I wasn’t sure what career path I wanted to follow when I started the Palaeobiology MSc.  All I knew was that I loved geology and the stories which fossils can tell, and that I didn’t want to do the standard ‘9-5’.  Well, being a self-employed Geoconservation Consultant certainly isn’t your 9-5 that’s for sure.  

Although a Palaeobiology MSc isn’t a core requisite for geoconservation work, the skills that I developed at Bristol certainly are: time management; writing for the general public; presentation giving; keeping to word counts; project planning and management.  The list goes on and finishes not least with the use of Macs (which I now use to run my own business!). 

All the technical and specialist information I learned hasn’t gone to waste either.  It’s invaluable when you are explaining local geology to communities and, because I work with the North East Yorkshire Geology Trust, it means that I get to continue my MSc research and do some real fieldwork.

Jane Worrall - May 2007