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Environmental Careers: Information Session for University and High School Students
October 13, 2022 @ 4:00 pm - 5:30 pm
Free
Hunter Environmental Institute and the University of Newcastle invites you to the Careers in the Environment seminar, focusing on opportunities for students and emerging professionals. Come and hear from a number of environmental professionals about their experiences, current work and how they got there. Learn how we did it, what to study, who to know, where to intern. There will be opportunities for questions to the panel following the presentations.
Brought to you by the Hunter Environmental Institute – your professional association, supported by The University of Newcastle, and sponsored by Gold sponsor NGH.
The people we have lined up to share their experiences with you are:
- Jack Turner – Environmental Planner, Department of Planning and Environment
- Josh Smart – Senior Ecologist, NGH
- Tegann Kelly – Legal Counsel, Property and Planning, CWP Renewables
- Kate Connolly – Principal Ecologist, Umwelt
- Kirsty Davies – Principal Environmental Consultant, Umwelt
- Wendy Cadelago – Environmental Engineer, Tetra Tech Coffey
Name: Jack Turner
Current role: Senior Environmental Assessment Officer, Resource Assessments
Company: NSW Department of Planning and Environment
Qualifications: Bachelor of Environmental Science, Masters of Environmental Law
Brief blurb about yourself: Jack has eight years of experience working in the field of environmental planning and assessment. Jack has worked in private consultancy and NSW Government roles on the assessment of a range of transport, water, energy and resources projects. In his current role at the NSW Department of Planning Jack assesses applications for large scale energy and resources projects across NSW.
Name: Kirsty Davies
Current role: Principal Environmental Consultant
Company: Umwelt Australia (Pty) Limited
Qualifications: Bachelor of Environmental Science (Honours) (Environmental Management)
Brief blurb about yourself:
Kirsty is a Principal Environmental Consultant and Team Leader, NSW Planning & Assessment with Umwelt Environmental and Social Consultants. Kirsty has 16 years’ experience primarily in environmental impact assessment and management projects. Kirsty has extensive experience in NSW approval projects, managing projects from concept phase through to construction. Kirsty has particular experience in large multi-disciplinary projects, bringing extensive understanding of the relevant technical issues associated with major project approvals across a number of sectors including renewables, resources and infrastructure. Kirsty has strong project management skills and commonly leads large teams to meet client needs and deliver quality environmental and social outcomes. Kirsty has particular experience in large scale approvals within sensitive landscapes and challenging communities. Kirsty has also assisted clients with Commonwealth Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 approval processes and has a solid knowledge of the requirements of the Commonwealth approval process.
Kirsty has extensive experience in managing a wide range of technical specialist programs including biodiversity, hydrology, hydrogeology, noise, air quality, greenhouse gas and energy, Aboriginal archaeology, historic heritage, soils and land use, agriculture, traffic and transport, visual, economics and social impact assessment. Kirsty’s management of multidisciplinary teams is focussed on strong integration with project design, planning processes and agency and community engagement.
To complement her consultancy experience, Kirsty has also acted on a contract basis for Liddell Coal Operations, Australian Rail Track Corporation, NSW Division of Resources and Energy (Mineral Resources) and Ulan Coal Mines Limited.
Name: Josh Smart
Current role: Senior Ecologist
Company NGH Pty Ltd
Qualifications Bachelor of Environmental Science & Management (Marine and Biodiversity & Ecosystems Majors) (Honours 1st Class) 2019
Brief blurb about yourself
Josh has over 4 years’ experience in ecological consulting, with key expertise in biodiversity impact assessment and conservation planning. He is experienced in identifying flora species and mapping Plant Community Types/Threatened Ecological Communities, with a specialization in orchids, aquatic ecology, pest management and threatened species management. He has worked with NPWS on research projects on the vulnerable terrestrial orchid (Pterostylis chaetophora) and on the impacts of feal horses on montane swamps in the Barrington Tops National Park.
Josh has undertaken and coordinated vegetation surveys, threatened arboreal mammal, frog and bird surveys, as well as clearing supervision. He prepares Biodiversity Assessments, Biodiversity Development Assessment Reports (BDARs), Review of Environmental Factors, Annual monitoring and compliance letters as well as provide advice to clients.
