jprenaud.info

It’s been a while since the last update. A lot has been going on recently and the blog has been at the very bottom of my priority list…

To cut a very long story short, I will leave my post of Senior Research Fellow at Bristol University after the summer. I will be joining the Groundwater Unit at the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) as a hydrogeologist. I will be based in the Dingwall office, a short bike ride from home (which will be nice). The exact start date has not been decided yet but the move will be sometimes in mid-September to early October.

There are a few reasons for the move. First of all I technically “left” Bristol almost two years ago and although my job at the university allowed me to work from home efficiently, getting a “local” job makes sense really. The new job will also be a great opportunity to get a lot of hands on experience about environmental science in practice rather than in an academic context; professionally, it is very exciting.
Finally, I think that it is fair to say that my position at Bristol was very unsafe for funding reasons. The position of a pathway 2 senior research fellow is not simple; I cost quite a lot and must find funds for a large part of my salary myself. In my case the large part was actually 85%. I had a very stressful first term in 2008 because of this and I don’t really want to be subject to that type of stress too often [note: some other types of stress are fine!].

It is a bit odd to think that I will be leaving Bristol University after the summer. I started there in December 1998, almost 10 years ago most of the friends I have in the UK I met in Bristol via work or the canoe club. Bristol is a lovely city and the job there allowed me to visit once a month or so which was good. I will miss seeing my friends during my regular visits to Bristol. There will be no excuse for them not to come and visit North Scotland though!