How to survive academia (& enjoy it!)

Have you ever felt like escaping the rat race and travelling the world? Seeking impact, adventure and new experiences? Perhaps volunteering for nature conservation organisations, and setting yourself for a career change or education when you return?

But with the world as your playground … where do you start? How do you plan such a trip to ensure your time and money are well spent?

Today we’re speaking with Julia Rogers founder of EnRoute Consulting. As a professional gap year counsellor - a new job title to me - Julia prides herself in understanding the complicated process of planning a meaningful experience whilst travelling.

During this episode, we discuss the value a gap year or career break can bring to people in their work, education and lives. We talk about the different types of experiences people can discover, and how to plan for a successful trip. Finally, we also chat about how a Gap Year Counsellor can help if you need support.

It’s a globe-trotting, experience-seeking, life-changing episode. Enjoy!

Increasingly, the private sector is taking a growing interest in their impact on wildlife, and this could lead to a much-needed step change in conservation efforts.

But why do companies care about nature? How can they assess and minimise their impacts? And what sort of jobs are opening up for conservationists seeking to work in this exciting area of change?

Here to discuss these topics and many more is today's inspiring and thoughtful guest, Michael Burgass, Director at the consultancy Biodiversify.

Biodviersify helps clients to understand and improve their relationship with nature, working at the cutting edge of bd sustainability to provide strategic support and provide meaningful outcomes for society, for business and for wildlife.

In today's discussion we talk about why the private sector is increasingly aware of the need to build biodiversity into their businesses, and where this drive is coming from.

We also discuss if this growth in interest in the private sector will make a significant impact on global conservation efforts, along with the skills needed to take advantage of the opportunities as they open up.

Mike also shares his careers advice for people like you who might be seeking to work in the sector, along with his thoughts on what conservationists need to be better at in order to have more impact.

It's a biodiversity-businessing, nature-accounting pod-chat. Enjoy.

Have you ever felt like you’re energetically exhausted, mentally distant from your job, or less able to produce results at work?

There’s a chance that these symptoms could be related to burnout.

According to The World Health Organization (WHO), burnout is a syndrome “…resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed.”

As conservationists, our work is our passion, but that passion doesn’t make us immune to burnout. In fact, it might even make us more susceptible.

And the effects of burnout can be dire for conservationists and their work. The WHO characterises burnout by 1) feelings of energy depletion or exhaustion; 2) increased mental distance from one’s job, or feelings of negativism or cynicism related to one’s job; and 3) reduced professional efficacy.

In this special episode we discuss burnout in conservation, and why awareness of burnout is so important for conservationists personally and professionally.

Joining our host Dr Nick Askew is Dr Fernando (Nando) Mateos-González of Bioblogía and Kristi Foster, Head of Programmes at Conservation Careers.

We talk about our own personal experiences with burnout and what contributed to them. We also share some solutions we’ve learnt for avoiding and managing burnout – or even transforming it into healthier ways of working.

It’s a very open, real and honest chat. We hope will support other conservationists – whether you’re just starting your career, concerned about burnout or have experienced burnout yourself.

Enjoy.

If you’ve spent time in the UK and visited a local nature reserve, then chances are you’ve been to a site managed by one of the 46 individual Wildlife Trusts that collectively represent 2,000 staff, 35,000 volunteers and nearly 1 million members.  

Helping to coordinate this huge force for nature is the Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts of which today’s guest is their Deputy Chief Executive. 

Patience Thody left the commercial banking sector and switched her career towards wildlife conservation and the charity sector. 

She’s using her twenty years of HR and Operations Management experience to build, lead and motivate multi-disciplinary teams to deliver nature conservation across the UK. 

In this episode, we explore the Wildlife Trust network, its conservation activities and workforce of volunteers and staff. 

We also uncover what it means to be a Deputy Chief Executive, the skills Patience uses and values in her role, and what she enjoys and finds challenging in her job. 

She also shares her career journey and advice for people like yourself, who might be seeking to follow in her footsteps. 

It’s a Wildlife-trusting, career-switching, pod-chat. 

Enjoy.

We ran a live event in partnership with Conservation Optimism, to explore and celebrate the work of Dr Charu Mishra - the world’s foremost expert on snow leopard conservation, and double Whitley Gold Award Winner.

Conservation Optimism is a global community dedicated to inspiring people to make a positive difference for nature, and co-hosting the live event with me was Sofia Castelló y Tickell.

 Together we spoke to Charu, who is the Executive Director of the International Snow Leopard Trust and Co-Founder of India’s Nature Conservation Foundation.

He’s spent 25 years working to increase protection for snow leopards across all 12 of their range countries, with the vital support of local people, and has won the Whitley Gold Award in 2005 and in 2022.

As a world expert on snow leopard conservation he has pioneered the community-based conservation approach to enable harmonious co-existence between people and wildlife.

Sofia and I talked to Charu about his work as Executive Director of the International Snow Leopard Trust, and his approach to community-based conservation.

We also explore his career path, his careers advice for aspiring conservationists, and also what keeps him optimistic about the future.

Finally, we also discuss the importance of ethics in wildlife conservation and the Ethical Conservation Alliance which he launched recently at the Whitley Fund for Nature, People for Planet Summit.

Towards the end of the recording, we also open up to our audience where they get the opportunity to ask their questions of Charu.

It’s a wide-ranging, snow-leopard-conservationing, and humbly-inspiring pod-chat. Enjoy.

Why is communications so important for conservationists? What communications skills are employers are looking for? And how can you start developing these skills, today?

We answer these questions and more in this special edition of the Conservation Careers Podcast.

Sir David Attenborough said that "Conservation is now a communications challenge". Awareness of this challenge is growing rapidly and it's something we keep coming back to in conversations with podcast guests and in our communities at CC.

Joining me for a deep dive into the importance of communications for conservationists are two guests from Team CC. Kristi Foster is our Head of Programmes, and Lloyd Gofton is our Head of Marketing and 'Communications for Conservation Projects' Course Leader.

Each of shares our background in communications and experience with communications in the conservation sector.

We answer questions like: Why is communications so important for conservationists? What skills are employers looking for, that we can develop in ourselves as aspiring or professional conservationists?

We also share some tips about what you can do today to develop, polish and refine some of these skills - to have more impact and to become more employable.

It's a fun, honest and inspiring conversation. Enjoy!