Profile
Alice Purcell
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About Me:
I live in Kent with my partner. I work as a Sustainability Consultant at a large multinational consultancy. In my free time, I love to knit – recently I have been making lots of fun pairs of socks!
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My pronouns are:
she/her
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My Work:
I work as a Sustainability Consultant for an multinational construction engineering company. In my day-to-day role I work on a range of projects to deliver low carbon buildings through energy efficiency and waste reduction measures.
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My Typical Day:
I work from home for most of the week starting at 9 am and finishing at 6 pm. I always try to make time to have a proper lunch-hour break with my partner so we can have a chat and get away from our desks (and watch a cartoon!).
I go into the office in London once a week to see my colleagues. Our office has a hot desk system which means you quite often end up sat next to different people. It’s always interesting to hear about the wide variety of projects people are working on and sometimes get invited to help out!
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Some days I have lots of online meetings or need to contact my colleagues to collaborate on projects we are working on together, on other days I am able to spend some quieter time getting on with my work.
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What I'd do with the prize money:
If I won the £500 prize money, I would like to develop a tool for young people to be able to calculate and understand energy efficiency of where they live and understand how energy efficiency can be improved and carbon emissions reduced.
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My curriculum links
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Education:
I went to my local grammar school in Kent, an all girls school with a mixed 6th Form. After I did my GCSEs I decided to stay to do my A-Levels at the same school too.
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Qualifications:
At my school we could pick 4 GCSEs to add to the main ones, we had to pick one language, one humanity and one creative subject (with one free choice left over).
The core subjects I studied at GCSE were: Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Mathematics, English Language, English Literature, Religious Studies (Short Course) and Information and Communication Technology (Short Course), and FSMQ Foundations of Advanced Mathematics (Intermediate).
The additional subjects I chose were: Art & Design: Fine Art, Design & Technology: Graphics Products, French and Geography.
I took 5 subjects at AS level and carried on with 4 at A2: AS English Literature, A-Level Art & Design: Fine Art, A-Level Mathematics, A-Level Chemistry and A-Level Physics.
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Work History:
I started my current job nearly 4 years ago after I graduated from university, it was my first ‘proper’ job. Throughout school and university I took volunteered for opportunities which captured my interest – as a shy and quiet person, these really helped me in developing my confidence and communication skills.
When I was a Year 11 student I had the opportunity to do a week’s work experience. As I wanted to be an Architect I wrote to several local companies and did 4 days at a small local group. This was useful in giving me an impression of the overall profession and day-to-day work.
During 6th form, my school hosted a science fair for children and parents during the school holidays which I worked at. With my friend, I ran an interactive experiment and explain in accessible terms how this works. We were also responsible for working out the amounts of materials we needed for each day and for cleaning up after!
During the summers at university, I volunteered at several music festivals which was a great opportunity for a free ticket and to meet lots of new people.
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My Interview
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What did you want to be after you left school?
Either an Architect or Engineer (I couldn't decide)
Were you ever in trouble at school?
Hardly ever
What's your favourite food?
Biscuits and cookies (particularly ones with chocolate!)
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