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.

Supporting Secretariats of intergovernmental agreements in developing and using indicators to understand process (Convention on Biological diversity, Intergovernmental science-policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services and others); supporting national governments in developing and using indicators (and setting targets) to track change in biodiversity; supporting governments in valuing their natural capital to help mainstream it into decision-making across different sectors.

A typical day varies greatly but involves liaising with project partners, funders and beneficiaries, checking project plans and updating budgets, writing technical reports, organising/preparing materials for/delivering workshops...many different things!

Travel to interesting countries to work with governments 'in situ', attending high level UN meetings, getting funding for projects with real tangible impacts.

Juggling travel and family life, becoming an 'expert' in a huge range of subjects and being able to speak authoritatively at minimal notice.

My interest in biodiversity/environment developed before starting at Sheffield, and so following my undergrad I did an MSc at Oxford to allow me to get into this field of work. UNEP-WCMC specifically appealed due to the interesting nature of work at the science-policy interface. My languages degree made me particularly employable here given the international nature of the work.

French and Russian language (a lot!), biodiversity technical knowledge, communication skills, interpersonal skills.

2004-2008: BA Modern Languages (French, Russian Italian) - University of Sheffield
2008-2010: research Assistant, then Assistant Project Manager - Kalahari Meerkat Project, South Africa
2010-2011: MSc Biodiversity Conservation and Management, University of Oxford
2011-2012: Programme Officer, Community Centred Conservation (C3), based in Egypt but managing a (francophone) project in Madagascar
2012-present: Assistant Programme Officer, then Programme Officer, UNEP-WCMC, Cambridge

Working for an intergovernmental organisation/overseas national government supporting biodiversity policy development.

Languages is extremely useful as a basis, and makes you stand out on a job application, but will likely require further study or qualifications to go into anything remotely specialized. I would not have my current job without speaking languages - I have run workshops for national governments in francophone Africa and Madagascar (in French) and in Central Asia (in Russian), i regularly communicate with governments in those countries, and am often asked to work on projects in regions speaking those languages.