NRG BESS

On the train home from another great NRG BESS meeting I was having a good think about the great things that the NRG BESS community has given me. Which I'm aware sounds a bit cheesy. I thought I would just jot a quick blog on my favourite things.

Firstly the sense of community. Out of my own choice I work from home, which can often feel a bit lonesome, and I don't get the chance to discuss my work other than in progress meetings. The NRG BESS meetings are great to informally chat about and around your work, which leads to more creative thinking towards it. It's also nice to hear that I'm not the only one that is stressed and feeling a little worn out.

Secondly is the great training. For me personally my favourites have been the policy training which was the final bit of inspiration I needed to apply for the policy internship. And then yesterdays Participatory GIS session. I feel a lot more confident in using some PGIS in the next stage of my PhD now.

Thirdly I like being involved in something that I really believe is going to continue on and be a great platform for early career biodiversity/PhD scientists into the future. Especially with the great structure we hashed out for the way the network is going to be working in 2015.

Fourthly inspiring my love for York, I'm still yet to visit without BESS involvement. 

Fifthly they're all great banagrams players.

Now to write my manifesto, so I can play a more direct part in the continuation of the network and give back a little more.

Valuing our Life Support Systems Summit 2014

This is just a really quick blog about a small point that came up during the first panel discussion this morning at the Natural Capital Initiative summit.

Terminology.

It's such an important factor in the whole discussion of natural capital and ecosystem services. One of the panel said that he used different terms merely to avoid repetition. Terms like ecosystem services, natural capital, natural environment, environment systems, nature and many others are used regularly and interchangeably although in a dictionary they would all have different meanings.

Is it important? Is it an issue? It's difficult to tell as it only comes to light in direct questions or when a problem occurs.

The idea of an external glossary was brought up, which I think is an excellent idea, for identifying what the terms mean within different contexts. Though the point was also brought up that we need to focus our time on solving the issues rather than being hung up on the terms we use to get there. Two sides to everything, as usual.

But what if clearing up the definitions elucidates the solving of issues, saving both time and money.

In my survey one of the questions was 'at which temporal scale do you work?' most of the participants said they work at a 'medium term'. When asked to identify what they thought 'medium term' meant there were responses ranging from 1-50 years. So everyone thinks they are working at the same time scales, thus there are no mismatches or problems. But that is not the reality.

Is it not worse that the problems don't get identified because we don't know they're there?

I thought this was just going to be a super short blog. But I really do have a passion for terminology and clarity.

I'll blog more about the actual summit over the weekend.

Policy Internship

I mentioned before about getting an interview for a three month policy internship, and how giddy I was, and proud of myself for getting the interview.

Well.

Last night I found out that I got it. I get to spend three months working for the Government Office for Science. In Westminster, so close to the Abbey that I imagine the entirety of the three months will be to the soundtrack of the choir boys!

The GO Science internship will involve me writing briefing notes, and background papers and organising workshops and meetings. I am so excited about this opportunity, I just want to start now.

This internship will give me the experience needed to get closer to my dream career in the science/policy sector. Doing a PhD used to be my ultimate dream, and now I am over half way through attaining that goal, I have realised the importance of the integration of science and policy, and I want to be involved in that.During the internship I'm going to meet a lot of people that I want to be when I "grow up", specifically Sir Mark Walport the Government Chief Scientific Adviser.

All I know as yet is that I have it, I don't yet know when I start, or what projects I'll be working on. But I do know that I have found the perfect super chic A4 sized bag to save up for, so I can carry all the important documents I'll be writing.

The next step is to reply to my offer with an acceptance, and work out how I'm going to live in London, or deal with a massive daily commute.