For her PIPs, Katie worked for Farm Carbon Toolkit. Read more about her experience here!
Where did you go and what did you do?
I completed my PIPS with Farm Carbon Toolkit (FCT), a non-profit organisation that supports farmers in understanding and reducing their greenhouse gas emissions whilst also focussing on business resilience and profitability.
FCT aims to provide an online Toolkit resource to help farmers understand how best they could reduce their greenhouse gas emissions in financially viable ways. My role at FCT involved evaluating Toolkit resources to identify out-of-date information and gaps in the support available. By working closely with the FCT team and collating their ideas, I produced a report and a detailed action plan of the work required to update the Toolkit, including future maintenance requirements. This report included the proposal of a new Toolkit structure. Throughout this work, the focus was to meet the needs the FCT team and the farmers FCT supports.
Whilst FCT is a remote organisation and I worked from home throughout my PIPS, I was able to attend a whole team away day in Bristol, a ‘Connected Farming’ industry conference in Peterborough and a calculator team social in Cumbria.
What made you want to do that particular PIPS?
When I was searching for PIPS opportunities, I was keen to find a placement that related to my interests in agriculture, food security and climate change. F
CT seemed like a fantastic fit for this and my values align very well with FCT’s vision!
What skills have you gained from your PIPS?
To deliver this project, I needed to speak to a variety of different individuals and teams to understand what their needs were. Following on from these discussions, I presented findings and recommendations during several different team meetings, using these opportunities to continuously develop the Toolkit report and action plan. My communication, presentation and professional report writing skills have therefore been refined during this placement.
I have also gained an understanding of topical and potentially controversial issues in the agricultural and carbon footprinting sectors. This awareness will help me to employ diplomacy and consider different points of view in my future career.
What has been the impact (or likely future impact) of your PIPS?
The report and action plan I produced will be used at FCT over the next few years to update and maintain the Toolkit resource. By updating this resource, FCT will be able to support more of the agricultural industry to improve both business and environmental resilience.
On a personal level, this PIPS has allowed me to develop and demonstrate skills that would be hard to gain from my PhD studies alone. It has also enabled me to develop strong working relationships with people in the agricultural and carbon footprinting industries.
How would you sum up your PIPS experience?
My PIPS was a very positive experience! I was lucky enough to work with a team of like-minded, passionate and friendly people, all working towards shared goals. It has helped me realise that there are fantastic organisations out there that I may want to work for in the future.
What advice would you give to other PGRs about PIPS?
I would advise other PGRs to use their PIPS to explore future career options- it’s a chance to find out what sort of organisation you may like to work for in the future and what type of job you would like. It’s also a great opportunity to gain skills that your PhD may not provide you with.