Choosing a career can be challenging. The flood sector brings different career paths, whether in government, consultancies, regulators, water companies, non-government organisations, charities or universities. Moving between different organisations and sectors brings a range of benefits and challenges.
Dr Sally Brown, our senior coastal scientist has worked across a number of organisations and sectors. She was invited by the Chartered Institution of Water and Environment Management (CIWEM), a professional organisation dedicated to the sustainable management of our environment, to discuss a little about her work and her experiences of moving between career sectors. Her interview featured in the autumn addition of The Environment magazine.
‘I’ve become more of a generalist’
I STARTED MY career in academic research, assessing historic coastal erosion and implications for coastal management. I moved onto analysing future change and the impacts of sea level rise. Much of my work has been determining what information could be required and what needs to change to solve problems. From academic research, I moved into knowledge exchange and then government research. First through a placement at the National Trust, then working at Bournemouth University and the Environment Agency. This year I started work as a coastal scientist at a local authority. Throughout my career, I’ve looked at different types of research and innovation, determining how to get research into practice. Across different jobs, the same focus applies: reducing the risks and impacts of flooding, erosion and climate change.
In working with different sectors, some of the teams I’ve worked with have been very open to understanding how others’ approaches work, and how academic research can be useful to an organisation to achieve its goals. At the Environment Agency this was harder as it is a large, complex organisation and there is a greater focus on the government’s agenda, so getting academic voices heard was sometimes challenging. In other sectors I have worked in, very often I find my collaborators don’t understand how another sector works and how to get the best out of each other. This isn’t anyone’s fault, it’s just comes down to individual experiences and practical constraints on time.
My biggest learning point is that we all need to have an open mind on how a sector approaches an issue – whether this is to do with knowledge, skills or approach to problems. Always be prepared to meet in the middle, particularly when asking for support. Many people struggle with that openness and meeting in the middle ground because they’ve never worked outside their own sector.
Outside of academia, I’ve become more of a generalist. My journey between sectors has been helpful to understand the types of research and development that are needed and how best to present solutions to the problems we face. For example, I’ve learnt that it’s not always new research that’s needed, but presenting information in a suitable way to the beneficiary, such as through synthesising literature or being clearer on what new products can achieve in a particular environment, or the benefits that new ideas can bring. The context of how information is used is critical.
Overall, I’ve found getting out of my comfort zone moving between sectors a really valuable experience. By first starting with a placement to see what life outside of academia was like, it acted as a safety net and allowed me to go back to my comfort zone at the end of it. Transitioning between sectors does bring challenges. I often find I understand the content of a problem, but not the context in terms of the governance and culture, so need to ask my colleagues for help. I’m very happy in my present role. I’ve learnt a lot from different organisations and working across sectors so have a clearer idea of shared problems and how to solve them.
