Women in Conservation Series: Dr Jennifer Smart
My Green World is dedicating a new blog-interview series to showcasing incredible work of women in conservation. This month's Woman in Conservation is the inspiring Dr Jennifer Smart, a Principal Conservation Scientist at the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB).
Dr Jennifer Smart enjoys an illustrious career at the RSPB and tells My Green World about her research on birds.
Can you let us know a bit about your current roles and what they entail?
I am a Principal Conservation Scientist at the RSPB Centre for Conservation Science where I lead on an area of research to do with the conservation of ground-nesting birds. I mostly manage projects in which other staff or students are working in the field collecting the scientific evidence. I spend a lot of time managing and training people and working with them to analyse and publish scientific papers but I also spend a lot of time promoting our science through social media and giving presentations at conferences or to other conservation groups.
Did you always know you were going to work in the conservation field? What drew you to it originally?
No, I thought I wanted to be a nurse but after 6 months decided that wasn’t for me. I was looking around at local colleges and discovered a course in Conservation and loved the thought of working outdoors in the countryside and so my career in conservation began. I had always loved the outdoors but I just wasn’t aware during my school years that you could make a career out of it.
What advice would you give to those who are starting out in their career and thinking of going into conservation?
Go for it. Be prepared to work hard and accept you may need to do some volunteering or short-term contract work to build your experience but this is a great way to explore different parts of the UK or the world and to discover which aspects of conservation work you enjoy and are good at.
What advice would you give to women who aspire to work in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) roles?
Know where you want to go and how you might get there. It won’t be easy and you will probably have to deviate occasionally but having a plan will help you to make the right life decisions. Treat others the way you would like to be treated. Don’t be afraid to put yourself out there – get involved in other things and organisations because that’s how you will meet new people and make connections that can last a lifetime.
Throughout your career, have you seen the role of women in this field change? If so, how?
I don’t think the role of women in Conservation has necessarily changed because careers in conservation are incredibly varied and women have always played a part in many of those roles. What is changing is that there are now many more women making a life-long career out of conservation and I think and hope this trend will continue but this would certainly be helped if there were more women in senior roles in conservation to act as role models for those young women.
What have been the top two highlights of your career to date?
Completing my PhD and knowing that the research that my team and I have done has a direct impact on the way land is managed to conserve breeding birds.
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