In April 2020, the University of Tasmania hosted a Sustainability Careers Panel in which students joined an online discussion with UTAS researchers and alumni who are actively putting their passion for sustainability to work in their careers. A panel of three active professionals, Pratik Vhatkar, Jenni Klaus and Climate Futures researcher, Tomas Remenyi described to students the pathway they each took to their current roles, what sustainability means to them and their challenges, successes and failures incorporating sustainability into operational practices.
Students the had an opportunity for Q&A with the panellists where they asked about the importance of emotional intelligence, how to develop transferrable skills, how to be resilient in the face of (regular) failure (such as job applications) and how to be selective in the opportunities one pursues, in order to build towards a successful career.
The panel was well received by the 40+ attendees. Many of the students felt they they had developed a better understanding of how to proceed towards a career that incorporates sustainability, following graduation.