Conservation Policymaker
Christine Reid (BSc Tropical Environmental Science) works in the Natural England National Policy Team, managing projects on sustainable rural development. Following her degree, during which she did a project in the cloud forests of Tanzania, she did an MSc in Forestry at Oxford University, and then joined English Nature as a Woodlands and Forestry Advisor.
Christine is one of many of our graduates who work in conservation policymaking in Britain and abroad. Perhaps the job sounds a bit too administrative to appeal, but actually such staff are often out in the field helping people to understand how they can get help to manage their land.
For example, woodland managers like the Forestry Commission are now actively managing woodland rides and clearings to benefit butterflies, or adding native broad-leaved trees for amenity and wildlife value, and Christine helps their staff to plan these improvements. She has to know about birds, bats, deer, butterflies, plants, micro-climates and everything else that makes woodlands tick, as well as about the grants available and the practical ways to make things happen.
If you want to end up working in a similar career, then any of our mainstream degrees are suitable, although some such as Conservation Biology or Ecology are particularly relevant. You also need to have some experience of working in environmental jobs in vacations or free time, and we can help you find opportunities for this, using our many contacts.
page content last modified: 25th July 2008 15:42:17