Please review my SOP, any constructive feedback/suggestions in grammar, content, structure are welcome. Thank you very much in advance.

I have understood that my passion for resilience building has taken a root, when I participated in XXX TV show as an interviewer for the people from small Island called XXX also known as XX Island, who have experienced the XXX Tsunami. This field visit had sparked my interest in how people rebuild their lives after experiencing big shocks, and compassion towards people who stay resilient to disasters. Since then, I decide to pursue my research studies in XXX Science.

My interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary master’s program in XXX Science at the University of XXX forced me to go beyond my comfort zones and encounter and utilise other sustainability/unsustainability views, research methodologies and techniques. As one of my Professors, XXX has stated. “The complex nature of sustainability issues, and the interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research which is being encouraged to tackle these issues often requires researchers to go beyond boundaries (which can be disciplinary, knowledge, cultural, or even mental boundaries)”. These words have always motivated me to go beyond in my academic interests. During my master’s studies I have led projects that allowed me to understand the environmental and social complexities in the field-based exercises by looking at solutions from transboundary and holistic approaches by integrating different disciplines. When conducting field research, I was naturally exposed not just to the issues, but also the complexity of interacting with stakeholders with different views, values or priorities. Specifically, the field-oriented exercises developed my leadership skills that consists of reviewing literature, planning on-site research activities, implementing field surveys, presenting the results of the study, and providing policy recommendations to local authorities.

Many traditional graduate programs are rigidly structured and do not allow for much room for customization depending on the student. Some students, such as I have research interests that require the synergy of two fields to pursue our ideal career. I have conducted an extensive research to choose the XXX program that aligns the best with my academic background, and interests. Earning my PhD degree in XXX at XXX best fits my ambitions due to the XXX’s philosophy of interdisciplinary structure to research. As a first step in doing this, XXX tries to bring diverse faculty members together to jointly address sustainability issues, and the students themselves come from a variety of disciplinary and cultural backgrounds. Aside from such diversity, the close interaction with a variety of stakeholders can create platforms where the knowledge of professors and students from various disciplines can interact. I consider myself not only have a deep and specialized understanding of a specific field but also a broad knowledge base, to tackle the variety of social, environmental, and ecological issues that societies face today. In order to achieve these objectives, I am a firm believer in importance of a holistic understanding, looking to build a resilient society and approaching issues in a trans-boundary manner to benefit more groups of people. The Ph.D. program through XXX program will allow me to not only receive a more in-depth look and education in the realm of resilience building and climate change adaptation but also provide me with the opportunity to apply my knowledge to developing a resilient society through improving the long-term sustainability of communities around the planet in the most effective way possible.

As mentioned previously, many graduate programs are not completely adaptable to the prospective students’ interests like the XXX program is. I would have the opportunity to develop current behavioural decision-making methods, such as the use of in decision making methods and climate adaptation methods, being spearheaded by XXX faculty such as XXX person , XXX person environmental policy development, and I would also have the opportunity to participate in environmental policy research, focusing on environment and climate science education through the XXX faculty with XXX person , and XXX person as well as educator XXX person at XXX University. I would also have the opportunity to collaborate with XXX group at the XXX organization, with specialist senior XXX and XXX.

Through this program, I would be able to touch on all my interests in 3 years rather than spending countless years receiving other more specific degrees in each of the different fields I am interested in and attempting to obtain careers I may not be completely qualified for. The latter would take much for time than completing a Ph.D. through XXX and preparing myself for a career in research whether climate change adaptation or environmental policy focused. The less time I spend on preparing myself for a career, the more time I will have to make a change in the field I end up in, which is the ultimate goal.

In the past, I have had formal training and experience in the sustainability science, completing and presenting multiple research projects within the building resilient societies, sustainability concepts, environmental policy analysis. As an interdisciplinary scholar, I draw on theories from multiple fields including environmental policy, social psychology, and decision science, while using mixed methods, such as surveys, semi-structured interviews, and participant observation. My research interests focus on systematically analyzing interconnected issues of the adaptation process (e.g. adaptation measures, health, shrinking society, unemployment, policy formulation) and categorize them across different domains (social, environmental, economic) and scales (individual, community, town). Moving forward through this program, I will be able to apply these skills to my research, develop proficiency in new methods of resilience building and adaptation for environmental disasters and developing right measures and policy formulation that will facilitate evidence-based policies. Additionally, through my policy and education research, I will be able to apply my education and research towards creating evidence-based decisions on environmental disasters and identify the issues that the affected area continues to face in its recovery process. The program offered by XXX will allow me to combine my interests and create a change for the better regarding climate change adaptation and environmental policy to be able to help the poorest populations – those that are most vulnerable to climate change.

The challenges in the road I have experienced have made me stronger, however, more than anything, they helped me uncover the traits I already had within myself. I have learned that life cannot come to a stop simply because of financial difficulties, or prejudice and that when presented with opportunities that scare me, I should take them on. By giving up and letting my goal of attaining a Ph.D. go, I would be letting myself, the XXX female community, and the immense and growing community of powerful women in XXX discipline down. I have been setting myself up for success during my entire undergraduate and graduate careers, and I am more than ready to take the next step in obtaining a graduate degree to pursue my dream career.