How do you describe your job when you meet people at a party?
I tell people I am originally from Madrid, Spain, but have studied, lived and worked in the UK for the last 16 years. I work on helping with flooding and also climate change policy. Normally they just say “Very interesting” and that’s where the conversation stops
Describe briefly how your career has progressed to date.
My first job was as a teaching assistant. From there I did a few part-time jobs at various universities, and I then went on to work for an engineering company that specialized in the environment, engineering, and anything related to water. I was there for two years, and then I worked for the Environment Agency as a development control engineer (which means people who look at planning applications to assess flood risk and other water-related issues like erosion of banks etc.) So, for example, if someone wants to build a marina you advise them on that process and issues like the protection of banks etc. After three years at the Environment Agency I went to their headquarters to work on climate change adaptation policy. I found that very interesting: going back to doing academic research and writing technical papers on flood risk management and internal strategies. Then I took a career break when I had my first child. I now have two children, Aida and Lucas, who are ten and three years old. I’ve now been working for Enviros for two and half years. Enviros is an environmental consultancy and does all sorts of environmental services
How is your job cross-disciplinary?
I often look at both flood risk and planning and their various aspects. As part of this, I often influence the design of bridges and their development. Generally I look at how things should be built, and this involves talking to a wide range of people: engineers and architects, planning consultants, traffic consultants, regulators…the list goes on…but it involves a fair number of disciplines. I also do work with carbon calculating and more on climate change side – calculating a carbon footprint can involve talking to economists as well as hydraulic engineers
How do you see your field developing over the next 5-10 years?
I hope that politicians get it finally that we need to look after the Earth first and then worry about banks and everything else second. I just hope that things go that way and people start taking notice…we will all be busier if we work in environmental sciences
What’s the most unexpected thing about your job?
Not many people think of women doing flood risk management – on my team I’m the only one. Overall there are far fewer women in my line of work. It’s not unusual for me to be at a meeting where there are many 19 men and I’m the only woman. I’m used to it…but I find it irritating that men shout louder!
