Profile
Jessica Flack
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About Me:
A world traveller from a village in Buckinghamshire. I’m a Carbon Researcher or Environmental Project Coordinator. I love making food and drinks with ingredients I’ve gathered whilst walking in the countryside.
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My pronouns are:
she/her
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How I use Geography in my work:
My current job is researching carbon and predicting how much carbon we can store by changing how we manage nature, like planting trees or farming better – to reduce climate change.
I have also worked for the government advising farmers on how to get money for environmentally friendly farming and how to manage their protected conservation areas. This developed into a project coordination job where I was evaluating if the money paid to farmers actually improved the environment.
I have also spent 6 months in Tanzania, Africa, volunteering for a small environmental charity. This was focused on community tree planting and community environmental education. People can only care about issues they know about.
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My Work:
Researching carbon to predict how much we can store to reduce climate change.
Advising farmers on how to manage their land in more environmentally friendly ways and get paid by the government to do it. -
My Typical Day:
Nothing happens until I have had a coffee. Then I work at home on my computer researching data, running computer models, or brainstorming with people that I work with in meetings. I finish and make a home cooked meal for dinner.
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Education:
I went to Aylesbury High Grammar school and sixth form before going to the University of East Anglia for my first degree (undergraduate) and later to the University of Reading for my masters degree.
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Qualifications:
11 GCSEs grades A* to C, including geography, history, french, and food technology (and the usual science, english, maths!)
5 AS levels grades A to C: geography, biology, chemistry, psychology and world development
3 A levels grades B to D: geography, biology, chemistry
BSc Environmental Science undergraduate degree from University of East Anglia, grade 2:1 (that’s good!)
MSc Environmental Management masters degree from University of Reading, I was top in my class and got a distinction (that’s excellent!)
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Work History:
My jobs have been all over the place. My part time jobs at school were working with horses or as a waitress. When I left school and during my first degree I kept working with horses. I wanted to be a top horse rider but as I got older I realised the world needed me to be more than that. After a few years working with horses after my first degree, I decided to go back to university to get my masters and change my career to geography and environmental science.
After my masters I spent 6 months volunteering in Africa. Then I joined the public service (government) working for Natural England. I was there two years before deciding to take a break to go travel South America for 8 months. Now I’m back and working for a climate start-up company as a researcher.
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Employer:
A company called dClimateLabs – google them!
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My Interview
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How would you describe yourself in 3 words?
carbon-loving muddy researcher
What did you want to be after you left school?
Originally a world class horse rider!
Were you ever in trouble at school?
Not often, I did accidentally break a window.
If you weren't doing this job, what would you choose instead?
Something around farm animal welfare
Who is your favourite singer or band?
Paolo Nutini
What's your favourite food?
Pasta
If you had 3 wishes for yourself what would they be? - be honest!
Speak every language including animal languages and enough money to buy and rewild a county
Tell us a joke.
What do you call a donkey with 3 legs? A wonkey!
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