{"id":55322,"date":"2024-11-13T12:00:46","date_gmt":"2024-11-13T12:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.glos.ac.uk\/courses\/?post_type=case_study&#038;p=55322"},"modified":"2024-11-13T12:00:47","modified_gmt":"2024-11-13T12:00:47","slug":"changing-career-from-gardener-to-ecologist","status":"publish","type":"case_study","link":"https:\/\/www.glos.ac.uk\/courses\/story\/changing-career-from-gardener-to-ecologist\/","title":{"rendered":"Changing career: from Gardener to Ecologist"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Bec Smith is currently studying <a href=\"https:\/\/www.glos.ac.uk\/courses\/course\/aec-msc-applied-ecology\/\">Applied Ecology MSc<\/a> full time at UoG. Read what Bec has to say about the course.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"heading wp-block-heading\" style=\"font-size:30px\">What is your background and what brought you to study this course?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>I\u2019ve always enjoyed being outdoors and have worked as an organic gardener for the past 25 years since completing my undergraduate degree in garden design. Despite having a strong interest in all aspects of the natural world, I lacked focus as a teenager and gained no scientific education beyond AS level Biology. I thought I had missed my chance to work in ecology. Discovering the MSc in Applied Ecology at UoG opened a door to a career change for me I hadn&#8217;t expected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"heading wp-block-heading\" style=\"font-size:30px\">Did you attend an open event\/meet the lecturer event?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>I didn\u2019t attend an open day but contacted the course leader <a href=\"https:\/\/www.glos.ac.uk\/staff\/profile\/anne-goodenough\/\">Prof. Anne Goodenough<\/a> directly and arranged to meet on campus for a one-to-one discussion about options. She was very encouraging and supportive that my non-academic background and long break from education wouldn\u2019t be a barrier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"heading wp-block-heading\" style=\"font-size:30px\">How did you find the transition onto the course?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The transition to a postgraduate level course was a challenge as I had not written at length since my A levels and never scientifically or with referencing so that was a new concept for me which took time to adapt to. The further I progressed, though, the more confidence I gained in my ability to write and produce assignments at the expected level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"heading wp-block-heading\" style=\"font-size:30px\">What have you enjoyed most about the course?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>I\u2019ve enjoyed being able to join the dots, make connections and explore ideas in depth through reading a vast array of scientific literature. Alongside applying the skills that I learnt in the GIS mapping module to other assignments, I\u2019ve enjoyed all the practical sessions. A favourite session involved exploring the contents of insect surveys under a microscope in the lab.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"heading wp-block-heading\" style=\"font-size:30px\">What\u2019s next?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>I plan to use the skills learnt on the course to secure a job locally as an ecologist. However, I have enjoyed my time back in education so much that I hope my learning journey doesn\u2019t end here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<section class=\"acf-block acf-block--reference no-mt no-mb       \" style=\"border-color:#a5a2a2\">\n\t<div class=\"container\">\n\t\t<div class=\"columns is-flex is-vcentered is-marginless\">\n\t\t<div class=\"column is-narrow\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<span\n\t\t\t\tclass=\"reference-icon is-block\"\n\t\t\t\tstyle=\"\n\t\t\t\t\tdisplay:inline-block;\n\t\t\t\t\twidth:24px;\n\t\t\t\t\theight:24px;\n\t\t\t\t\tbackground-color:#1ca691;\n\t\t\t\t\tmask: url('https:\/\/www.glos.ac.uk\/courses\/wp-content\/themes\/glos--parent\/resources\/dist\/img\/icons\/reference\/link.svg') no-repeat center;\n\t\t\t\t\tmask-size: contain;\n\t\t\t\t\"\n\t\t\t\taria-label=\"link icon\"\n\t\t\t\ttitle=\"Reference is a link\"\n\t\t\t><\/span>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<div class=\"column\" style=\"color:#000!important\">\n\t\t\t\t<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.glos.ac.uk\/how-to-apply\/applying-to-university\/postgraduate-study\/\">How to apply<\/a><\/p>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"author":79,"featured_media":129000007164,"template":"","tags":[],"cs_subjects":[],"cs_levels_of_Study":[765],"schools":[],"class_list":["post-55322","case_study","type-case_study","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","cs_levels_of_Study-postgraduate"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.glos.ac.uk\/courses\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/case_study\/55322","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.glos.ac.uk\/courses\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/case_study"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.glos.ac.uk\/courses\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/case_study"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.glos.ac.uk\/courses\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/79"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.glos.ac.uk\/courses\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.glos.ac.uk\/courses\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55322"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.glos.ac.uk\/courses\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55322"},{"taxonomy":"cs_subjects","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.glos.ac.uk\/courses\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cs_subjects?post=55322"},{"taxonomy":"cs_levels_of_Study","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.glos.ac.uk\/courses\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cs_levels_of_Study?post=55322"},{"taxonomy":"schools","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.glos.ac.uk\/courses\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/schools?post=55322"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}