Katie Coates

"My job requires me to be organised with good attention to detail, good understanding and communication skills. I work with Clients and Contractors who are working to tight schedules and need information fast. Also a lot of policy and governmental guidance comes into my role, especially whilst working with ecologists and specific protected species. Therefore, the Coordinator personality type fits well within my role, as it requires providing the correct information on time to different departments and to work to tight schedules/programmes to finish on time and within budget."

"I am an Environmental Consultant and I spent most of my time in the office working on reports or writing up notes following site visits. I mainly work on Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA) for large projects such as rail or road. The outcome of an EIA is to help in the decision making process to determine whether a project should go ahead with the predicted environmental impacts and how we lower the risk of harming the environment. I have worked with a Contractor and a Client and had the opportunity to work in a different part of the country. It was exciting knowing that my company chose me to represent them to the Client and I felt proud to do so. My company believes greatly in professional development, particularly by inspiring and supporting us through to complete our Charterships. There are opportunities to travel within the UK. Travelling abroad for work is something I have always desired to do and I know people in the company who have done it. I am yet to get onto an international project- although I am always asking to!"

"Initially, in my role, I spent a lot of time out on site working mainly on highways schemes. However, more recently I have moved onto more rail based schemes. Although the method of how to undertake Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA) differs slightly between highways and rail schemes, it is fundamentally the same. I have taken an interest in EIAs and how they help to protect our environment. Whilst studying at university, I knew about EIA, but never fully appreciated what goes into creating one. Trying to protect our landscape, ecology, heritage and way of life whilst not standing in the way of progress peaked my interest and I wanted to get involved to see that we were doing everything we could to protect our countryside. "

"Hiking plays a big part in my personal time as I have a dog who loves a long walkies. Travelling is also a big part of my life. I hope to undertake the Mongol Rally, a 10,000 mile long journey from the UK to Mongolia in 8 weeks. Currently I am learning Japanese as I love their culture and hope to move there one day. I spend a lot of my free time doing arts and crafts; I sew and paint and I also love to cook and also eat food! Another passion of mine is cars. I had my first car for 10 years and serviced it myself. However I spend a lot of time fixing up cars with my friends and take them abroad on big group holidays to remote places or take on track days. "

"A typical day involves desk based assessments, research and document collation / report writing / site visits. I really like the variability of my job. I work on many projects and can be working on a rail project in Wales, a station extension in Birmingham, a water pipeline upgrade in Yorkshire or a highways scheme in Norfolk. It varies considerably and there is always the excitement of site visits and working with new people."

"Post secondary education (College, A-levels, NVQ3 or equivalent) I achieved three Bs at A Level in Music, History and Geography. I also completed two Grade 8 Music exams to Merit level in Flute and Saxophone. I went to the University of East Anglia in 2011 and for the first 3 years of my course I studied biodiversity, meteorology, seismology, volcanology, oceanography determined to be a weather girl. However, upon reaching my final year at university, I realised that a lot of UK based environmental jobs focused on sustainability and social sciences. I therefore switched to more sustainability focused modules. I graduated in 2015 with a 2:1 Integrated Masters Degree (MSci) in Environmental Sciences. I started my current role in 2016 as a graduate environmental scientist based in Norwich where I was working towards chartership with the Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment. I have since transferred within my company after a secondment opportunity to Coventry, to our Birmingham Office. Since then I have been and am currently working towards my chatership with a different professional body; Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management as this suited the progression I wished to persue. "