Geoscience Australia's Graduate Recruitment Program

Jodie's Story

After finishing undergraduate and postgraduate studies in Environmental Science at the University of New South Wales I was keen to pursue a research career with a strong field work focus. I was interested in Geoscience Australia's coastal program but liked how the graduate program allowed me to explore other opportunities in different areas of the organisation.

My first graduate rotation was with the Maritime Boundaries group where I worked on Australia's maritime boundary negotiations with East Timor. My job was to review the relevant international laws, review precedents that had been set elsewhere, and then calculate and map all the potential boundary lines between Australia and East Timor. The maps I produced were presented to the negotiating team from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Attorney General's Department and some of these were shown at the negotiating table in Dili. I found this work fascinating because it allowed me to develop my technical skills and at the same time be aware of the political and legal implications of the project.

My second rotation was chosen largely due to the opportunity to do field work in remote Australia. I worked with the CRC LEME to help produce the Northern Territory 1:2.5 million scale regolith map. I spent a month in the Northern Territory, ground truthing satellite images that were loaded onto handheld computers. Afterwards, I used the information we collected to make a 1:250,000 regolith map of Tennant Creek which allowed me to develop my mapping and GIS skills, as well as my landscape interpretation skills.

I also did an external rotation with the Office of the Chief Scientist (Dr Robyn Batterham at the time). My tasks included preparing his presentations to various industry groups and organisations, being involved in the Prime Minister's Science, Engineering and Innovation Council Secretariat, coordinating a group of scientists who were advising the government on nanotechnology, and preparing a climate change discussion paper on various polices around the world and the perspectives of all stakeholders.

My final rotation was with the coastal group in the Petroleum and Marine Division. I was responsible for the water column component of a study on nutrient dynamics in St Georges Basin, NSW, which involved collecting and analysing water samples and reporting on the role water column nutrients play in the nutrient cycling of the system. On completion of my graduate year, I was offered a position with the coastal group where I determined sediment sources to the Great Barrier Reef Lagoon with the Coastal CRC. I now work on a range of nutrient cycling studies in estuaries around Australia with the Coastal Research and Management project. I have had many learning and development opportunities and my scientific skills and knowledge are continually increasing.

I was fortunate enough for Geoscience Australia to grant and support me in 12 months leave to take a placement in Vietnam with the Australian Youth Ambassadors for Development program which is funded by AusAID. I worked as a water quality officer in two water research institutes in Ho Chi Minh City and helped my Vietnamese colleagues interpret water quality data from the Mekong delta. This was a great opportunity for me to share my skills and knowledge with others as well as an important learning experience for me and an opportunity to experience a new culture and travel to other parts of the world.