Profile

Photo:

Jack Butlin

    • About Me:

      I live in Newcastle. I’m a science communicator and nature ranger. I love cooking food from all over the world (and eating it!) I’m a nature nerd – I love birdwatching and finding wildflowers. I also love playing and watching sports, especially football.

    • Read more

      As an Explainer at Life Science Centre I get to do lots of exciting things. I help people with experiments and in the making studios, I do live science shows, and I do workshops with school groups on topics such as human biology, renewable energy, and light. It’s really fun!

      As a Nature Ranger for the Natural History Society of Northumbria I get to work with lots of young people from across the North East in the great outdoors. It all about being a naturalist – this is someone who studies nature. It’s often about using scientific skills like camera trapping (using special cameras that take pictures when they sense movement), recording wildlife for citizen science projects, and monitoring wildlife with tools such as quadrats (small squares that you can use to guess how many species are in a habitat). We also like to get creative as naturalists and often draw / paint nature, and write poetry / stories about what we find. It’s really fun and I get to be outside lots.

    • My Typical Day:

      I don’t really have a typical day because I’m lucky to have lots of variety but usually I will get up around 7:30, have breakfast and start work at about 9am. Sometimes I can work from home planning activities and having online meetings. Other days I will be working with school groups or the public on lots of different things to do with science. I will always go for a walk at lunch time and see what wildlife I can find – it really helps me relax. After lunch I carry on with my tasks from the morning and finish around 5pm.

    • What I'd do with the prize money:

      I would buy 2 camera traps – special cameras that take pictures when they sense movement meaning that you can monitor wildlife without disturbing it. I would give them to a community group that I volunteer for called Birkheads Wild. They do lots of amazing work with young people outdoors. If they had some camera traps they would be able to monitor the wildlife that comes to their site and hopefully find out some interesting things about the environment they live and work in. They would then be able to contribute to a citizen science project called MammalWeb, which uses camera trapping picture to monitor wildlife all over the UK.

    My CV

    • Education:

      King Eddie’s High School / Sixth form in Stafford.

      Lancaster University

    • Qualifications:

      I think I got 10 GCSEs, mostly Bs with a few As and Cs.

      I worked really hard at A level and got A*AA in Biology, Geography and History.

      Then I did an MSci Ecology and Conservation degree at Lancaster University – this is a normal degree with a built in masters year.

    • Work History:

      I started out as a pot wash, then worked as an admin assistant in a horrible office, next I went to Thailand to teach English (plus some extra teaching online), then I got my job at Life Science Centre and started my Nature Ranger job 6 months later.

      I’ve also done lots of volunteer jobs along the way.

    • Current Job:

      Explainer / Nature Ranger

    • My Interview

      • How would you describe yourself in 3 words?

        communicator, educator, nature-nerd

        What did you want to be after you left school?

        I didn't know!

        Were you ever in trouble at school?

        Yep, a fair bit

        Who is your favourite singer or band?

        Loyle Carner

        What's your favourite food?

        Pizza

        If you had 3 wishes for yourself what would they be? - be honest!

        3 seems greedy, I'll take just 1. Be able to travel the world without contributing to climate change.

        Tell us a joke.

        Why can't a nose be 12 inches long? Cos then it'd be a foot.