Violet Phillippo

"I think the personality types fit really well with me as a person and the types of roles that I have chosen along the way. The creativity and problem solving attributes that are highlighted in the Coach and Developer personality types reflect the way that environmental consultants often need to think outside the box and share ideas to find the best solutions to environmental problems, in a living world which is constantly changing. "

"I am currently a student but I hope to find an environmental consultancy or environmental management role. As a student, I do projects that are based on real life scenarios. For example, I am doing a group project which involves identifying the direct and indirect environmental impacts of a business and how these can be reduced. The outcomes of our findings are then written up in a report and presented to the business.A previous project involved undertaking an Environmental Impact Assessment for a proposed new marina. This is a mixture of desk based research and (virtual) site visits. The outcomes of the project inform the developer of the potential significant impacts of the proposal in both the construction and operation phases, actions that could be taken to mitigate these impacts and any further surveys or monitoring that need to be undertaken e.g. habitat or noise level monitoring. "

"I've taken an indirect route to the course that I'm studying now but as a result I've picked up a wide range of important skills along the way! I enjoyed science and I was very lucky to have a lovely physics teacher, who really encouraged me to follow a pathway in science. The Smallpeice Trust, EDT and the Sutton Trust do some great residential courses at universities for a wide range of STEM subjects. I was lucky to take part in several of these - I met some lovely like-minded people who I'm still friends with now and they gave my a great idea of what I liked and didn't like to do. I worked hard during my GCSEs and then chose chemistry, physics and maths A-levels. Looking back, I would have chosen a greater balance of subjects at A-level, particularly English or another language, as effective communication of science is so important. After my A levels, I did a degree in chemistry at the University of Southampton. I realised that I enjoyed learning about chemistry but I didn't enjoy working in a lab based environment. At university, I had the opportunity to do an interesting paid summer placement in the research labs and I also worked as a Student Ambassador in the holidays. These roles really helped to boost my confidence and to develop important skills for work such as presentation skills and team-work. My chemistry degree has given me the opportunity to go on to do a course in environmental consultancy, where I can apply my chemistry knowledge to environmental projects. "

"I'm a huge animal lover and in my spare time I volunteer as a dog walker through Borrow my Doggy. Along the way I've been lucky to meet some amazing people and some lovely dogs.At the moment, I have a small part-time job with the university. Any student that is thinking about studying at Southampton University can ask me a question online and I try to help them or find someone who can. "

"As a masters student in environmental consultancy, my day revolves around the group projects that I'm currently working on. At the moment, all of the group meetings, workshops and learning are online via Teams. One of the most interesting group projects that I recently worked on is writing a consultancy report that identifies and evaluates the environmental impacts of the proposed development of a small marina. One of the great aspects of this course is that within the year group people have a wide variety of backgrounds, from chemistry to marine biology to environmental science, so we have different skills sets and ideas. "

"I completed A-levels in chemistry, physics and maths. Originally, I thought I'd like to be an engineer and with this in mind I decided to do AS Further Maths. I chose to drop this, as I realised that it wasn't for me but I still use quite a few of the problem solving concepts. After finishing my A-levels, I went on to do an undergraduate degree in chemistry at the University of Southampton. I've now changed direction a little bit to do a masters degree in environmental consultancy. This has enabled me to apply my specific chemistry knowledge and problem solving skills to complex environmental problems such as plastic pollution. "