Emma’s skills, knowledge and passion to make environmental change have led her along an exciting and interesting career path. Development Studies has helped by providing Emma with necessary critical and strategic thinking skills required in her roles. 

WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN UP TO SINCE GRADUATING? 


Emma has had several interesting roles since graduating with her Bachelor of Development Studies. Currently Emma is Acting Senior Policy Officer Intergovernmental within the Strategic Relations branch of the Water group at NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment. Emma and her team are involved with the intergovernmental partnerships and agreements for the Murray-Darling Basin Plan, implementing the plan and interjurisdictional stakeholder engagement and issues. Within the NSW Government, Emma and her team are responsible for talking to the different groups within the Department such as Environment, Energy and Science and NSW National Parks to provide feedback to the interjurisdictional committees to ensure the Basin Plan is on track for New South Wales and raise any issues that need addressing. They talk to different people across their organisation in New South Wales, as well as their counterparts in Victoria, South Australia, and Queensland on different projects.  

The Basin Plan was established with the aim of rebalancing the redistribution of water between environmental and other uses. This has involved buy backs of water licenses from irrigators and infrastructure projects and using environmental water more efficiently. It is a constant juggling act as there are irrigated farms, community and Country on the river that need to be sustained. In this world of policy, Emma has had to think strategically when approaching projects, she needs to consider what the Department wants to gain out of an interaction, what is the broader context that is informing a project and when to give and take during negotiations.  

“It’s been a mental exercise and has really stretched my brain in a good way.”

One of the challenges Emma is faced with are hard-wired water recovery targets and dates for those targets. Over the years there the team as realised that these targets will be difficult or impossible for some projects to meet. When this is the case, these issues sit with the Intergovernmental team for Emma and her colleagues to work through and resolve.

Prior to Emma’s current role, she was an Environmental Project Officer for two years with the Fitzroy Basin Association. This is a natural resource management organisation based in Rockhampton, Queensland. Emma was responsible for delivering a variety of projects including threatened species, threatened ecological communities, Ramsar Wetlands and Indigenous cultural heritage projects. The highlight of this role for Emma was her work on the Team Turtle SQ Project. This project was volunteer based and involved the community to monitor marine turtles along the Capricorn and Curtis coasts. Volunteers were trained in what to look for, to identify turtle tracks and nests as well as threats to the turtles such as foxes, rubbish and four-wheel drive impacts. This data was collected by volunteers using an app on their phone, which meant that Emma and her team were able to respond much faster to threats.

Prior to her role with the Fitzroy Basin Association, Emma was a Regional Waste Project Officer with Hunter Joint Organisation, previously Hunter Councils. Emma worked on the Love Food Hate Waste on Campus initiative in partnership with University of Newcastle. The initiative targeted students 18 – 24yo living on campus and its aim was to reduce food waste and equip students with some handy life skills. Emma organised practical solutions such as a chef coming on campus and providing cooking classes, as well as online resources such as the UON Student Sustainable Cookbook. Emma entered this role shortly after she had graduated, which was beneficial to Emma and the program as she was aware of who to contact at UON when developing the program.

Awareness of Indigenous cultural heritage, that she gained from Development Studies, has also been of great benefit to Emma. Taking the time to invest in relationships to gain trust and rapport ensures a good working relationship. This awareness, that is weaved throughout the Development Studies program, is incredibly important to Emma.


HOW RELEVANT HAS YOUR DEGREE BEEN SINCE YOU GRADUATED? 

Emma knew that she wanted to work in environmental sustainability and she knew that she wanted to work at the level of policy and legislative framework. Development Studies provided Emma with the ability to see how the smaller pieces can be brought together and understood in order to implement informed decisions. Emma was able to experience this first hand during her Work Integrated Learning in Development Studies and Human Geography placement with the Newcastle City Council. During her placement, Emma was tasked with collecting data on how people were using space, specifically the Hunter Street Mall. This data, in conjunction with data gathered from different locations around the city, was used to inform decisions regarding city wide plans. Emma observed how the data that she was gathering was added to a larger data set that then lead to better understanding and informed decisions regarding the city’s needs.


Volunteering and making a positive environmental impact was important to Emma while she was studying. Emma was involved with the Newcastle University Student Environmental Club (NUSEC), the UON Enviro Ball Organising Committee and Ocean and Coastal Care Initiatives (OCCI). Elevating her contribution through these volunteering opportunities, such as fund raising and raising awareness, was important to Emma. For example whilst she was involved with organising the UON Enviro Ball, it was more than just being about organising a great party, it was also about fundraising for Aussie Ark which is an environmental conservation organisation.

ADVICE: FOLLOW YOUR INTERESTS AND BE HONEST 

When choosing courses, Emma simply picked what sounded interesting to her and what she wanted to learn more about. There are compulsory courses, like economics, that at the time she could not see the relevance of for her career, however to this day Emma still refers back to a lot of what she learnt in those courses.  

“You do well in subjects you are interested in.” 

With regards to the intimidating job interview experience, Emma advises it is best to be honest. Let the interviewer know that you are nervous, and you are also willing to learn and give the work a go. It is also important to make sure that the work environment and culture will work for you, ask the interviewers why they enjoy their work and working for that organisation.  

PLANS FOR THE FUTURE 

At the moment Emma’s role has her implementing critical thinking and analysis all day, every day. Her brain is being stretched, challenged and she is learning constantly. Emma enjoys her role and has no immediate plans for change. She does see herself undertaking additional studies in the future when she feels she needs to challenge herself again. 

“There’s always more to learn.”

`

Emma Grezl

Emma knew that she wanted to work in environmental sustainability and she knew that she wanted to work at the level of policy and legislative framework. Development Studies helped show how this can be possible.

It’s been a mental exercise and has really stretched my brain in a good way.

Inspired by Emma's story?

Study a Bachelor of Development Studies today

Find out more