Environment, Conservation and Ecology

If you would like to do further research into this sector, the following webpages may be useful.  

• Career Zone Blog – Biodiversity Project Officer – Read about MSc Conservation and Biodiversity graduate, Abhishek Dixit role with FX Plus.
• Career Zone Blog – My Placement at the Cornish Seal Sanctuary – Read about Flo Taylor’s experience on placement at the Cornish Seal Sanctuary as an education volunteer.
• Prospects - Environment and Agriculture - An overview of the sector, along with advice and information.
• So you want to become a marine biologist – Advice piece from the National Marine Aquarium.
• What kind of jobs can you get with a qualification in ESG? - Insight piece by the Corporate Governance Institute.

Making contacts is essential for success in this and other sectors. Many jobs in this field come through networking and speculative applications. You could start by speaking with the experts – find out what they did after graduation and contact them for advice.  

Making contacts for work shadowing, informational interviews and speculative applications 

To help increase your networks who may also be able to suggest ways to gain experiences look at: 

• Ask an Alum: A fuss-free way to connect with University of Exeter alumni to ask careers questions. 
• Career Mentor Scheme: A popular employability scheme which matches a student or graduate with an experienced professional, for sector insight and one-to-one careers advice and guidance, over a 6-month period. 
• Professional Pathways: a suite of sector specific training courses and paid week-long internships that take place in June. 
• Green Consultants: designed to provide students with skills and experience for the environmental and sustainability sector, with opportunities to undertake projects and internships with local organisations.

Recruitment fairs, careers fairs, open days, talks, and events give insights and opportunities to make contacts.  For details of future events visit Handshake. If you have not yet activated your account, select the Single Sign On (SSO) option and follow the onscreen instructions.  

• Careers In Sustainability and Environment Networking Fair (Streatham)
• Ecology, Conservation and Environment Fair (Penryn) 

Many major graduate recruiters have policies and processes that are proactive in recruiting graduates from diverse backgrounds. To find out the policies and attitudes of employers that you are interested in, explore their equality and diversity policies and see if they offer Disability Confident Employer Scheme or are recognised for their policy by such indicators as Mindful Employer or as a Stonewall’s Diversity Champion.  

The UK law protects you from discrimination due to your age, gender, race, religion or beliefs, disability or sexual orientation and more. For further information on the Equality Act and to find out where and how you are protected, as well as information on what you need to do if you feel you have been discriminated against, visit the Government’s webpages on discrimination. 

To learn more about how to share details of a disability with an employer and the support you can receive applying for jobs and work experience visit our equality and diversity page. 

Further information  

• British Antarctic Survey (BAS) – EDI Internship Programme  Introduced to open Polar science to under-represented groups.
• Environment Agency – Early Careers Internship & Graduate routes (EDI-driven) Paid internships aimed specifically to improve diversity; plus an Environment & Science Graduate Training Scheme.
• Gateway to Careers - Nature Networks Each year the University of Exeter teams up with Ambios to support students to undertake a 'free’ rewilding programme.  This is targeted at students who fall within the Widening Participation criteria, however, if there are spaces available, other students may also attend.
• Green Alliance – Positive Action Trainee Scheme 12-month paid roles (launched 2024) to kickstart careers for under-represented groups in the environmental sector (policy/politics/ops) and a graduate programme.
• Groundwork UK – “New to Nature” is a national programme creating 95 paid nature roles to increase diversity in the environmental sector; partners include Disability Rights UK, The Prince’s Trust and Mission Diverse.
• London Wildlife Trust – “Keeping it Wild” Paid Traineeships Four-month paid traineeships designed to broaden participation by young people and diversify the conservation workforce; Trust reports high impact on workforce diversity since 2018, with funding and plans to continue the work into 2028.
• Natural England / Defra family – Summer Diversity Internship Programme (Civil Service) 
  DEFRA offer six-week paid SDIP placements for students/graduates from under-represented backgrounds, hosted across Defra group bodies (useful gateway into nature agencies).
• The Crown Estate – Marine Internship Programmes Full-time, paid marine-environment internships run with sector partners, specifically aiming to nurture a diverse, skilled workforce.
• UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH) – Inclusive Internship Projects Paid summer internships that (in some projects) explicitly aim to identify and reduce barriers to more inclusive environmental science training.