Calum Wyatt
Calum's Story
What is your role at Ricardo?
As a member of Ricardo's ecology team, I am involved in a number of projects. These vary long long-term water quality monitoring to biodiversity net gain assessments for councils and private contractors.
What does your average day at Ricardo look like?
My role at Ricardo ranges greatly throughout the year. From the start of Spring to the end of Autumn it is dominated by fieldwork. This means during this time I can be based throughout the country, in range of habitats completely a variety of surveys from flow monitoring in Dover and out on one of our survey boats on the Thames to completing PEAs and protected species surveys in the Midlands. Throughout the winter period, this is when I will get the majority of my desk-based work completed. This primarily involves bidding for other projects and writing reports from the data collected earlier on in the year.
What do you look forward to at work?
Summer time! At Ricardo we are very lucky have a wonderful team that undertake a broad spectrum of surveys in some beautiful areas of the country. The opportunity to be out in the sun on the Thames or in the countryside is something I look forward to every winter.
What do you find most rewarding at work?/Are you proud to work at Ricardo?
Apart from having a career that I love and have aspired for, for such a long time. The area that I find most rewarding is that I get to play a significant role in projects that influence the future and safeguarding of the environment and people thought the UK.
How have you developed your career at Ricardo?
Before I joined Ricardo, I had a gradate membership for CIEEM and no other qualifications alongside my degree from university. Within my first year, Ricardo gave me the opportunity to go on multiple courses to learn new skills which I can bring to the team. I am so grateful that Ricardo has given me these opportunities as I know the skills, I have learnt will help me progress in my career.
What advice would you give to anyone considering a career like yours?
Jump at every opportunity. Before I started at Ricardo I had very little experience of completing project work in England. Fortunately, we have so many different projects going on that you really do get the opportunity to try everything and learn a range of different skills.