Progress

Dr Mark Sumner is well placed to share his knowledge and expertise on the podcast, and to offer advice to anyone with a passion for fashion, who wants to ensure they are putting sustainable and ethical practices at the heart of their chosen profession.

Mark's own career has taken him from training as a quantity surveyor to studying first physics, then a doctorate in textile engineering. He joined renowned retailer Marks & Spencer, where he worked as a textile technologist and while he was there, studied for an Open University degree in environmental science, becoming a leading sustainability specialist for the firm.

He left retail to join the University of Leeds School of Design and became the lead lecturer focussing on sustainability, textile, clothing and the fashion industry. Despite a busy life, he still publishes research papers, most recently on the influence of yarn characteristics on microfibre release from knitted fabrics during laundering.

In this episode, Mark discusses:

• the ethics of fashion
• its impact on the environment
• global supply chains
• and how at least 400 million workers across the globe depend on fashion being bought and sold.

These are topics covered on the Sustainable Fashion BA, but Mark is just as keen for students to bring their own questions to the course and challenge current thinking as they become the future of fashion.

University of Leeds School of Design BA Sustainable Fashion Programme

United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals and (SDG) 8

Marks & Spencer sustainability practices

University of Leeds School of Design

The Leeds Institute of Textiles and Colour

Host Sandra Kessell invites guests to discuss their Green, Ethical, Sustainable and Socially responsible jobs, courses or activities and asks for real-world insights into the pathways and careers that led to them.

Instagram ProGRESS 

Content © Sandra Kessell 

Original music © Lyze Kessell

Email: [email protected]

Progress's guests talk about their pathways to a career in a values-led job.

We've interviewed all kinds of people in interesting roles.

You'll hear from sustainability consultants and managers, researchers, green and ethical entrepreneurs, environmentalists, ecologists and conservationists plus others working and studying in architecture.

You'll also hear about jobs you may never have known existed, such as green comedians, serious games creators, city planners, garden planners, and green data centre champions.

Subscribe to Progress wherever you usually listen for inspiring stories and insights into brilliant career ideas.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week's episode features Sarah Kessell, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) at The Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales.

Sarah reveals the early story behind her green career, before the word conservation became part of her vocabulary and how, when she was younger, she associated her dream job with 'saving the green bits of the planet'. Her lightbulb moment came when she read The Last Chance to See while backpacking around the world. Then a careers advisor in Reading, UK, made all the difference to her path.

Sarah has some really useful tips for listeners who want to follow in her career footsteps and praises younger generations and teachers for their interest and growing knowledge of conservation. She also reminds us that as consumers and voters, we all have the power to make green choices.

Mentioned in this episode of the ProGRESS podcast:

The Last Chance to See by Douglas Adams and zoologist Mark Carwardine

Doughnut Economics by Kate Raworth

Sir David Attenborough visits Skomer Island as part of the BBC's Wild Isles series

Volunteering opportunities at the South and West Wales Wildlife Trust

You might also like to listen to:

Jamie Osborn Green Party councillor and communications manager for the MCS foundation S1 E2

Jo Faulkner-Harvey, head of charity fundraising S3 E5

About:

Host Sandra Kessell invites guests to discuss their Green, Ethical, Sustainable and Socially responsible jobs, courses or activities and asks for real-world insights into the pathways and careers that led to them.

Instagram ProGRESS 

Content © Sandra Kessell 

Original music © Lyze Kessell

Email: [email protected]

Progress's guests talk about their pathways to a career in a values-led job.

We've interviewed all kinds of people in interesting roles.

You'll hear from sustainability consultants and managers, researchers, green and ethical entrepreneurs, environmentalists, ecologists and conservationists plus others working and studying in architecture.

You'll also hear about jobs you may never have known existed, such as green comedians, serious games creators, city planners, garden planners, and green data centre champions.

Subscribe to Progress wherever you usually listen for inspiring stories and insights into brilliant career ideas.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

By his own admission, Nick Molden, founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Emissions Analytics has had 'a random walk' of a career. His business (and Nick) came to prominence during 'dieselgate' when huge discrepancies were uncovered between diesel car manufacturers' published emissions data, and data collected through independent real-world testing. He's become a go-to voice when road vehicle pollution is under scrutiny and has clear views on electric and hybrid cars, tyre and tail-pipe pollution. He's also clear we need open and honest conversations about what we are prepared to give up to combat climate change and who we are passing the risks of global warming on to.

Also in this episode of the ProGRESS podcast:

• Why Nick thinks a total ban on new diesel cars may be a step too far.
• How studying for a degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics at University of Oxford equipped Nick to deal with policy makers, stakeholders and decision makers.
• The benefit of taking risks when planning your career.

Host Sandra Kessell invites guests to discuss their Green, Ethical, Sustainable and Socially responsible jobs, courses or activities and asks for real-world insights into the pathways and careers that led to them.

Instagram ProGRESS 

Content © Sandra Kessell 

Original music © Lyze Kessell

Email: [email protected]

Progress's guests talk about their pathways to a career in a values-led job.

We've interviewed all kinds of people in interesting roles.

You'll hear from sustainability consultants and managers, researchers, green and ethical entrepreneurs, environmentalists, ecologists and conservationists plus others working and studying in architecture.

You'll also hear about jobs you may never have known existed, such as green comedians, serious games creators, city planners, garden planners, and green data centre champions.

Subscribe to Progress wherever you usually listen for inspiring stories and insights into brilliant career ideas.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week’s guests are Laura Yeates and Leora Shlasko of the Sustainable Recruitment Alliance.

