Blogs

I am a recent (2009) MESPOM graduate and I am grateful for the opportunity I was given through my thesis work to prepare the ground for getting my dream job! It all started in March 2009, when I’ve put up a project plan for my research with my advisor Dr. Brandon Anthony from CEU. My topic was about “Improving the effectiveness of protected areas management in Lebanon”, and I was already eager to come back home and apply my knowledge acquired through 2 years of intensive environmental studies in MESPOM.

As part of the course Strategic Environmental Development the MESPOM students in Lund along with their teachers Thomas Lindhqvist and Mikael Backman produced the publication The Future is Distributed - A Vision of Sustainable Economies. The publication holds eight case studies from the energy, food and internet sector.

In the first year of my MESPOM study I took a brilliant course in waste management taught by Prof. Thomas Lindqvist of the IIIEE, Lund University. The course was so interesting that it inspired me to start working in the waste management and resource efficiency area. I am now working for a UK based consultancy called AEA – the main advisor to the UK Government on Climate change and Renewable Energy issues, and the main consultancy involved in the Sakhalin project on behalf of the lending banks.

Greetings MESPOMers,

My name is Jennifer Lenhart, MESPOM alumna from the first batch (2005-07).

To the current students: I hope you are enjoying MESPOM and its various locations, connections, friendships and adventures!!!  :-)  As you prepare to decide your thesis subject, please know it is ok to have many topics, thoughts, uncertainties and loose-ends untied.  Actually, for those I have spoken to, it seems you have many good ideas and concrete topics. But I know it is never easy to make the final decision on what you will do, where you will do it, and what you can 'contribute' to the greater field of scientific knowledge + research.  Anyway, I thought to share a few suggestions (based on my own process of confusion and reflection):

I am Quynh Nguyen from Vietnam. I studied Environmental Chemistry at the University of New South Wales, Australia and worked as a technical advisor on improving institutional capacity for water pollution control at Vietnam Environment Protection Agency before joining MESPOM in 2007.

The two-year-journey has been full of great experiences and memories during which I have lived and learnt so much more intensively than ever before. The programme has indeed provided me with in-depth scientific research opportunities (from my 3rd semester and my thesis research in Manchester) in addition to the holistic approach which brings a broader and comprehensive mindset in understanding and handling any specific task in the field.

I am Olena Kiva from Ukraine (MESPOM Batch 3). Although the situation on the Ukrainian job market is really tough now, I managed to gen employed on the next week after the graduation. I am working for the Scientific Engineering Center “Biomass” at the Department for the Mechanisms of the Kyoto Protocol. This company is one of the key players in the field of bioenergy and Joint implementation projects development in Ukraine.

I wanted to share a bit of my proudness with you (OK, you might say I am a bit ego-centric, but hey this doesn't happen every day!).
Science interviewed me and published it on their Careers site. In the interview, I explain my way from science into policy career (I work as an E.U. policy officer on sustainable agriculture at the Greenpeace European Unit in Brussels. (See my other post about this job).

When I first saw the new face of this website, it was a welcome change in many respects. The content appears more compact and more akin to websites of the day. I was not glad to see the logos of the four universities go. They got replaced by pictures, which could just as well be all from Budapest!

Comet-ME proudly announces it is one of 12 finalists in the BBC World Challenge 2009. This global competition focuses on grassroots projects and small businesses worldwide that are taking effective, innovative action in environmental and socio-economic issues. In November, the winning project will receive an award of $20,000! Comet-ME would use this prize to expand our project and to provide sustainable energy to another community. The winning project will be determined by online voting between 28 September 2009 and 13 November 2009.

I am Huang He, a MESPOMer in 2007-2009, and I come from China. After working in London for a while, I am back to Beijing and start working for the Energy Research Institute (ERI) at the National Development and Reform Committee of China. ERI is the most important Chinese energy institute; it has a big influence on decision-making process, especially in my field (renewable energy policy), where China’s renewable energy law was drafted. Renewable energy, considered as good for both environment and economy, is still quite new in China and the whole industry is full of uncertainties and challenges.