Neil Slattery
BSc Geography
What has your career story been since graduating from the University of Glasgow?
After graduating in 2018 I went straight into an MSc at the University of Strathclyde in ‘Environmental and Sustainability Studies’ this was a broad environmental course covering a range of topics such as the water environment, air quality, environmental law, and urban planning. This was great for me because at the time I knew I wanted an environmental based job but didn’t exactly know what was out there. So, the masters year really allowed me to enhance my passion for the environment and sustainability and gain a greater insight into what I wanted to do.
I finished my masters in August 2019, and that summer I had luckily landed a job at a SME environmental consulting company based in London, so I started pretty soon after in September 2019. My role here was ‘Environmental Impact Assessment Consultant. Environmental Impact Assessment ‘EIA’ is the legislative framework for assessing the environmental effect of development on its environs. Be it housing, industrial use, transport, or energy. My role was primarily focussed on property, so new housing, urban regeneration etc. In this role I also developed climate assessment skills, so assessing the impact that development has on climate change, through GHG emissions and adaptation. I stayed at this role through covid and left in March 2022.
In March 2022 I joined an independent UK based design/planning/environmental firm called Barton Willmore. My role here was Environmental Planner. Very similar to what I did previously but also more work on environmental and social reports that feed into planning applications.
Barton Willmore was acquired by Stantec the month I joined in April 2022, so my role integrated into Stantec. Stantec are a multi-disciplinary engineering firm based from Canada but with 30k employees across 6 continents.
My role now as Senior Environmental Planner is split between EIA and climate change work, focussing on a range of residential and industrial projects, as well as large scale solar energy infrastructure.
What attracted you to the University of Glasgow for your studies?
I had two siblings that went to Glasgow so it was my top choice Uni to go to. Glasgow is a great city to study and live in.
What did you value about your degree?
The Geography degree at Glasgow was great, its broad so if you aren't sure whether you prefer human, physical or environmental you can choose many difference units to get a feel for each. But if you know you prefer Human for example there are lots of great units to choose from.
The range of units to choose was great and I found the teaching to be accessible and insightful.
The Geography trips are also a great way to bond with people doing your course, I'm still friends with many of my coursemates 6 years after graduating.
During my studies I also took the opportunity to do an exchange year in Perth, Australia. It is not compulsory for the degree but I would definitely recommend it to anyone.
What advice would you give to current students in terms of building a successful career?
Don't worry straight away if you don't know exactly what you want out of your degree. The range of jobs my friends from my course have now is so broad. In terms of finding my job in the environmental industry, the masters degree was definitely beneficial. I would also recommend trying to get your name out there to environmental companies, applying for jobs or simply just expressing your interest, a good company should be accommodating and helpful to what you want.
The engineering companies that offer environmental jobs are great but also seek out smaller ones. I started my career at a company with 150 employees and it was a great place to work; it also allowed me to easily explore different teams and everyone in the company up to the CEO were accessible to get in touch with.
I did apply for lots of jobs before I got one.