{"id":2666,"date":"2018-12-11T14:49:53","date_gmt":"2018-12-11T19:49:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/bpapm\/?post_type=cu_people&p=2666"},"modified":"2025-12-18T10:11:34","modified_gmt":"2025-12-18T15:11:34","slug":"nicola-sandhu","status":"publish","type":"cu_people","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/bpapm\/people\/nicola-sandhu\/","title":{"rendered":"Nicola Sandhu"},"content":{"rendered":"
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As the military and ISIS, also known as ISIL, battle for control of Iraq, innocent civilians are forced to flee to camps or other cities, hoping that one day, they will return home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But even returning has become dangerous, as ISIS fighters leave explosives and boobytraps behind as they retreat from the battleground.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Identifying and eliminating the threat posed by those explosive hazards and protecting civilians is the mission of Nicola Sandhu\u2019s team at the United Nations Mine Action Service, a specialized agency that mitigates the threat posed by landmines and munitions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe UN established a program in 2015 in response to an emergency caused by ISIL leaving improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in newly liberated areas,\u201d explains Ms. Sandhu. \u201cWe survey these areas and clear the explosive hazard threat to enable the delivery of aid by humanitarian groups and facilitate people to return home.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The front-line workers have discovered handmade drones, IEDs embedded in furniture and cooking pots, and devices around bridges and roads. Ms. Sandhu\u2019s team educates residents on what to do if they encounter an explosive hazard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re working with the government of Iraq and Iraqi Kurdistan to build their own capacity to manage this,\u201d says Ms. Sandhu.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a programme officer, she supports the management of the program, facilitates communication between headquarters and the field and works with the international community so that they understand the challenges caused by the explosive contamination in Iraq. She says one of the most rewarding aspects of her job is that she is working to make Iraq safer and stable for communities and civilians for years to come.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prior to working in Iraq, Ms. Sandhu was posted to Colombia. She credits her experience in the Bachelor of Public Affairs and Policy Management (BPAPM) program for opening the door to these opportunities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWithout Carleton, I wouldn\u2019t be where I am today,\u201d says Ms. Sandhu, who remembers BPAPM administrator Elaine Rouleau for her unwavering support of the students. \u201cIt was so empowering to study in the BPAPM program. Everyone was very motivated and ambitious and it pushed me further.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not only did Ms. Sandhu volunteer on Parliament Hill, but she had opportunities to study in Ecuador and Mexico. She recommends current students embrace every opportunity that comes their way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou never know where life will take you. I changed my dream career 50 times,\u201d she says with a laugh. \u201cTake advantage of everything Carleton offers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This story was replicated from the Faculty of Public Affairs website<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2667,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"cu_people_first_name":"Nicola","cu_people_last_name":"Sandhu","cu_people_initials":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"cu_people_type":[30],"cu_people_expertise":[],"class_list":["post-2666","cu_people","type-cu_people","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","cu_people_type-alumni"],"acf":{"cu_people_job_title":"Programme Officer, United Nations Mine Action Service","cu_people_degree":"BPAPM, 2012","cu_building":false,"cu_people_office_num":"","cu_people_pronoun":"none","cu_people_designation":"","cu_people_email":"","cu_people_phone":"","cu_people_phone_ext":"","cu_people_linkedin":"","cu_people_bluesky":"","cu_people_twitter":"","cu_people_instagram":"","cu_people_facebook":"","cu_people_website":"","cu_people_orcid":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/bpapm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_people\/2666","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/bpapm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_people"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/bpapm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/cu_people"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/bpapm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/bpapm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_people\/2666\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3367,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/bpapm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_people\/2666\/revisions\/3367"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/bpapm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2667"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/bpapm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2666"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"cu_people_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/bpapm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_people_type?post=2666"},{"taxonomy":"cu_people_expertise","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/bpapm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_people_expertise?post=2666"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}