Stephen Harrison-Mirfield

Former Students' Union President Stephen Harrison-Mirfield has certainly not let international boundaries get in the way of his career development.

After completing a BA (Hons) in Sociology, he initially worked for Reed Personnel in the UK, then spent seven years as director of human resources at Codemasters Software, which gave him his first taste of working abroad, before landing a permanent role with IT consultancy Atos Origin in Bahrain.

Next stop was Saudi Arabia to take up a position as a director at accountancy giant KPMG, before becoming Head of People and Change Advisory and finally Director of Operations for the same firm. In October 2013, he took up the role of Chief Operating Officer at the Medical University of Bahrain.

He says: "My interest in working abroad came about when I was at Codemasters and, towards the end of my time there, I had to go to India for some due diligence work. I loved the experience of travelling and sampling a completely different culture, and decided I would like to travel and work abroad some more. At Atos, I was in charge of HR and administration for all of the Middle East, so while I was based in Bahrain, I also travelled to Saudi Arabia, Iran, Yemen - all fascinating places which broadened my horizons further."