Department of Government alumni fireside chat

We will be joined by alumni Joel Rosen (BSc Government, 2014) and Cristina Espinal (BSc Government, 2014) in conversation with Professor Tony Travers, who will be discussing their career journeys since their graduation from LSE. There will be an opportunity for you to ask questions and networking over nibbles and drinks! You must be a registered Department of Government student to attend this event. Please provide your LSE email to register.

Learn more about our alumni:

Joel Rosen

Assistant Director, Market distorting Practices, Department for Business and Trade Trade (BSc in Government)

Joel graduated from the LSE in 2014 with a BSc in Government, and went on to complete an MSc in Global Governance and Diplomacy at Oxford University. Having served as a Swiss soldier for two years and trained peacekeepers for service in Kosovo, Joel worked for a variety of public and private sector organisations such as the Council of British Chambers of Commerce in Europe (COBCOE), Citibank, Havas Public Affairs Brussels, and in the U.K. Parliament before joining the Civil Service on its FastStream programme. He has since worked at the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport, where in response to cultural heritage destruction by Da’esh in Syria and Iraq he helped establish a £27m Cultural Protection Fund, and introduced a Bill into Parliament to ratify the Hague Convention on Cultural Property in Armed Conflict.

He has also worked in the Ministry of Justice on a new electronic monitoring programme, and was briefly seconded to the Centre of Excellence for Information Sharing where he helped local government frontline agencies share vital data with each other more effectively within the new GDPR rules. Joel has overseen the negotiation and conclusion of over a dozen new bilateral treaties with Switzerland to safeguard a trading relationship worth £39bn and protect the acquired rights of more than 54,000 citizens in the context of the UK’s exit from the EU whilst working at the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office and Department for Exiting the European Union.

He also led part of the COVID repatriation crisis response which oversaw the safe return of over 3mn British citizens. Last year he headed up the Department for International Trade’s response to the Ukraine Crisis. He is currently working on the UK’s domestic and international policy to deal with market distorting practices at the Department for Business and Trade.

Cristina Espinal

Founder & Career Strategist, Play Big Careers (BSc Government)

Cristina is the founder of Play Big Careers, a career development consultancy offering 1:1 and group coaching, talks, interactive workshops and company training to empower ambitious professionals and teams to own their value, expand their influence and cultivate greater presence & confidence.
With a decade of experience spanning corporate consulting, startups, and entrepreneurship, Cristina has worked with over 35 brands, including giants like L’Oreal, GSK and Vodafone, and helped creators achieve $45k product launches. At Accenture Song, she managed million-pound projects and collaborated with CEOs of billion-dollar companies in the Experience Strategy practice.
Cristina studied BSc in Government and graduated from the LSE in 2014 and was selected to present her dissertation at Parliament as part of the "Posters in Parliament" event."

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