Alex Winrow-Giffin

I chose Liverpool because I love the city and the history in Liverpool with its easy access to countryside going across to the Wirral or over to the Peak district. There are a lot of students which keeps things cheap but interesting in terms of bars and food.

Initially when I started I chose the course for its final year at Port Erin Marine lab, however, after seeing the new syllabus and the enthusiasm of the new departmental team I decided to do a placement year in order to be eligible for the last year of the new course.  The modules and subjects seemed interesting and relevant and I liked the idea of being the first (experimental!) year to stay in Liverpool.

The best part of my course was the field courses; in particular the ones based at Port Erin and Pembrokeshire, and the subsidised overseas field course that we organised ourselves.

I now work for a private consultancy, Brown & May Marine Ltd.  My job involves Fish surveys on commercial fishing trawlers, consultation work with fishermen, clients and stakeholders.  Survey report writing and involved in the production of Environmental Impact Assessment, Baselines and Environmental Statement for commercial fisheries and natural fisheries in respect to wind farms.

A lot of the skills I picked up whilst an undergraduate such as producing a thesis were very helpful for the report writing I do for my job, in particular my experience of literature research and formatting to a specified template. The field courses were useful in giving me a basis in experimental design, as well as quantitative biology modules and GIS mapping modules