Policy placement with the National Assembly for Wales

So i've been quiet for a while now due to me doing a PhD placement for 3 months with the Research Service of the National Assembly for Wales. I'd definitely recommend doing something similar if given the opportunity and you are thinking about a career outside of academia. This particular placement was quite politics heavy which isn't necessarily what I want to get involved with, but it did give me a tremendous insight into how policy is formed and amended and what goes into devising and publishing national strategy documents.

I was based in the Environment and Sustainability research team meaning I got to be involved with a lot for work currently being undertaken within the Assembly - namely a review of all things Energy in Wales, the publication of the 'Sustaining a Living Wales' Green Paper and the review of merging the three statutory environmental bodies (Countryside Council for Wales, Environment Agency Wales and Forestry Commission Wales) in Wales into a Single Environment Body. Some really interesting topics which meant I got to develop, prepare and publish useful documents on these subjects to the Assembly Members and the general public.

A list of my contributions during the placement:

1. An introduction to natural environment policy in Wales and a comparison with natural environment policies for other parts of the UK (Research paper)
2. Ecosystems and the Ecosystem Approach (Quick Guide)
3. Nature Conservation Designations (Quick Guide)
4. Briefing on Legal Enforcement of European Statutory Legislation (internal briefing to the Environment and Sustainability Committee)
5. Briefing on Tidal Flooding and Coastal Erosion (internal briefing to the Environment and Sustainability Committee)
6. Briefing on Technical Report to Environment Agency Wales on an Investigation into Cockle Mortalities at Burry Inlet (internal briefing to Petitions Committee).