Bachelor of Environmental Management (Natural Resources)

A hockey scholarship and family connections were Geoff England's entry into Lincoln University, but his Environmental Management degree has opened doors into a rewarding career in resource management planning.

When he graduated from Lincoln at the end of 2006, Geoff's first position was as a Resource Management Planner with Environment Canterbury (ECan). His roles at ECan included consenting stormwater discharge Consents, implementing and advocating Regional Policy Statements to Territorial Authorities, assessing notified district plan changes and notified resource consents in relation to Regional policy and lodging submissions where appropriate, and providing flood hazard advice for Land Information Reports based on historical and flood data modelling information.  Geoff also created maps for the Canterbury Urban Growth Strategy.  The GIS papers he took during his degree were very relevant in assisting this aspect of the position.

"My Lincoln degree definitely helped me get the job with ECan, because of the GIS work I had done in some of my papers. I also did a number of planning subjects in my degree and that plus the experience in my previous job lead to my current position with MWH," Geoff says.

Moving on to his current role with MWH as a resource management planner in Auckland; his degree combined with the experience at ECan were the main factors behind helping him obtain the new position.

In his current role he does a lot of government work, with MWH being contracted to assess applications for resource consents on behalf of New Zealand Transport Agency and local and regional councils.

"I work with a traffic engineer to assess individual applications and decide whether Transit needs to make submissions on them."

Geoff regularly draws on skills learned during his degree.

"Report writing is a big part of my job now, and that was a skill I learned at Lincoln, along with the time management that was essential for me doing a sports scholarship during my degree. Having to get up early for 7.00am trainings and fit in all my courses, along with training and a social life meant I needed to really organise my time – something I have appreciated more looking back. "

He also credits Lincoln with helping him to develop an effective network of friends in the resource management sector.

"We had a great group that went through the degree course together and are now working in resource management around the country. Because it is quite a specialist area, it is great to have contacts I know really well to discuss issues with and help connect me with others in the industry."

With a brother and sister who went through before him, Geoff was always interested in doing a degree at Lincoln, but particularly so when he found a course that interested him and successfully applied for a sports scholarship that covered all his course fees.

"I considered Canterbury and Otago, but Lincoln was a good fit for me and winning the scholarship made the decision easy."

[benvman alumni profile]