Name: Olivia
Role Title: Research Scientist, Perrenial Farming Systems
Location: DPI Rutherglen

Description of work undertaken:
Olivia is involved in two agricultural science research projects:

• Developing new crops for farmers based on native trees and shrubs with the aim of preventing dryland salinity,
• Investigating the impact farming has on catchment health.

Team and / or individual role / responsibilities:
As part of these projects, Olivia is responsible for:

• Looking after trees at a research farm and running trials with a variety of native tree species.
• Attending meetings with the national project team to hear about what they are doing and telling them about her work.
• Visiting areas around Victoria to map farms and record farm management practices eg. How much fertiliser a farmer uses.
• Meeting with catchment managers across Victoria and finding out about river health in those areas.

Future:
Olivia hopes to continue in agricultural/environmental research and work in an area that combines agricultural production and environmental management. She may even undertake a PhD one day!! Olivia also hopes to work in other parts of Australia in the future, perhaps WA next, where there are severe salinity problems.

Background
Grew Up Where: Olivia grew up in Sydney, however, she loved playing on friends farms and being near animals and exploring in the bush. This led to her choosing to study agricultural science at university, giving her a ticket to the bush!

STUDIES:
Tertiary /post secondary:
Olivia studied a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture at the University of Sydney, and spent an Honours year getting her hands dirty in soil science.

Secondary:
Science was the focus of Olivia's later years at secondary school, however she also found it nice to keep things balanced with some humanities like Ancient History.

Work experience:
As part of her university degree, Olivia had 5 months of on-farm work experience which she incorporated with some travel to New Zealand, Tasmania and through-out NSW. She also worked at a plant pathology laboratory part time while at university. Volunteering with Conservation Volunteers Australia (www.conservationvolunteers.com.au) also gave Olivia some valuable experiences in environmental management.

Opportunities:
Learning on job, new skills, etc.
Olivia started on a 'graduate program' with the Department of Primary Industries and was given many great opportunities to attend training courses. However, she believes there is also nothing like visiting a farm or a bush regeneration area and getting your hands dirty to really learn about land management. She is always on the look out for opportunities to ‘tag-along’ somewhere new. The opportunity to work as a firefighter with the department has also been a great experience.

Travel:
Olivia had not seen much of Victoria prior to her job with the Department of Primary Industries, Victorian and now has seen most of it! Firefighting has also taken her to some very remote places in the mountains and given her first-hand knowledge of fire ecology. She believes that science in general, as a profession, delivers many opportunities for travel through attendance at conferences and field days.

Advice to Students Now:
Students up to Year 10
Try and focus on the subjects that you enjoy, as ultimately these are subjects you will perform better in. Do not worry too much about ‘career’ paths at this stage, enjoyment should come first and then you will find your way.

VCE students
It is hard to know exactly what you want to do when you are studying in your last years of school. There are so many options that arise later on down the track (especially in science) and most people eventually find their ‘niche’ a couple of years into their degree. So just start with the basics. Try your best at all subjects and do not worry about deciding on the ‘exact’ career for you just yet.

Tertiary students
Olivia took a year off to travel after university and found this helped her to focus more when she was ready to look for a job. She looked all around Australia for a job and was not afraid of rural areas – being young is a great time to see Australia while working. Even if your family is in the city – there are always planes to take you home occasionally!

Other:
What careers have other graduates from your course entered?
The career range is hugely diverse. From banking to beef breeding to pharmaceutical research to zoology. Graduates are also scattered across Australia and some who work in research have spent time working overseas.