{"id":1144,"date":"2025-03-27T11:25:43","date_gmt":"2025-03-27T11:25:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/sustainability\/?p=1144"},"modified":"2025-04-08T10:40:30","modified_gmt":"2025-04-08T09:40:30","slug":"reflecting-on-the-women-in-sustainability-careers-exploration-workshop","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/sustainability\/2025\/03\/27\/reflecting-on-the-women-in-sustainability-careers-exploration-workshop\/","title":{"rendered":"Reflecting on the Women in Sustainability Careers Exploration Workshop"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Last week, on Monday the 10<sup>th<\/sup> of March, the inaugural Women in Sustainability Careers Exploration Workshop took place, in partnership with the official <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/women-in-sustainability-network\/\">Women in Sustainability Network<\/a>. Over 35 students were able to reflect, learn and be inspired to explore careers in sustainability-related roles, coached by experts in the field.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At Newcastle University, we support the United Nations\u2019 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) \u2013 seeking peace and prosperity for all people and the planet now and in the future. The UN SDG group recognise that without the full participation and leadership of women and girls,&nbsp;the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals will be an impossible task (UNSDG website, 2025).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote has-text-align-center has-small-font-size is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-medium-font-size\">\u201cWomen and girls deserve a seat at every table, a voice in every decision, and an equal chance to shape what lies ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n<cite>&#8211; Amina J. Mohammed, UN Deputy Secretary-General and Chair of the UN Sustainable Development Group<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>Read on to explore the valuable advice shared by our panellists and to learn about the students&#8217; thoughts and reflections on the event.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The Event<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The event was opened by Charlotte and Cristina \u2013 two placement students from the Sustainability Team, before handing over to Jenny Davidson. Jenny is a Visiting Fellow at Newcastle University having previously been a Senior Lecturer in the Business School, Climate Change Fellow in School X and Chair of the University\u2019s Sustainability Committee. Jenny chaired the panel session with four inspiring sustainability experts from a variety of fields.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Panel:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"940\" height=\"356\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/sustainability\/files\/2025\/03\/image-10.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1147\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The panellists discussed their passions, career backgrounds, and current topics they deemed most relevant in their roles. Here are some key takeaways from the panel session:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>There is not one route into sustainability, and each of our experts studied a variety of subjects at university including languages, geology and environmental management. Working towards a more sustainable world is a group task, and people from all work fields need to get involved. Each panellist had a different interest within sustainability, from teaching and research to consulting.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Experience and perseverance are key! Hannah from AECOM shared that after graduating she had a variety of jobs before landing her graduate sustainability consultant job. Sometimes it\u2019s easy to compare yourself to others, but everyone\u2019s journey is different!<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>You don\u2019t have to know exactly what you want to do at the start of your career. You can find your passions as you gain more experience in the field and find your speciality.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>After the panel session, our experts each joined a breakout table of students, where conversation menus guided the discussions. This format created a relaxed and safe space for students to ask questions, share ideas and reflect on their own aspirations and attributes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Hannah, a Sustainability Consultant at AECOM, shared valuable advice with the students: \u201cUtilise all the additional (most of the time &#8211; free!) services that the university provides to you throughout your studies e.g. dissertation\/essay writing services, and these often offer the opportunity for you to work on your thesis with an extra professional who may be a specialist in academic writing &#8211; I found this really useful when completing my master&#8217;s dissertation\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Reflecting on the event, Meryl Batchelder, TeachSDGs Ambassador and United Nations-accredited Climate Change Teacher, said, \u201c\u201cIt really was a fantastic gathering of young students. I loved talking with them about their hopes (and fears) for the future alongside sharing my lived experience.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"719\" height=\"480\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/sustainability\/files\/2025\/03\/image-12.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1150\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<p>The students were also given a handy \u201cearnings and action plan\u201d sheet where they could record learnings, and tick off actions, such as \u2018make one new LinkedIn connection\u2019. The back of the sheet listed a variety of helpful websites and networks to search after the workshop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The feedback from students has been glowing, highlighting the value of bringing experts from industry into students&#8217; learning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;<em>\u201cI learnt much more than I anticipated. I learnt about so many different backgrounds and different career opportunities. It was amazing to hear such strong, smart women describing their experiences and careers and how they utilised their own failures and got where they are today. I came away feeling brave and strong being a female scientist.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>\u201cI really enjoyed the whole event, and the environment was really friendly and open to discussion. [I learnt] there is no set route into the sustainability industry, but it is important to show your enthusiasm for the subject and follow a career that you feel rewarded in.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>\u201cThere&#8217;s no right or wrong route to working in sustainability. Say yes to as many opportunities as possible and don&#8217;t be afraid to stick to your principles.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Thank you to Meryl Batchelder\u200b, Olivia Partington\u200b, Hannah Shepherd\u200b and Hayley Fowler\u200b for inspiring and talking to our students. A big thank you to Toby Price for putting the event together, and Jenny Davidson for chairing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>References<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/unsdg.un.org\/latest\/stories\/world-all-women-and-girls\">Unsdg | A World for All Women and Girls<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Last week, on Monday the 10th of March, the inaugural Women in Sustainability Careers Exploration Workshop took place, in partnership with the official Women in Sustainability Network. Over 35 students were able to reflect, learn and be inspired to explore careers in sustainability-related roles, coached by experts in the field. At Newcastle University, we support [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12007,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[151,13,22,28],"tags":[36,147,15,56,148],"class_list":["post-1144","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-all-blogs","category-lifestyle","category-news","category-research-education","tag-get-involved","tag-student-engagment","tag-sustainable","tag-sustainable-action","tag-women-in-sustainability"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/sustainability\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1144","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/sustainability\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/sustainability\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/sustainability\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12007"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/sustainability\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1144"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/sustainability\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1144\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1159,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/sustainability\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1144\/revisions\/1159"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/sustainability\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1144"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/sustainability\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1144"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/sustainability\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1144"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}