Profile

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Claire Argent

    • About Me:

      I live in South Yorkshire with my husband, 5-year old son, and cat, Nala. I work in wildlife conservation in the day and love to play football in the park with my son after school. I love long walks in the countryside and exploring the rock pools of the Yorkshire coast.

    • Read more

      Although we live away from the seaside, we often go to the coast for the weekend and love to watch the seabirds diving into the sea to feed. We also love to go crabbing and explore the rock pools to see what we can find.
      I enjoy running and reading novels. My son & I have just started to read the Harry Potter books.

    • My pronouns are:

      she/her

    • My Work:

      I work in marine conservation in Yorkshire. I help to protect the marine environment and ensure that developments are sustainable and don’t impact nature.

    • Read more

      I work in a team that designated the first marine conservation zones in England. Now that we have areas of the sea that are protected, we work together with local businesses and councils to ensure that the protected areas are looked after. 

    • My Typical Day:

      I either work from home or in my office in Leeds or York. I take my son to school and then log on and see what the day has in store for me – everyday is different.

    • Read more

      Everyday is different. I may have a team meeting where we discuss what work we are doing and discuss how we can make improvements to future protect our designated sites. I can also have meetings with local developers or councillors to discuss a development proposal. I offer advice on what they will need to consider to ensure that they don’t harm the environment. If the tides and weather are suitable, I can go out with the team to undertake intertidal surveys, looking along transects to see whether there have been any changes to the area. I can also write survey specifications for larger monitoring projects.

    • What I'd do with the prize money:

      I would use the money to design a model of the intertidal zones which I could take into schools to help explain the importance of the different zones. I would also tie in issues such as pollution and climate change impacts so that these could be discussed.

    Candidate CV questions (extra)

    • Education:

      Alcester High School

    • Qualifications:

      GCSE A-C,

      A-level Biology, History, English

      AS-level critical thinking

    • Work History:

      Sales assistant, H-Samuel jewellers.

      Tour guide, tropical butterfly house

      Science officer (Fiji, Philippines)

      Tour Guide, Melbourne Aquarium, Australia

      Shellfish research officer, Environment Agency

    • Current Job:

      Manager for marine and sustainable development

    • Employer:

      Natural England

    • My Interview

      • How would you describe yourself in 3 words?

        Passionate marine-life lover

        What did you want to be after you left school?

        Marine biologist

        Were you ever in trouble at school?

        No

        If you weren't doing this job, what would you choose instead?

        Criminologist

        Who is your favourite singer or band?

        George Ezra

        What's your favourite food?

        Tapas

        If you had 3 wishes for yourself what would they be? - be honest!

        Have more time to read and exercise, be less sensitive, give my son every opportunity possible

        Tell us a joke.

        How do you get Piccachu on a bus? poke-him-on

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