SUSTAIN YOUR PASSIONS

Find work in the right environment, Melanie Burgess writes

WITH issues such as climate change and sustainability front of mind, demand for environmental scientists is growing in Australia.

Federal Government modelling predicts an extra 2800 professionals will be needed in this field in the five years to May, 2023, bringing the national workforce to 28,100 people.

The forecast 11.3 per cent growth for environmental scientists is higher than the 7.1 per cent predicted for the overall workforce and 6.3 per cent predicted for medical laboratory scientists.

Griffith University School of Environment and Science Professor Catherine Pickering says environmental scientists are employed across large corporations, smaller consultancies, and government organisations at local, state and federal level.

“Environmental scientists could be looking at soils, ecology (plants and animals), chemistry, natural environments and humanmodified environments,” she says.

“You can be employed in agriculture, urban cities and planning, forestry, mines and in organisations involved in water and catchments, but there are also emerging new industries, including in clean energy and looking at things like climate change impacts.

“As the environment changes, we need to know what those changes could be and how we deal with them.”

Pickering says qualified environmental scientists are also in demand in other sectors, as their training – such as Griffith’s Bachelor of Environmental Science – provides skills in big data that are transferable into areas as diverse as finance and transport.

“(Environmental scientists learn) how to analyse and process big data sets, visualise that data to make it comprehensible to interpret and see patterns, and look at spatial data and analytics,” she says.

“It opens a broad range of job opportunities.”

Pickering says young people are typically drawn to a career in environmental science because they want to do meaningful work.

“(When choosing a degree) a lot of students are motivated by wanting to do good and parents are motived by wanting to know their child will have a job when they finish,” she says.

“Environmental science is one area where you can combine both.”