My undergraduate degree is in Biology and after graduating in 2009 I worked in a lab in Newcastle, before returning to University in 2010 to study Environmental Consultancy.
My Masters dissertation was in contaminated land, however given the economic climate at the time of graduation there was very little remediation taking place. I managed to secure a maternity leave cover as the Contaminated Land Officer at Darlington Borough Council, but left when the incumbent officer returned.
I then moved to the Marine Management Organisation where I worked on marine licencing. In this role I worked on a range of projects from very small scale pontoons to Hinkley and Sizewell Nuclear power plants.
In 2014 I moved to London and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) where I worked on flood policy in response to the 2013/14 Somerset floods.
After 15 months I was promoted to Senior Scientific Officer working in the Land Use division managing a £7million research budget which covered sustainable intensification of agriculture, soils and peatlands, forestry, and agri-environment monitoring and evaluation.
In late 2017 I moved to the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) to lead the Biomass Electricity team as part of the Clean Electricity Directorate.