools to potentially help make good policy in the future!

Looking ahead, my future aspirations are quite varied – I’m keen to pursue a PhD in tax policy and work in politics for a while, then to train as a barrister specialising in tax law, and then perhaps to go into politics myself to advocate for and hopefully implement redistributive policies.

The common thread linking all my experiences, interests, and future goals is my ambition to help build a fairer, more equal society, and the origin of that ambition is rooted firmly in my experience of being disabled. Growing up with undiagnosed ADHD, I’ve experienced some of the barriers felt by people who are ‘different’ from the norm, in both the education system and society more broadly. My core political aspiration is to foster a society in which every child in every school has an equal chance of reaching their full potential, and I hope that studying this degree at LSE will be the next step forward in pursuing that aim!