Kat Raines

Dr Kat Raines talks about her time at Stirling and her career journey after graduation. She has worked on the conservation of birds and tortoise species in the Seychelles is now a Senior Manager in the research support office at Nuclear Waste Services.

I've always been interested in conservation and environmental sciences. I've always had an intrinsic link to the environment. I've really been into gardening, looking at flowers, looking at insects, looking at the wildlife around me.

Stirling was the place for me

After visiting other universities, I realised that Stirling was right environment for me to study. It has so much nature, ecology, it's just a fantastic space to be in. I studied conservation as my undergraduate and as part of that course I had a placement opportunity over the summer that staff at the University helped me to arrange.

My career journey after graduation

After graduation I went to work in the Seychelles for three years. I worked on the conservation of turtles and birds. 

Then I came back to Stirling to start a PhD looking a what happens to bumblebees in the Chernobyl exclusion zone and understanding the effects of radiation.

Now I work for Nuclear Waste Services on the Geological Disposal Facility project. We're working on the UK's largest environmental protection project making radioactive waste permanently safe.

Advice to my younger self

My advice to my younger self would be to take every opportunity possible, even if they don't feel like they're for you.

The support and the skills that I have been given and the environment in which I've grown as a researcher has made my career what it is today. I owe the University of Stirling that.