Anna Clarke's career path to becoming a Sustainability Coordinator at Heriot-Watt. Anna talks about getting through a redundancy, finding her confidence in the sector, and how simply asking to stay in touch with a company secured her a job. Current Job Tell us about your current role I work on the environmental sustainability team at Heriot-Watt University, my job title is Sustainability Strategy Coordinator. It is my third role at the university, and what I'd class as my fourth proper job in my career. I often find myself doing a little of a lot of things including supporting academics in embedding sustainability in their teaching and research, working directly with students on curricular and extra-curricular work, and promoting community engagement and skills development on a whole variety of topics relevant to sustainability. I also work closely with our estates and operations teams, endlessly trying to make sustainability a priority for different work areas across the university. It is a demanding role that pivots between feeling of crucial importance, and critically under-resourced. Career Beginnings When you were 15, what job did you want and who did you ask for advice?I wanted any job that would take me out of the area I grew up in. I knew the earth fascinated me, I knew I wanted to travel, I knew that you could never watch Twister or Dante's Peak too many times, but I didn't really have a sense of what I wanted to do. The only person who I ever really recall talking about the future with was my high school geography teacher, who took me under her wing and drove my enthusiasm for just learning about stuff. My older brother was studying geology and geography at A level when I was 15, which saw him go on various field trips. I liked the look of them and so did the same. I am not sure I asked his advice though.I recovered by moving to a Hebridean island and running the local tea shop Did you have an interest in the environment at this time? Yes. I was raised with museums essentially being used like a creche, with the Natural History Museum and anything similar being my top picks. We holidayed in the UK, largely in rural areas, and these always featured wildlife watching. I joined the RSPBs Young Ornithologist's Club long before I could spell ornithologist and could have been fairly described as a nerd. I struggled with people and so found peace in nature. Fly Away Home and Fern Gully probably had a lot to answer for too. I went through a period when I convinced myself that I would study linguistics and investigate the history of how languages evolve, but I quickly realised that meant far too much time spent talking to people, so soon shifted back to knowing that earth sciences were where my passion had always been. When I was around age 15, we had a holiday abroad to Iceland, which absolutely fascinated me and made me want to be a volcanologist.What were your first steps in starting your career? I applied for several degree courses at different ends of the country, and was meant to go to the University of East Anglia to study Environmental Science, but changed my mind after receiving my A Level results. I didn't have any extra-curricular training or volunteering experience in related subjects (I worked at a Starbucks and at a garden centre during my A levels). I studied BSc Geology & Physical Geography at Edinburgh, the ideal degree for someone who likes Earth Science and who is indecisive. I graduated into the most challenging time in my life, and the height of the 2008 financial crash, so starting a career was not an option for a long while. I recovered by moving to a Hebridean island and running the local 'tea shop' (a tea and cake stand in the village hall). Oddly, this is what landed me my first actual interview for a job I really wanted, as they said it stood out as interesting. I didn't get the job but thanked them none the less and told them to please keep hold of my details should another role come up in future as I'd really like to work for them. They did, 6 months later they phoned me and asked if I'd like to re-apply. I did, and started my career organising logistics and training materials for international geoscience training courses, filled almost exclusively with oil and gas industry staff. Career path and skills What does your career path look like? I don't think that my career path could be described as linear, but is instead one that was very much dictated by a mix of circumstance and an ability to adapt.I loved the field trips I went on in my first role in geoscience training, where I met some incredible people. While essentially a service role in the oil and gas industry, it got me thinking about what that meant for the places we passed through and the people who called them home. The accompanying office job was awful, however. I was the only woman in my team and I was never allowed to forget that - it was my first taste of extreme misogyny in my career, where I was treated differently to male colleagues for wanting to start a family. I left after four years to protect my mental health.The ability to ask questions is a massively underrated transferable skill. I jumped into a similar role at Heriot-Watt, organising training courses at a Centre for Doctoral Training. I found confidence there and enjoyed being around people who want to learn and discover things. This job came with a huge amount of responsibility, and was physically and emotionally exhausting, but I look back on it with gratitude all the same. Unfortunately, I was made redundant due to Covid-19, although I suspect that some health problems and the fact that I reported a colleague for bullying students were also a factor.Luckily, I was introduced to a senior academic at the university. He transferred me to a role as a project manager for a research teach investigating the social, environmental and economic of mining in East Africa, associated with the demand for critical minerals in the Global North. Given my geoscience background, I essentially become another member of the research team, and experienced how colonialism was alive and well - this was a real learning experience. Seeing how the pandemic affected the research team in Uganda was sobering and made me realise just how complex sustainable development actually is. Unfortunately, I left that role when the UK Aid Budget was cut by the government at the time. We were only 3 months in when we found out that a 3 year funding period would be only 6 months in total. The project lead recommended me for the role I am in now. What skills were important for you to develop in your career? Resilience and optimism, and they are traits you can learn. Also adaptability - some jobs come about as a result of circumstance and timing is key. Rejection doesn't mean that a door that will be closed forever. Remember that interviews are a 2-way process, in which you get to find out if the company and job is a good fit for you, just as much as whether you are a good fit for them. The ability to ask questions and to highlight your strengths, your ambitions, what matters to you as a person, is a massively underrated transferable skill. The age of AI is making it almost impossible to see who someone is via CV and cover letter, so being able to communicate, listen and process without turning to technology is more valuable than ever.I'm also 2.5 years on from suddenly going from being able bodied to having a physical disability and I think showcasing my skills is even more important now. If I could create any job in the environment sector I would......Take company CEOs on nature safaris to show them the value of the things their shareholder focus threatens to destroy. I think a lot of people have lightbulb moments when getting to link actions and consequences over time and space, and while there are wildly rich people who truly don't care I hope there would be enough people who can be convinced that the environmental sector is what stands between them and the earth being unliveable for their loved ones in future. This article was published on Wednesday 21 October 2026
