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Poojitha Lal

Profession
MA Innovation Management student
College
Central Saint Martins
Person Type
Student
Poojitha Lal

Biography

Poojitha Lal is from India and studying MA Innovation Management at Central Saint Martins.

Interview

Why did you choose to study MA Innovation Management at Central Saint Martins (CSM)?

While looking for a Master’s program, I was primarily looking for a course that offered access to emergent discourses and facilitated my understanding of globally applied frameworks in the field of design thinking whilst also being the very natural next step to what I was doing.

Hence I selected to pursue Innovation Management at CSM, as it offered to meet those expectations.

What’s the most interesting project you’ve worked on so far? What made it so interesting to work on?

That’s a difficult question to answer in retrospect, as every course has something unique to offer.

While I thoroughly enjoyed the theoretical parts of the course, such as the units on discourse analysis and colliding theories in year 1, the most interesting project I worked on in my course would probably be the Uncertainty project in Year 1. It provided us with the opportunity to work with a client and take a more hands-on approach towards their business in the realm of foresight and new product development.

Although the experience of working on such a project collaboratively was challenging, it taught me a lot. I learned about establishing the basics of leading a client-consultant relationship and using different frameworks to understand the direction of growth. Moreover, it helped me generate creative ideas to harness this growth in unique ways backed by concepts rooted in theory and research.

Have you completed any work placements / internships whilst being on the course?

No, however, I was involved in a lot of University based initiatives ranging from working as a Changemaker with the Department of Academic Strategy to co-develop curricula and student experience in the university to organising and facilitating workshops with the department of Intercultural Communication.

What important piece of advice would you give to students thinking of studying this course?

The one piece of advice would definitely be to be prepared to unlearn how to research, as the course is structured with an intense focus on developing a student’s theoretical understanding of concepts and steadily facilitates the establishment of a strong foundation in research. It teaches you how to bring this foundation into application in a space that you are inclined towards and eventually to any project you undertake.

What has been the highlight of your CSM experience so far?

The highlight in my journey has been the experience of working as a Changemaker as I was given the platform to bring student voices to multiple forums and work on a project in the university space that I feel passionate about - Information Access and communication.

What are your career aspirations? Where would you like to be in five years' time?

To apply design thinking to facilitate conversations and work in a space that allows me to take on multiple hats and challenges to expand my practice and build on my approach.

What is the most important thing you've learnt on the course so far?

To be proactive in finding things that might interest you without waiting for them to come to you. I definitely believe that embarking on this never-ending search for things happening in the university and relevant events and competitions outside of the university has unravelled many opportunities for me, and I would continue to do so in some way or the other.

Links

Check Poojitha’s Portfolio
Follow Poojitha on LinkedIn

View the MA Innovation Management course page

Central Saint Martins

Contact

Telephone

+44 (0)20 7514 7444

Address

1 Granary Square
King's Cross
London
N1C 4AA