Profile

I grew up and live in Lincolnshire in the East Midlands.  As well as music I’m a keen photographer and enjoy the natural environment, between them they usually influence or inspire each other.

I was always interested in the environment but when studying GCSEs there was little information on career routes into environmental jobs and there weren’t that many environmental degree courses.  Thankfully this has improved considerably since then.

Unfortunately I didn’t do particularly well at A-Levels, I still could have gone to University but instead I decided to try and get a job with a day release course.  It took a while but my first job was with the former National Rivers Authority as a ‘Young Water Guardian’.  This was like an apprenticeship, a 2 year training programme with a day release to study HNC Chemistry.

After passing HNC Chemistry I also completed and passed the Chartered Institute of Water and Environmental Management Diploma which gave me the equivalent of a degree. Definitely the long way round but it shows there are options available when things don’t go according to plan.

I’ve always worked at the Environment Agency and had a variety of roles in water quality, waste permitting and industrial regulation.  I have specialised in compliance and regulation of a range of permitted sites from food factories, chemical plants, recycling facilities to landfills.  I specialised in the amenity issues of odour and flies and have developed training and guidance that explains how odour is produced, how to reduce it and how we detect and respond to odour pollution.  To answer what you’re probably thinking yes, I have been to far too many  smelly sites.

It’s rare that two days are identical, working at the Environment Agency usually provides quite a lot of variety.

My current role is project based, so there are a number of tasks that need to be completed on time by certain dates.  For example one task may involve reading about and researching an issue, looking for evidence or data and deciding what this tells me, listening to different opinions and then presenting my findings in a report or presentation.

STEM subjects play a key role, there are many I use on a daily basis including maths, english, chemistry, biology, physics, environmental science, engineering and more.  I also need to explain technical issues clearly so communication – listening, writing and speaking are important skills along with influencing and problem solving.  Being organised really helps too.