Laura is the senior manager overseeing Global Professional Staff Diversity & Inclusion at City law firm Latham & Watkins. Laura has changed the face of recruitment for early careers not just in the legal world, but across the city and really shone a spotlight on unconscious bias and untapped talent. During lockdown Laura founded the Sustainable Recruitment Alliance (SRA), which is driving eco-friendly change to early recruitment by encouraging early career recruiters to decrease their emissions.

Leora is the newest team member at the Sustainable Recruitment Alliance and is its Sustainability Impact Advisor. After studying at Vassar College in New York, Leora completed a masters in environmental governance at the University of Oxford, where, among other studies, she researched the social impact of environmental policies on Bluefin Tuna in Mediterranean and Japan.

Discover more about the SRA, which companies and organisations are signed up to the pledge and what they are doing to reduce their carbon impact in the course of the recruitment here.

Journalist and host Sandra Kessell invites guests to discuss their Green, Ethical, Sustainable and Socially responsible jobs, courses or activities and asks for real-world insights into the pathways and careers that led to them.

Instagram ProGRESS 

Content © Sandra Kessell 

Original music © Lyze Kessell

Email: [email protected]

Progress's guests talk about their pathways to a career in a values-led job.

We've interviewed all kinds of people in interesting roles.

You'll hear from sustainability consultants and managers, researchers, green and ethical entrepreneurs, environmentalists, ecologists and conservationists plus others working and studying in architecture.

You'll also hear about jobs you may never have known existed, such as green comedians, serious games creators, city planners, garden planners, and green data centre champions.

Subscribe to Progress wherever you usually listen for inspiring stories and insights into brilliant career ideas.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

After graduating from the University of Cambridge with a degree in English literature, climate activist Jamie Osborn started studying for a Masters in sustainability and behaviour change at the Centre for Alternative Technology in Wales.

But he points out a degree is not the only route into a green career and suggests looking at apprenticeships as a way to get trained and paid at the same time. In fact, apprenticeships are actively promoted by the organisation Jamie works for as a media and communications manager, The MCS Foundation. The foundation has a mission driving postive change towards decarbonising homes, heat and energy.

If that sounds like enough to do, (Jamie's also a dad), at just 24 years old he was elected as a Green Party councillor for Norwich City Council, a role he extended two years later when he also became a Norfolk County councillor.

At the time of recording (January 2024)* Jamie was preparing to stand for The Green Party in the forthcoming general election, aiming to be the member of parliament (MP) for Norwich South. In the ProGRESS podcast he urges younger people to register to vote and says a postal vote is the easiest way to exercise voting rights once registered - it's also free.

*Post-July general election update - Jamie Osborn (Green Party) polled 8,245 votes, second to Clive Lewis (Labour) who polled 21,484 votes in Norwich South.

Link to official result here

Journalist and host Sandra Kessell invites guests to discuss their Green, Ethical, Sustainable and Socially responsible jobs, courses or activities and asks for real-world insights into the pathways and careers that led to them.

Instagram ProGRESS 

Content © Sandra Kessell 

Original music © Lyze Kessell

Email: [email protected]

Progress's guests talk about their pathways to a career in a values-led job.

We've interviewed all kinds of people in interesting roles.

You'll hear from sustainability consultants and managers, researchers, green and ethical entrepreneurs, environmentalists, ecologists and conservationists plus others working and studying in architecture.

You'll also hear about jobs you may never have known existed, such as green comedians, serious games creators, city planners, garden planners, and green data centre champions.

Subscribe to Progress wherever you usually listen for inspiring stories and insights into brilliant career ideas.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Award-winning garden designer Rae Wilkinson puts sustainability at the core of her approach to garden design and the beautiful results speak volumes. In this episode she discusses how sustainability plays a part in her everyday life as well as her career, and how she went from studying art and three-dimensional design to environmental conservation before becoming a horticultural expert and celebrated garden and landscape designer.

Rae Wilkinson has an impressive portfolio that ranges from contemporary to traditional, from urban courtyards to large country gardens and landscaped schemes. Besides private residential projects, Rae also creates sensory care gardens, including the Eternal Garden for palliative care patients at Ashford and St Peter's Hospitals. Her design studio is on the Knepp Estate in Sussex, famed for its trailblazing 3,500-acre rewilding project.

Find out more about Rae's work here

Link to The Conservation Volunteers (TCV) UK courses

You might also like to listen to:

Sarah Kessell Chief Executive Officer (CEO) at The Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales. S1 E5

Dani Neal City council procurement officer and environmental sciences graduate. S3 E6

Sarah Daly Climate champion and independent sustainability consultant, TEDx speaker, and leading LinkedIn sustainability influencer. S3 Ep 1

About

Journalist and host Sandra Fraser invites guests to discuss their Green, Ethical, Sustainable and Socially responsible jobs, courses or activities and asks for real-world insights into the pathways and careers that led to them.

Instagram @progress_green_careers_podcast

Content © Sandra Fraser

Original music © Lyze Kessell

Email: [email protected]

Progress's guests talk about their pathways to a career in a values-led job.

We've interviewed all kinds of people in interesting roles.

You'll hear from sustainability consultants and managers, researchers, green and ethical entrepreneurs, environmentalists, ecologists and conservationists plus others working and studying in architecture.

You'll also hear about jobs you may never have known existed, such as green comedians, serious games creators, city planners, garden planners, and green data centre champions.

Subscribe to Progress wherever you usually listen for inspiring stories and insights into brilliant career ideas.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.