Katy Tsesmelis (Hoskins)

"The personality types I matched with are very accurate and exactly what you would need for my role!Communicator: every part of my work involves communication, from communicating with scientists, industry, governments, legislators and the general public. I need to communicate in person, online, through formal presentations, writing reports and content for media releases and our websites. I have to take complex information and be able to explain it in multiple ways depending on the audience. A large part of communication is listening - I have to stay open minded and be willing to change my view!Coordinator: being organised is essential in my role. I am constantly arranging meetings, workshops and managing projects. I produce a lot of collaborative reports which requires me to coordinate the contributors. I often see myself as the facilitator and believe firmly that building a sense of team is important. I am trying to bring people from different companies, industries and institutions together to agree on the same goal. This requires a lot of patience and empathy from my side. Developer: I am trying to find solutions to environmental problems usual novel techniques, this definitely requires me to be inquisitive and want to make the world better. I am constantly learning new things and need to take a flexible approach. When you are working with environmental systems they rarely do as you expect!"

"I work for the global aluminium trade association. We are a not for profit organisation made up of members of the upstream aluminium production chain (mining, refining, smelting). We act as a representative body for the industry. Through us the aluminium industry aims to promote a wider understanding of its activities and demonstrate both its responsibility in producing the metal and the potential benefits to be realised through their use in sustainable applications and through recycling.I run a committee and several working groups, each tasked with address environmental challenges. I bring the industry together to fund collaborate research and development projects to solve these issues. For example, we have constructed a wetland to treat leachate. We are also finding to find new uses for industry by-products and waste. I often sit between industry and academia, finding common ground for us all to work together.In addition to running research programmes I represent the industry on the global platform – providing keynote speeches at conferences, sitting on panel sessions, attending workshops and meeting with legislators.I have been to nearly 20 different countries through work which has been an incredible experience. I very much enjoy meeting new people and seeing new places. My favourite trips are when I get to visit sites – especially those in Brazil."

"To be honest, I had no idea a job like this existed! I had never heard of trade associations and didn't know what they did. I wanted to do something which would allow me to travel, have role variability and work with different people. I didn't want to focus on geology and whilst I have a lot of respect for academia, it wasn't for me. I applied for the job after graduating and have never left! The advert wanted someone with a relevant science background who was also interested in communication and travel. During my time at the IAI I have changed roles, taking on more responsibility. To begin with I supported other programme managers (undertaking data analysis, helping with reports), helped organise meetings abroad and was responsible for designing any documents we published. At various points I have been responsible for our social media/comms, website management and project funding process. I then took over my own committee and over the years have become focused in a few specialised areas. I have continued to develop new skills and qualifications - to give you an example (in addition to those listed below) I have taken courses on:- Indesign- Public speaking- Facilitation- Advanced Excel- Consumer Health and Safety Risk Communication- Digital Analytics- Corporate Governance of Tailings FacilitiesIt is really important, even more so if you stay within one company, that you continue to expand your skill set. "

"I used to spend my spare time doing a lot of extreme sports (skydiving, climbing, scuba diving, kayaking). Whilst I still enjoy doing some of these, I now spend most of my spare time on our small holding. Each year we try to become more self-sufficient. We have planted a small fruit orchard, increased the size of the vegetable patch, built a fruit cage, installed water butts and put up a greenhouse. We support wildlife and have left the orchard grass to grow and added a bee hotel, nesting boxes and hedgehog house. This year we are expanding our range of plants for pollinators with a dedicated wildflower area and are installing a large herb planter. We want to implement changes at home to help the environment."

"Each day varies, which is why I enjoy my job!I attend a mix of conferences all over the world for different reasons:-\tscientific conferences to hear about the latest research and present the outcomes of our projects. We want to share our research with the scientific community and also find out if there have been any new discoveries or progress made which the industry should be aware of. -\taluminium industry markets & analysis conferences to network with the industry. I am not as interested in the presentations but often provide a keynote address or chair some of the sessions to support the conference.-\tnon-aluminium industry conferences of relevance where my attendance has the the sole aim of learning how other industries operate and seeing if there is anything we mirror.We try and schedule as many meetings as possible in the side-lines of the conferences to make the most of everyone being in the same place. The meetings can be to discuss an issue, our strategic priorities, project progress and deliverables or proposed activities for the coming year.I am also on the organising committee of two international scientific conferences and these take up a considerable amount of time. We start planning three years in advance, so I am always doing some work on these in the background, even during the ‘off’ years.I lead a number of projects and each project has an associated working group of industry and academic experts. Each month we will have a working group videocall to run through latest results, troubleshoot any problems and make any necessary decisions. We also review progress reports and develop the next stages of research.I spend a lot of time on my computer replying to emails, working on reports, analysing data and preparing for meetings. Twice a year I have to write Board papers.I do a few site visits each year which is key to my understanding the industry and the challenges it faces. I meet with the people who work onsite to discuss their set-up (could have different technology for example) and try to learn as much as I can. If I am running a trial at the site, then I will usually spend longer there to go into detail on this. "

"A-levels- Geology- Geography- English Literature- General StudiesNote: you would need to do all science A-levels now to be accepted on a geology degree course.Undergraduate- BSc GeologyPostgraduate- PGCert Environmental InformaticsProfessional qualification- Chartered Environmentalist"