Becky Elliott

"I have been matched as a Coach, a Coordinator and an Influencer, and these personality types fit me very well. I now have 14 years experience as an ecologist, which mean I have lots of useful knowledge for younger members of the team. I like to think about different ways of working at Thames Water to influence change, which can help save the business money and time. As a Coordinator I am really good at facilitating development at Thames Water, whilst also protecting the environment and making it better than it was before. As an Infuencer, I also like to spread the word about the projects that I do, as they could help people to learn about different ways of working, including innovation projects. "

"My role as a Biodiversity Manager is a combination of several different types of ecology roles. The main part of my role involves complying with UK and European laws for wildlife. This means protecting habitats, such as Sites of Special Scientific Interest and Local Nature Reserves, as well as species such as badgers, water voles, great crested newts, reptiles, bats, dormice and otters, all of which are legally protected. It is my job to ensure that the work that happens at Thames Water, such as new pipelines, reservoirs, or upgrades to one of our 6,000 sewage treatment works or water treatment works, is fully compliant with these laws that protect habitats and species. This work involves lots of outdoor habitat survey work, writing technical reports, protected species surveying (which can be very late or very early hours), and engaging with engineers, regulators, stakeholders and contractors. The more engaging and innovative part of my role is do the ‘over and above’ which means making the site have higher biodiversity value than before we started. This involved planting trees, hedgerows and creating new wetlands, ponds and grasslands. I love engaging with the wider community and other teams in Thames Water by getting them to come and plant trees and hedgerows with us.Excellent analytical skills are important, as my work involves coming up with innovative solutions to protect the environment whilst also facilitating development. Also, strong communication skills in presenting and persuading people are essential, not only to be compliant, but to do a little bit more for the environment. There is high competition for ecology roles, so typically people would study up to masters level in an environmental based role. Volunteering is also essential to gain experience of protected species and habitat surveying, which you rarely get to do at university.The typical starting salary would be around £23,000 after 5-10 years you could expect this to go up to £30,000+."

"At university, I studied for my degree in Biology and then specialised with a research masters in Ecology and Environmental Management. During my 6 weeks of holiday, I volunteered with a local nature reserve officer who managed 6 local nature reserves in my home town of Middlesbrough, doing a number of 'hands on' tasks. Volunteering with a charity group or companies that offer this opportunity is really important to make your CV stand out for a role as an ecologist, as they are highly competitive. Many of my fellow colleagues went on to study for their doctorate, which is a further 5-6 years of education, and others took roles in an education/research background. The majority of us went on to become ecologists working for a variety of companies such as charity groups (e.g. The Wildlife Trust), local councils, utilities and consultancies.I applied for my role as a graduate ecologist when I was in university. I went straight from my final presentation for my masters into work a week later and have stayed with the company every since, doing slightly different roles at different levels. "

"I love musical theatre. My mum took me dancing from the age of 3 and I danced competitively until I was 16. I then spent 3 years on the stage in theatre shows, as part of a local operatic society. I was the North East tap champion when I was younger. One day I hope to take this back up again when time allows.I am also an avid Disney fan and enjoy taking my 2 daughters to Disneyland and Disneyworld - I find it is the perfect escapism when the world becomes too stressful. My job enables me to be a positive role model to my daughters and they seem extremely proud of my job and the legacy work I do. It's something that I can talk about to them as part of our everyday activities and even show them some of the amazing projects I have worked on over the years, such as Walthamstow Wetlands and all of the legacy projects I am project managed including Aylesbury Wetland, Dorney Re-wilding and Godalming Nature Reserve. "

"Every day is different, some days are spent in back-to-back meetings about new projects, update meetings, teams meetings, training courses. Others are spent on site with contractors and engineers (come rain or shine!).Today I am in meetings all day. This first meeting is a new innovation biodiversity project at a site in Chesham where we want to work with a local group to improve biodiversity, but we also have competing aspirations for the site, including growth projects and solar panels. I am spending the rest of my day writing newsletters on biodiversity net gain projects for each of our 18 counties.I have a catch up meeting with the other ecologist in my team on her development projects, then a 1-2-1 with my manager to discuss career progression and how my projects are going. I will spending the rest of the day responding to emails, working on budgets and raising purchase orders to buy trees. Tomorrow I am out on site at Aylesbury Sewage Treatment Works where my wetland project is commencing. I will be watching over the excavation work while the digger driver created a new wetland habitat for local birds on site. We have an archaeologist doing this work too, as this site is sensitive for buried archaeology. "

"College - I studied Biology, Chemistry and MathsUniversity - Biology undergraduate degree and then a MRes (research masters) in Ecology and Environmental ManagementHabitat and species training courses through CIEEM (Chartered Institute for Ecology and Environmental Management)"