Today on the blog, as part of our environmental week, we’re spotlighting the incredible Dr. Deborah Bower - Ecologist and Lecturer in Ecosystem Rehabilitation at the University of New England in Armidale, New South Wales. In this guest blog piece, Dr. Bower offers incredible insights into life in academia and environmental sciences, where no two days are ever the same :)

Guest Blog by Dr. Deborah Bower

“A great job is like a best mate. You like them, you want to spend time with them and yet you know a bit of time apart is healthy and refreshing. I’ve always enjoyed being outdoors, observing nature, and asking lots of questions, so finding a career where I could do these things was a win all round. Now I am a Lecturer in Ecology and Zoology. The academic career pathway, which led me to my job, gives me the flexibility to follow questions that pique my interest. For me, that has meant becoming a researcher and teacher of conservation biology and ecology.”

A Day In The Life of Dr. Deborah Bower

“Academic positions at universities are highly variable. My time is split between teaching, research and administration. I might spend a week in the rainforest researching threatened frogs and the next week in the office giving lectures and grading assignments. I might spend several months writing a grant proposal or analysing data, or I might spend time helping my students to write scientific articles, or trap turtles. Last week, for example, I helped students to identify water bugs in a study looking at the importance of farm dams and wetlands, I spent time talking to landholders to arrange access to sites, I wrote a section for the Amphibian Conservation Action Plan, and I helped a PhD student to set traps for a threatened species of turtle.

As you can see, it would be difficult to get bored in my job, there is just too much variation. The challenge is maintaining self-discipline in a workplace with very little structure or direction. We also require a lot of teamwork in science because nobody is good at everything. Often we have teams with different superpowers – my current team on the Conservation of Upland Lagoons includes experts in plants, insects, reptiles, mapping, psychology, and archeology – it takes all of us working together to understand the threats and find solutions to protect these special wetlands.

Saving Our Ecosystems and Inspiring the Next Generation in the Process

“My favourite thing about working as a Lecturer in Ecology and Zoology is feeling like I am trying to help the environment every day, as part of my job. Whether I am teaching the next generation of ecologists about climate change and river regulation, or publishing papers on the extinction risk to threatened frogs, I feel that I am trying to help protect our amazing natural environment.

As part of this, I love seeing students learn and continue with quality research and outreach. I also enjoy going out into the field and seeing new places, discovering the amazing adaptations that plants, animals and fungi find to live in different places. A lot science is about seeing things for the first time and these discoveries – whether it’s finding something in a new location, watching an unknown behaviour in a frog, or discovering a whole new species – brings constant wonder into my life.”

A Call To Utilise Our Own Unique SuperPowers to Save The Environment

Australia has so many great minds and brilliant people ready to take action but as a country, we have been very rough on our land. We are famous for so many cool inventions from bionic ears to the electric drill and we have so much potential to develop useful technology but unfortunately, we have not prioritised funding the innovation that we need to protect the environment. My advice is to think about what your superpowers are and how you might apply them to the system. We also need to talk to everyone else in the community about why and how we can improve prospects for our environment and we need to let our politicians know that the status quo is not acceptable. We need change, now.

Dr. Deborah Bower’s TOP TIPS for those interested in a career in Environmental Science!

Tip #1 - Research Careers the You Might Enjoy

It is hard to know what you want to do, before you’ve ever done it. If there is a career that you think you might enjoy, I’d suggest contacting people in jobs that interest you and asking if you can tag along. I discovered the ‘Bachelor of Science majoring in Ecology’ when I was first doing work experience at National Parks and Wildlife and I asked the staff I was working with about their career paths. I thought that working for Parks and Wildlife was so much fun so I enrolled in the same degree and then began volunteering with the staff once a week for my whole degree.

Tip #2 - Try Everything!

I tried out lots of other jobs during my studies and these experiences helped me to discover what I did and didn’t love, as well as giving me the skills, networks and experience I needed to find work in the future. If you think you might like something, try it out for a few days and see.