Profile

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Nicole Dunn

    • About Me:

      Hiya, I’m Nicole. I live in Inverness, in the Scottish Highlands with my partner and love the outdoors and I work as an Ecologist.

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      I grew up in Devon, in southern England so have moved quite a long way away! But it didn’t take me long to decide that the Highlands were my home. I love hillwalking and scrambling (easy climbing), but I also love to sing, dance and have fun with my friends.

    • My pronouns are:

      She/her

    • How I use Science in my work:

      My work involves collecting, analysing and writing about ecological data, like finding out where birds and other animals are living, or what plants are in an area. So it’s important to think about scientifically about how to collect the data and what data needs to be collected. I also use maths in analysing data, but also for managing projects and budgets.

    • My Work:

      I am an ecological consultant for a renewable energy consultancy. That means that I help developers to build wind farms in a way that is best for the environment.

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      I go and do surveys out in the middle of nowhere, mostly in the Scottish Highlands. I sometimes look for birds and other animals, but I specialise more in plants (or what we call habitats – the community of different plants living together). As I’ve progressed through my career I’ve had to spend more time at a computer, where I manage projects, manage people and write and review reports. A lot of my work goes into planning applications for the projects that I’m working on. Most people don’t realise how much work goes into a planning application. For instance, we have to do 2 years of bird surveys to see what’s on site before we can put in a planning application for a wind farm! But I also work on wind farms that have been built, where we have management plans to make the land better for wildlife.

    • My Typical Day:

      I’m not sure there is such thing as a typical day! If I’m at the office it will usually start with coffee and checking emails, and hopefully chatting a bit to my colleagues before getting on with work. I might be writing or reviewing a report, or talking to someone about doing some work for me (or me for them). At the end of the month we have to do invoicing for our projects which is a bit boring but important! Or I might be out doing fieldwork where I’m probably looking at plants.

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      If I’m lucky to be out doing a survey then I need to make sure I have everything I need and take a 4×4 truck to my site. There’s always a lot of driving! We use tablets for most of our surveys so I need to make sure that is charged, as well as my phone and GPS tracker. Sometimes a group of us go to a site together to get the survey done and that’s always much more fun as we usually stay together in a self catering house. My team is really friendly and going out doing fieldwork together can be great for bonding with people and making friends. I’ve met most of my best friends through work.

    • What I'd do with the prize money:

      I run a children’s wildlife group in Inverness so I would spend it on taking the group out on a big field trip, possibly for a weekend in the Cairngorms.

    CV

    • Education:

      Landscore Primary School, Crediton, Devon

      Queen Elizabeth’s Community College, Crediton, Devon

      Exeter College, Devon

      Keele University, Staffordshire

      King’s College, London

    • Qualifications:

      GCSEs: Double Science, Maths, English Language, English Literature, Statistics, French, Geography, Food Technology, Music, Art, World Issues

      International Baccalaureate:
      Standard: English, French, Psychology
      Higher: Chemistry, Biology, Maths

      BSc Biology and Chemistry

      MSc Environmental Monitoring, Modelling and Management

    • Work History:

      Lifeguard (when I was at college)

      Barista at various coffee shops during/just after university

      Cleaner during/just after university

      Full time volunteer ranger for National Trust for Scotland in Glencoe

      Bar assistant at Clachaig Inn in Glencoe

      Research Assistant on a pollinator monitoring project run by Leads University, working in the Highlands

      Waitress at the Boat Hotel, Boat of Garden

      Graduate Ecologist at Peak Ecology, Bakewell

      Graduate Ecologist, Ecologist and Environmental Consultant at Natural Power in Inverness (worked here for 11 years)

    • Current Job:

      Senior Ecologist

    • Employer:

      Natural Power

    • My Interview

      • How would you describe yourself in 3 words?

        Nature loving hillwalker

        What did you want to be after you left school?

        I didn't really know! I just wanted to make the world a better place and have fun.

        Were you ever in trouble at school?

        I was probably too obedient!

        If you weren't doing this job, what would you choose instead?

        A conservationist

        Who is your favourite singer or band?

        Public Service Broadcasting

        What's your favourite food?

        My mum's lasagne

        If you had 3 wishes for yourself what would they be? - be honest!

        That I could travel more without burning fossil fuels. That I was better at climbing. That I could do more to prevent climate change/global issues.

        Tell us a joke.

        Why did the viper viper nose? Because the adder 'ad 'er 'ankerchief! (It works better spoken 😆)

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