Emily Brown

Current Employer/Organisation Name

The Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire

What have you been doing since leaving Exeter, and what are you doing now?

After graduating I stayed in Cornwall, moving over to Newquay with my best friend to spend a year surfing. Finding work in Cornwall was difficult but I ended up working in a gorgeous cafe in the town centre, it was a lot of fun and I met lots of amazing people.

I then moved into a remote admin role with a company called Icebreaker One, working in the open-data sphere on cross-sector environmental projects focused on accelerating data-sharing to get to net-zero. The projects I worked on were really amazing but I really wanted a job where I could connect with more people and get outdoors.

I moved back to my hometown in Cambridgeshire in May 2025 and secured my current role with The Wildlife Trust BCN and I love it. I get to meet and build relationships with lots of different kinds of businesses, organisations and individuals and all with the purpose of protecting local wildlife and connecting people with nature.

Why did you choose this career? And what do you enjoy most about your work?

I chose to work in this area as I think getting people connected to nature and to their local environment is the single most important factor in tackling the climate and biodiversity crises. I was very fortunate to have an extremely nature-focused childhood, which has fuelled my personal and professional drive in this area. But you can’t love what you don’t know.

I run our Wild Work Days programme which is where teams from local businesses come out and get stuck in with the practical conservation work on our nature reserves, these days are by far my favourite part of the job. I just love seeing people realise the benefits of being outside, and in turn the value in protecting nature.

Please tell us if you were a member of any societies, groups or sports clubs?

I was a member of the FXSU Ladies Football team for all 3 years and I absolutely loved it. In my 3rd year I was social sec and co-captain and I also loved that. I see many of the girls I played with regularly and were always reminiscing.

What did you enjoy most about your programme and what was the biggest highlight?

I really appreciated the ability to take modules from such a broad range off disciplines, I took Environmental Law modules during all 3 years, Human Science modules, Politics, Marine and more. It really made things varied and interesting.

What did you most enjoy about studying here?

I enjoyed the natural environment the most, I absolutely love Cornwall and being able to study Geography whilst living in such a unique and beautiful part of the country was such a joy.

Why did you choose to study at Exeter?

In all honesty, I chose to study at Exeter Penryn because I wanted to move to Cornwall and be able to surf whilst studying. However, the course was also a massive draw as compared to other Geography courses I considered, it offered a much greater opportunity to study both the physical and human sides of the subject. I wanted the ability to build a strong and varied foundation of knowledge to set me up well for job hunting later down the line.

What skills and experiences have been most useful for your career?

For anyone looking to work in the conservation/environmental sector, I think the most important thing is to show that you care about the area/field you want to work in and have done things linked to this outside of your degree. A degree from Exeter is an amazing asset and demonstrates a high level of academic ability but in such a competitive job market you need other skills/experiences/achievements in your arsenal.

Volunteering to help write sustainability plans, completing on the ground conservation work, starting my own podcast and just generally networking and saying yes to any opportunity to meet people higher up in the sector are the main things that helped me show my passion and drive. Alongside this, my degree provided me with a fantastic basis of knowledge across an huge range of environmental topics, great critical thinking skills and the ability to write about and present environmental and scientific information to varied audiences and in a multitude of ways.

What advice would you give to a current student who wishes to pursue your career?

Similarly to the above, network network network, it can be really tough to get your first role but building connections in any sector is a win-win. When people see that you care it builds a really good community around you and also creates confidence in your own skills.

What are your plans for the future?

For now, I’m just enjoying my first year in my new role at the Wildlife Trust BCN, I want to be the best I can be and increase our partnerships and profile, and most importantly help people to see the intrinsic value of the natural world. I want to have a career spent protecting and enhancing nature, and hopefully in my lifetime see some of the damage done reversed. I have a real interest in rewilding so I might look to pursue that later down the line.