The University Of South Wales (USW) hosted their successful Earth Sciences Futures event on February 26th 2020 at USW Glyntaff campus.
26th February 2020 – This event was targeted at final and 2nd year Earth Science and Geography students. The purpose of event was to give students the opportunity to engage and network with a range of employers within the field of Earth Science.
AGI Cymru was invited by USW to attend the Earth Sciences Futures event. Natalie Small and Kevin Williams represented AGI Cymru during the event. Our involvement on the day included taking part on a career panel as part of a ‘Question Time’ style session. During this session students asked the panel questions on topics such as getting their first job, CVs – good and bad, what the panellists enjoyed most about their jobs, the qualities and skills employers look out for in graduates and the challenges employers face today. Challenges mentioned and echoed by the panel included budgets and finances, the rate of change in technology, and the skills needed to keep up with technology.
The students also asked the panellists to describe their career journey. Natalie, AGI Cymru’s current Chair, reflected on her own journey in the geospatial industry and how she has applied her knowledge and expertise within the private sector, academia and local government. Other discussion points included raising the student’s awareness of professional memberships and what the advantages of being a member of a professional body are and the opportunities it can provide.
We also took part in the ‘meet the employer’ networking session, where we had the opportunity to talk with undergraduates about the geospatial industry and the opportunities the geospatial industry could offer them. We also highlighted to them the benefits of AGI Membership and how they could get involved. Furthermore, we also had some very encouraging conversations with Lecturers about skills and ensuring graduates had the right skills for potential employers.
The event proved very successful and received positive feedback from the students. AGI Cymru have been invited to take part in next year’s event. We look forward to it!
Author: Natalie Small
Images 2 and 3 provided by the University of South Wales