Series 2

Top tips from an award-winning radio producer and presenter.

Pennie Latin is an award-winning radio producer and presenter with over 25 years at the BBC. Pennie’s work includes the acclaimed BBC Radio Scotland 'Brainwaves' series, providing a platform to explore the life and work of Scotland’s leading scientists. Pennie is curious by nature. Nothing gives her a greater energy for life than finding out about people’s stories, why they do what they do, what makes them tick.

The journey from undergraduate to PHD study from marine ecologist, Jordan.

Jordan is a marine ecologist based at SAMS UHI, researching the adaptations of zooplankton for a life in the Arctic Ocean, especially copepods and arrow worms. He has published four first-author manuscripts about the ecology of arrow worms, known as the “tigers of the plankton”.  In a previous position, he created a hands-on marine biology curriculum for high school students in Nashville, USA, and managed saltwater aquaria. He posts regularly about his passion for the sea and its creatures on his social media pages.  When he is not doing research, Jordan likes to travel and hang out with his black Labrador, Taka. 

Insights from influencer Calum Maclean.

Calum Maclean is a film-maker, TV Presenter and avid outdoor swimmer. From swimming under the ice in Cairngorms, to crossing the Firth of Forth in January, his work showcases Scotland’s vast variety of incredible swimming potential in his own unique style. His short films for BBC The Social have racked up millions of views and led to his own BBC ALBA series Dhan Uisge. From his “Scottish Water Temperature Chart” to the infamous “One Minute Midgie Challenge”, he’s never one to shirk a challenge. Calum is an ambassador for the Outdoor Swimming Society.

Find out about future careers in these dynamic and fast-evolving sectors.

Alan is the Subject Network Leader for Engineering and the Built Environment, responsible for the development, delivery, and quality of academic provision. Alan started his career as an apprentice with the MoD before moving into naval engineering design with Babcock Defence then running his own Marine Engineering design consultancy business. He moved to Caithness in 2001 to take up a position at Dounreay and in 2004 joined UHI North Highland as an Engineering lecturer. In January 2019 Alan took up the role of Project Manager STEM at UHI West Highland before starting his current role as Subject Network Leader in October 2019.  Outside of work Alan participates in outdoor sports such as trail running, snowboarding and mountain biking. His hobbies are motorbikes, vehicles in general and renovations on the converted church that he lives in.

Paul, originally from the Highlands and now back in the Highlands with his own consultancy business, looks back on key learnings from his successful career in organisations such as IKEA and RHI Magnesita.

Paul is the founder and director of evolvereia, an Inverness & London based consultancy specialising in business and people transformation. Paul has over 25 years successful experience across a variety of sectors and disciplines, in a variety of global leadership roles to CEO-3 level. He has worked in some of the world's market leading innovative private and public listed companies such as IKEA and RHI Magnesita.

Paul brings extensive skills and experience secured in a number of business disciplines including business transformation, programme and project management, change management, competence development, performance coaching, mentoring, retail, supply chain, logistics, commercial management, strategic leadership and management and innovation.

Paul is a postgraduate in Industrial Administration with Retail Marketing (DIA) and is an ICF/PCI accredited performance coach.

Exploring career opportunities and avenues in publishing, and offering valuable insights and advice for writers.

Ceris Jones is a Marketing Executive at Sandstone Press, an independent publisher based in the Scottish Highlands and Saltire Society Scottish Publisher of the Year in 2014 and 2019. She manages campaigns for a variety of fiction and non-fiction, from debut novels to books by internationally established authors including Jokha Alharthi, Jørn Lier Horst and Volker Kutscher. She has an MA in Business Management and Marketing and an MSc in Publishing.

Nicola Torch is a Publishing Assistant at Sandstone Press. She assists in every department of Sandstone Press including design and production, editorial, marketing and publicity, and sales. She has an MA in English Literature and an MLitt in Publishing Studies.

Exploring the many options available in building a successful career in performance and production.

Steph Smart specialises in all things performance and production. She is a lecturer in acting, drama and performance in the Highlands of Scotland but also produces and directs primarily for theatre. Across her career she has worked with companies like National Theatre for Scotland, Grid Iron Theatre company, Strange Town Theatre, Artichoke Trust, Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Screen Academy Scotland, Canada Hub, Eden Court Theatre and Marvel studios to name a few.

An exploration of the benefits to all when it comes to voluntary work.

Aaron is currently studying Sociology and Politics BA (Hons) at UHI Moray. After leaving secondary school at sixteen into employment, he found he wanted to pursue a career engaged with helping people and so went back into full time education in 2017. Aaron is currently in a volunteering role of Assistant Regional Commissioner (Communications) for North East Scotland Scouts. His main area of focus is delivering a tailored communications strategy and liaising with the local media, along with maintaining all social media, website, and email marketing systems. Aaron feels his volunteering journey has allowed him to develop a set of skills and qualities that he wouldn't have acquired otherwise. ‘Even volunteering a little amount each week can really help your wellbeing and skillset, there's loads of great causes to choose from so it's worth speaking with your local Third Sector Interface’.

