Colleen Ward's career path to becoming a Project Manager helping farmers improve their soils. Colleen talks about how communication skills landed her a job and how she overcame bad advice on leaving university. Current Job Tell us about your current role I am Project Manager for a Soil Nutrient Health Scheme in Northern Ireland. The scheme has sampled 93% of agricultural soil in the region, providing soil results to farmers to help make decisions on nutrient management. I have a management role involved in overseeing resources, risk, finances and project dissertation & communication. Career Beginnings When you were 15, what job did you want and who did you ask for advice?I wasn't sure but I was interested in the environment and lived near a bog which I visit often. My dad encouraged my interest. I picked GCSEs which suited my interest.Did you have an interest in the environment at this time?Yes, because I was surrounded by interesting habitat at home. I joined Irish Peatlands protection group. I was also interested in topics about nuclear, deforestation, endangered species at that time.What were your first steps in starting your career? I did A levels in Biology and Geography which helped me get into a degree in Environmental Science at Ulster University. For geography A-level my project was on bogs and my Biology teacher helped with my experiments and see my interest in the environment. She told me about the degree which I hadn't heard about. I thought of going into engineering (funny enough I went on to do MSc in Environmental Engineering.) Career path and skills What does your career path look like? My path was fairly linear but when I started on that journey it was very uncommon route. Thankfully my parents encouraged me. At uni we were told there were no graduate jobs in our field but I went straight to a Graduate Environmental Scientist post in a consultancy. It helped that I had worked voluntarily with Northern Ireland Conservation Volunteers as assistant leader and made up for my lack of academic ability! I was up against 1st class graduates but got the job because my work experience showed I had good communication skills. There were also limited jobs in the public sector. Now we can't find enough suitable candidates for posts. I think it is best to follow your interest regardless of what others think.What skills were important for you to develop in your career? My voluntary worked at NI Conservation Volunteers helped enormously. It showed I had leadership and communication skills. Communication is key in many areas of work. My job as Project Manager in Environmental Research Projects didn't exist when I left uni. If I could make up a job for the future, it would be one were communication is more open and clear. We would have open access to data to help make decisions, no associated publication costs or red tape to getting information. Something like Environmental Data Communication role This article was published on Monday 19 October 2026
