As chair of the Geological Society of London Contaminated Land Group alongside her role as Associate Technical Director at RSK, Anna organised the day-long filming session, which saw volunteers from graduates to senior practitioners sharing their career insights for a series of four short campaign videos. Providing snapshots of different career paths within the contaminated land industry, from regulatory and consultancy to academia and contracting, each video will be aimed at enticing more geologists and scientists into the profession by showcasing the variety of opportunities available in this exciting industry. As well as organising the day, Anna featured in the consultant career video, while Structural Soils Associate Director Eric Downey was interviewed as part of the contractor video.
Eric Downey filming for the campaign!
“We had a fantastic day filming for the Geological Society of London last month,” explained Anna. “The venue was certainly an inspiring backdrop as we were surrounded by rocks and fossils, and it was great to have a variety of volunteers taking part, from colleagues to clients, all at different stages of their careers. The ‘talking heads’ style videos will be aimed at school leavers, university students and those looking for a change of career. We hope to release the finished videos on the Geological Society of London website and social media channels in November, just in time to capture the new influx of freshers at universities.”
Eric added, “I wish to thank Anna for inviting me to talk about my 30 years of experience as a practising engineering geologist to those who are thinking of starting a career in geology. I loved being able to share some of the ‘wow moments’ from my career, from trial pitting in Kazakhstan in -30°C with 1.5 m of permafrost to working on the tidal sandbank in the middle of the River Mersey and inside the Queen Street tunnel in Glasgow on New Year’s Eve. I think the film maker particularly enjoyed my statement that ‘I have been making mud pies since I was three years old and the only difference is now is that I get paid to make them!’
“I hope the films will inspire our younger generations to think about a career in contaminated land. It has given me the amazing experience of travelling all over the UK and across the world, visiting some unique places above and below ground.”
Look out for the finished videos coming later this year on the Geological Society of London website.
