Hannah van Voorthuysen

International Relations helped Hannah develop critical-thinking, research, and negotiation skills she applies at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

A photo of Hannah during an election monitoring mission in Solomon Islands. Hannah wears a black dress, a black face mask, and carries a clipboard.

I first became interested in international issues when, as an impressionable 15-year-old, I moved to Brazil for a year. This opened my eyes to a different culture, a new language, and exposed me to challenges we don’t typically experience in Aotearoa. I decided that a career working on New Zealand’s foreign policy was for me, and studied International Relations, ending up with a Master’s degree focusing on New Zealand’s relationship with Israel.

The great thing about studying International Relations is that you’ve got a lot of space to develop your academic interests in a supportive teaching environment. As an academic field, International Relations remains fairly new and is so multifaceted that you could find yourself working on issues involving economics, politics, international law, conflict, security, migration, climate change, regionalism, and trade—all within the same 2,000-word paper.

I found myself studying with people of diverse backgrounds and experiences who challenged my worldview and allowed me to develop a more sophisticated understanding of the global system. This is especially the case in the Honours programme, as you’re studying with students doing Master’s degrees in International Relations who are typically mid-career professionals and bring with them considerable real-world experience.

I’m currently working in Wellington for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade as a lead advisor in the Pacific regional division, where I work on regional security issues. I have previously been posted to Timor-Leste and Solomon Islands and worked on a range of interesting policy issues and bilateral relationships from New Zealand. Being part of a small foreign service means a great diversity of experience and plenty of opportunities. The skills I learned through my degree are essential to my job now, especially in being able to quickly understand murky issues in an information vacuum, critical thinking, research, negotiation, and joining dots.

I’d recommend that anyone interested in getting a holistic understanding of the world study International Relations. The diversity of the programme is well suited to equip students with the tools they need to succeed in international organisations, government, NGOs, business, politics, journalism, or diplomacy.