5 minutes with Richie Lee

Tell me about your role at the University?

I work in the International Office in Team South East Asia, supporting students, enquirers, families and stakeholders, from across a number of countries in the region.

What are your favourite tasks / areas of responsibility?

I really enjoy working with students and families during the application process. From seeing a passionate student initially want to apply to one of our courses, to then seeing them thrive on campus is incredibly rewarding! It’s great working with our in-country agents too, to help make the students’ dreams a reality.

What is your favourite place on campus and why?

NTU has so many great spaces to enjoy across all campuses but my favourite is looking out across the gardens and countryside on the Brackenhurst Campus. With a cup of coffee, of course!

When you were growing up what did you want to be?

I changed my mind many times about what I’d like to do as a career when I was growing up, in fact it seemed to change month to month during secondary school. The idea that probably stayed with me the longest was a career in architecture, as I’ve always been interested in the design of buildings. However, the technical aspects that this sort of work involves made me have a rethink, and I decided to take a different route.

What is your perfect weekend?

I really enjoy a slow weekend. The perfect weekend would involve nice warm weather (which is a tall order at times in the UK), with lots of nice walks, wandering around little shops, and would include a stop for coffee and cake along the way. I travel quite regularly for work, which I love, however I really enjoy the contrast between the faster / slower pace that each of the above offers, as it makes me appreciate both elements so much more.

Who would be your dream dinner party guests?

I’d invite Nigella, purely because I think she is a bit of a character, but she could also help with the food. Alan Carr would create the atmosphere, and I’d also invite David Attenborough for his wisdom on how the world has changed over the last 97 years!

Do you have a favourite meal?

This could be ten different answers, depending on my mood! My favourite meal that I have been having almost on a weekly basis is a homemade creamy chilli chicken, which has been really good comfort food over winter. I also really enjoy good fish and chips by the coast, how stereotypical!

Current favourite song, film, book, podcast?

I am currently reading Landlines by Raynor Winn. If you haven’t read her books, you need to start with The Salt Path, and then The Wild Silence – book one is a true story written by the author about herself and her husband, who were made homeless and decided to walk the South West Coast Path around Devon and Cornwall. The three books show how life unfolded for them from this point.

I watched a really good film called The End We Start From with Jodie Comer on a recent flight. I’d highly recommend it! It is a disaster movie though – I love this sort of thing, but won’t be to everybody’s taste…

Have you made any holiday plans for 2024?

I just have a couple of UK based holidays planned at the moment – one in the Scottish Highlands ‘cabin in the woods’ style, and another just over the border in Wales, in a converted cable car station, which will be interesting!