Welcome to my E-portfolio
About MeMy name is Chloe Watson and I am a 4th year student at the University of Glasgow studying Environmental Science and Sustainability. I was driven to pursue higher education by my desire to obtain specialized knowledge in Environmental Science and the opportunity to further develop my skills within an academic setting.
I developed my facilitation and teamwork skills, prior to university, through a variety of environmental education programmes, such as the Ecovillage Design Education (EDE) course and a volunteering position in the charity Wild Things!. I continued the development of these attributes within academia and also through additional experiences, such as a two-month European Volunteer Service (EVS), now named the European Solidarity Corps scheme, in the summer of 2017. In my third year, I volunteered to coach the Saturday morning session for the youths of the Nithsdale Amateur Rowing Club, developing my leadership skills. Similarly, in my third year, I enhanced my communication skills during my time as the secretary and stand in captain for the Crichton University Campus Boat Club. This ePortfolio is part of the Graduate Skills Programme (GSP), an employability programme within the College of Social Sciences. An ambition of mine is to pursue a career within the environmental sector and the opportunity to get involved with the GSP was an ideal opportunity to reflect on and develop my future career prospects. The ePortfolio will cover my professional experience, demonstrates my professional identity, and indicates my future career aspirations |
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PORTFOLIO
Professional Summary
My decision to attain a degree in Environmental Science and Sustainability was driven by my passion for the environment and the desire to acquire essential knowledge and skills to become competent within the discipline. As an interdisciplinary degree, the curriculum is broad and holistic in its approach, stemming from areas in earth system science, tourism, philosophy, energy options and issues in contemporary society. I have cultivated a flexible and critical mindset from the classes due to the varied perspectives. Similarly, this has established my well-rounded awareness, a capacity to reflect upon the environmental challenges and to understand the need to create innovative future-orientated solutions. An essential aspect of my academic studies has been the group projects and independent research tasks. In the group context, specifically my Energy Options group research and presentation assignment, I furthered the development of my teamwork skills, my ability to negotiate, share and allocate tasks. By consequence, the combination of subjects and research, has led me towards a significant interest in environmental communication. My third year was dedicated to this specialized discipline by focusing my third-year dissertation project upon this topic. Furthermore, I audited two postgraduate classes, environmental politics and ideology and environmental ethics and behavioural change, to further my learning and contextualise, in a wider sense, the implications and impacts of environmental communication.
In addition to my studies, in my third year, I was the secretary and stand- in captain of the Crichton University Campus Boat Club, a multi-university club based in Dumfries, which I was a member of for three years. This was an affirming experience, as I developed my competency in organising and leading weekly sessions by the end of my first year. Additionally, I also learned the importance of teamwork and communication, especially when aiming for a collective goal. Moreover, I engaged in weekly meetings with the youth group of the rowing club, supporting and coaching Saturday morning sessions. I was also the Student Representative for my fellow third year Environmental Science and Sustainability cohort and voiced the concerns of my peers and looked towards potential solutions to improve and raise current circumstances. Furthermore, I have actively participated in raising awareness and educating on environmental issues. In the years 2015/16, I participated - and in the following year supported - the execution of the month-long Applied Ecovillage Living (AEL) course, in the Findhorn Foundation, developing my facilitation, organisational and leadership skills. During the summer of 2017, I participated in an Erasmus exchange programme in Sweden living for 2 months in two ecovillages supporting the organisation of the European Global Ecovillage Conference. The In summer of 2018, I compiled and presented a synthesis of the past two years of my degree to my local community, which has enabled me to further understand, not only the challenges of transitioning to sustainability, but also how to effectively communicate and present them to an audience from a non-academic background.
I have had several part-time jobs, from retail positions such as a server/customer assistant to a waitress. During my time working as a customer assistant, in New Look and The Phoenix and a waitress in Daksh Indian Restaurant, my confidence in approaching and interacting with customers has greatly improved. It was essential that I was professional, approachable and prioritised the customer as well as efficiently manage time when working under pressure. Additionally, in the years of 2015/16 I worked as a Youth Leader for a charity named Children and Youth in Community that educates and promotes empowerment and belonging through creative experiential programmes and community engagement. I was not only able to strengthen my time management and organisational skills but also my ability to negotiate, lead and look after the children I was responsible for.