Josh’s project experience includes biodiversity assessments for both private and public sector clients including large renewal energy projects such as solar farms and wind farms. He has also undertaken assessments for various road, rail, and utility upgrades across NSW.
Josh is passionate about nature photography and enjoys going bushwalking in his free time in search of threatened orchid and other species to photograph.
Name Tegann Kelly
Current role: Legal Counsel – Property and Planning
Company CWP Renewables
Qualifications MBA, Grad. Dip Legal Practice, B.Laws, B.SocSci
Brief blurb about yourself:
As a qualified solicitor, I have recently joined CWP Renewables as in-house Legal Counsel servicing their development team to deliver utility scale renewable energy projects.
Prior to CWP, I worked for 12 years at an environmental consultancy/development company with experience in environmental planning and assessment, environmental licensing, land tenure, landholder liaison and project management across commercial, infrastructure, waste and renewable energy sectors.
Across my career I have secured tenure for >2GW of utility scale solar, wind and BESS projects, prepared, managed and completed environmental and development assessments under Part 4 and Part 5 of the Environmental Planning & Assessment Act 1979, and led complex contract review and negotiation for various strategically important $100M+ commercial projects within NSW and interstate. I grew up locally in the Port Stephens area and love calling Newcastle home. I’m a bit of a sucker for study and have even managed to sneak in a floristry certificate outside of law… If I’m not at work, you’ll catch me at hot yoga or with my wild Labradoodle pup Stanley.
Name: Kate Connolly
Current role: Principal Ecologist and NSW Ecology Team Leader
Company: Umwelt Australia (Pty) Limited
Qualifications: B/Environmental Science and Management, Accredited Biodiversity Assessment Method (BAM) Assessor
Brief blurb about yourself: Kate is a Principal Ecological Consultant and has a strong background in biodiversity assessments, offset strategies, EPBC referrals, and monitoring reports for projects assessed under the BC Act, EPBC Act and EP&A Act.
Kate has coordinated and managed ecological studies for multiple large and complex projects, for both public and private sector clients. Kate is an Accredited BAM Assessor under the BC Act and one of the first to be accredited following the implementation of the Biodiversity Offset Scheme. She was involved in the early review and application of the now-implemented Biodiversity Assessment Method (BAM) through workshops with government staff and specialist advice for private and non-government organisations. She also has extensive experience in the application of the Commonwealth EPBC Calculator and EPBC Environmental Offsets Policy.
Kate is one of Umwelt’s NSW Ecology Team Leaders, managing a small team as part of Umwelt’s larger NSW Ecology team. She provides professional support and technical advice to her team and others across the business.
I grew up around Newcastle and attended the University of Newcastle to study the B/Environmental Science and Management degree (15+ years ago). I’ve always been interested in the natural world and knew I didn’t want a full time office job. My strengths included biology but also writing, so becoming a consulting ecologist was a great fit for me. Working in the environmental sector, I’ve seen some amazing landscapes and never a day goes by where I don’t learn something new. In the last couple of years I’ve experienced the juggling act that is being a new parent, working from home in lockdown and finding the happy medium between work and home life. When I get time, I love painting and drawing (usually native flora and fauna), going bush walking and having long and trivial conversations with my friends.
Name: Wendy Cadelago
Current role: Environmental Engineer
Company: Tetra Tech Coffey
Qualifications: Bachelor of Engineering (Environmental) (Honours) and Masters in Professional Engineering (Environmental)
Brief blurb about yourself:
Wendy is a Newcastle born-and-raised woman who studied at the University of Newcastle, having graduated with a Masters in Professional Environmental Engineering earlier this year. She previously completed a Bachelor of Environmental Engineering with Honours at UoN, having graduated in 2017. Between degrees, she has established herself in the environmental industry of contaminated lands and now works for Tetra Tech Coffey in the Site Assessment and Remediation team, based in Newcastle.
Recording of the event:
NOTE: Apologies, sound issues are present in the recording.