Holly is a 26 year old archaeologist. She’s recently finished up her MSc in Archaeological practice with the UHI which is also where she did her BA in archaeology from 2012 to 2016. Between her two degrees she worked for Cotswold Archaeology which is a commercial archaeology unit based in Cirencester, Gloucestershire. She is currently in the process of working on her PhD applications. Her story with volunteering throughout her degrees has been a hugely joyful one which has had massive benefits for the development of her skills which has helped her throughout my career. It also helped Holly build confidence and become a much stronger individual than she was when I began her journey in archaeology at 17.

Valuable insights from Highland Business Women Members.

Jennifer Macdonald-Nethercott started Strath Communications in 2018 with a view to provide businesses with a done for your marketing solution that is linked closely with the objectives and goals of the clients business.

She started the business to work with clients that believe to have a successful business  they need to invest and spend on marketing to grow.  Jennifer's proudest moments so far has been to take the plunge and go full-time in her business and seeing her own business development strategy delivering leads and clients on a monthly basis.  2020/ 21 has truly been a period of growth both on a personal and business level.

Jacky Bloomfield runs her own business in wildlife and nature photographer however prior to starting her own business she had a number of positions and an interesting career journey. Redundancy for her and her husband, one after the other, was the catalyst for taking the plunge. They moved home and their business ‘M & J Bloomfield’ to the beautiful highlands of Scotland. They want to use visual communications in a way that will make people sit up and take notice of all that is around us. From the large and impressive to the small but significant to our survival, every living species is the subject for our images.

Fostering collaboration, innovation and idea sharing between educational, academic, industry, community in remote and rural areas.

Leigh is the Development Manager for the Scottish Rural Health Partnership (SRHP), hosted by the Division of Rural Health and Wellbeing within the School of Health, UHI. Working with the Chairs of the Executive and Steering Group, Leigh manages, maintains, and develops the SRHP as a forum where all interested in research, education and implementation relating to Rural Health and Care can network and communicate.

Leigh has an extensive commercial background in the Pharmaceutical Industry working in Market Access and Public Affairs for top ten Pharmaceutical Companies such as Roche and Sanofi.  

Some key resources/information sources mentioned in this episode include:

• SRHP
• IRISS (Rural Social Work in Scotland)
• RCN (Rural Nursing in Scotland)
• Remote and Rural Healthcare Education Alliance (RRHEAL)

Charlie Ball, Head of Higher Education Intelligence for JISC, talks about the changing labour market.

Charlie is JISC’s in-house specialist on the graduate labour market, researching and analysing all things to do with post-18 employment, including regional economies, skills supply and demand and postgraduate issues, usually with a careers and employability perspective. In this episode he talks about the impacts of Covid-19 and Brexit on the labour market in Scotland, and answers some questions from UHI students and staff.

The first art exhibition at Inverness Airport. featuring work from UHI students.

UHI graduates are to feature in the first art exhibition hosted at Inverness Airport, welcoming visitors to the region when travel resumes.

The new exhibition, Highland Creatives opens with works by UHI Inverness alumni Yelena Visemirska, Louise Innes and Evija Laivina, current practitioners at Wasps’ Inverness Creative Academy, the first creative hub for the area.

Speaking about the Highland Creatives exhibition Audrey Carlin, Chief Executive Officer at Wasps Studios, said:

“Over the past year opportunities for artists to physically exhibit their works have been vastly reduced. This partnership with the University of the Highlands and Islands and Inverness Airport mirrors the hope we have of a return to a less restrictive time, and we take this initiative partly as a way to welcome new, occasional and frequent visitors to the Highlands, but also a thankful expression of being able to enjoy art in person once more”.

Exploring the work of two alumni, and their journey as professional composers.

Eamonn Watt and Ewan MacKay both studied with UHI on the BA (Hons) Applied Music and MA Music and the Environment courses, and have been forging successful careers as young composer ever since. 

In this episode, they talk to seminar host Simon Bradley about their work to date, and life in the creative industries after graduation!

Donald Shaw talks to us about moving Celtic Connections online during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Donald Shaw, Creative Producer for Celtic Connections and founding member of the award-winning group Capercaillie, talks to seminar host Simon Bradley about moving a music festival online and coping with Covid-19 restrictions.

Donald has worked at the highest level within the Scottish music scene, so this was a wonderful opportunity to hear him speak and ask questions to gain valuable insights based on his knowledge and extensive experience.