In the future, I wish to initiate and further dialogue across sectors and disciplines to facilitate solutions that are interdisciplinary and pragmatic in the face of environmental instability. I am at the beginning of this journey and my current aspirations and interest lies in the topics surrounding ethics and communication. I see multiple opportunities in terms of future career paths. One is to pursue academia and further higher education (Master’s and then a PhD); I thoroughly enjoy teaching and learning and see an academic setting as a perfect base from which to manifest such a future. On the other hand, looking into environmental communication within a specific company and/or NGO is another option that I am considering. Similarly, I would be interested in pursuing see opportunity to work as a facilitator and therefore developing a diverse and flexible career path where I can draw upon my various assets and interests is an alternative option. Currently I am deepening my knowledge in environmental communication and actively seek future opportunities (via internships during the summer and potentially a policy and governance masters) to test and develop the knowledge and skills necessary to tackle and develop solutions for the future.
In addition to my studies, in my third year, I was the secretary and stand- in captain of the Crichton University Campus Boat Club, a multi-university club based in Dumfries, which I was a member of for three years. This was an affirming experience, as I developed my competency in organising and leading weekly sessions by the end of my first year. Additionally, I also learned the importance of teamwork and communication, especially when aiming for a collective goal. Moreover, I engaged in weekly meetings with the youth group of the rowing club, supporting and coaching Saturday morning sessions. I was also the Student Representative for my fellow third year Environmental Science and Sustainability cohort and voiced the concerns of my peers and looked towards potential solutions to improve and raise current circumstances. Furthermore, I have actively participated in raising awareness and educating on environmental issues. In the years 2015/16, I participated - and in the following year supported - the execution of the month-long Applied Ecovillage Living (AEL) course, in the Findhorn Foundation, developing my facilitation, organisational and leadership skills. During the summer of 2017, I participated in an Erasmus exchange programme in Sweden living for 2 months in two ecovillages supporting the organisation of the European Global Ecovillage Conference. The In summer of 2018, I compiled and presented a synthesis of the past two years of my degree to my local community, which has enabled me to further understand, not only the challenges of transitioning to sustainability, but also how to effectively communicate and present them to an audience from a non-academic background.
I have had several part-time jobs, from retail positions such as a server/customer assistant to a waitress. During my time working as a customer assistant, in New Look and The Phoenix and a waitress in Daksh Indian Restaurant, my confidence in approaching and interacting with customers has greatly improved. It was essential that I was professional, approachable and prioritised the customer as well as efficiently manage time when working under pressure. Additionally, in the years of 2015/16 I worked as a Youth Leader for a charity named Children and Youth in Community that educates and promotes empowerment and belonging through creative experiential programmes and community engagement. I was not only able to strengthen my time management and organisational skills but also my ability to negotiate, lead and look after the children I was responsible for.
In the future, I wish to initiate and further dialogue across sectors and disciplines to facilitate solutions that are interdisciplinary and pragmatic in the face of environmental instability. I am at the beginning of this journey and my current aspirations and interest lies in the topics surrounding ethics and communication. I see multiple opportunities in terms of future career paths. One is to pursue academia and further higher education (Master’s and then a PhD); I thoroughly enjoy teaching and learning and see an academic setting as a perfect base from which to manifest such a future. On the other hand, looking into environmental communication within a specific company and/or NGO is another option that I am considering. Similarly, I would be interested in pursuing see opportunity to work as a facilitator and therefore developing a diverse and flexible career path where I can draw upon my various assets and interests is an alternative option. Currently I am deepening my knowledge in environmental communication and actively seek future opportunities (via internships during the summer and potentially a policy and governance masters) to test and develop the knowledge and skills necessary to tackle and develop solutions for the future.