Even though many of our graduates will have progressed in their careers since completing a case study, they are still of interest to students who wish to gain an understanding of the world of work.

My main responsibility is to produce dossiers for submission to regulatory authorities, with the aim to register agrochemical products within the country of application.

Preparation of a dossier involves risk assessments in toxicology, ecotoxicology and environmental fate to ensure that the product will not cause adverse effects to humans, animals or the environment.

I am currently the environmental fate expert at Nufarm UK Ltd which involves conducting water modelling to assess the risk of application of a pesticide to goundwater and surface water and also advising colleagues on this topic.

Day to day activities vary widely, but include:
Writing of dossiers
Performing risk assessments to humans, animals and the environment
Assisting colleagues throughout Europe with regulatory issues
Responding to questions from regulatory authorities
CHIP/CLP classification
Keeping up to date with guidelines and regulations

I really enjoy that the work I do is so varied. If I get stuck with something I can always move away from it and work on something different and come back to it later.

I particularly like that I have the opportunity to correspond with colleagues throughout Europe on a daily basis and discuss the interesting regulatory issues thrown up in the different countries.

The most challenging aspect of my job is that the registration process and requirements are constantly changing. It is very important to keep up to date the current guidance as if this is not followed it can result in the loss of registered products for the company.

A role within regulatory affairs allows the use of my scientific backgound yet I am still learning every day.

My degree is very important in my job, with some modules I studied being particularly useful, including an ecotoxicology module I undertook whilst at Sheffield University.

The communication skills I learnt whilst at university are also crucial when communicating with colleagues and regulatory authorities across Europe.

I am fortunate to receive a great deal of training at Nufarm. I regularly attend courses, conferences and workshops that are relevant to the job.

Shortly after joining Nufarm I decided that I would like to become a specialist in the environmental fate area. I have been greatly supporting with this and received all the training I required.

In the near future I would like to expand my knowledge of the environmental fate area by gaining more in depth understanding of the topic, via further training or perhaps a relevant masters degree.

Further on in my career I would look to become a regulatory consultant, probably to the agrochemical industry. I would also be interested in a managerial role within a regulatory department.

There is an increased requirement for people working within regulatory roles due to new guidance and therefore higher workloads. As a result of this there are now often graduate jobs available directly into regulatory affairs, with companies offering all training required.

An alternative route into regulatory affairs is often via laboratory work within a company. For example at Nufarm several of my colleagues in registration started in the laboratories with analytical work and moved into registration.