| Improving Employability |
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| Friday, 10 July 2009 | |
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Luke’s placement was to review the CSR policy of the State Motorway Management Company in Budapest. During the placement, he updated the existing documentation, carried out staff audits and devised methods of enhancing staff involvement in the policy. The company was approaching privatisation at the time and Luke’s work helped them to attract new business relationships by promoting the company’s unique service methods as well as helping the company to reduce its resource use. The company also reported that staff are better informed of the policy and have increased capacity for company input. Luke is now working for an organisation that helps families in crisis, particularly those who are homeless. View Luke's case study report HERE
Rasa’s placement involved helping her placement company, Denkstatt source new collaborative partnerships in Eastern Europe and to create a methodology for the assessment and implementation of corporate responsibility. Rasa organised a workshop to help define the issues that might be relevant to a CSR report, the capabilities that companies would need to possess to be a sustainable organisation and the methods that they might employ to achieve energy savings, equal opportunities and community engagement. She also helped the company to co-ordinate its activities in Russia as she is a fluent speaker of Russian, Polish and Lithuanian. As a result of her placement, Denkstatt have forged new collaborations, have a new service (CSR profile) that they can deliver to their clients and have increased their profitability. When her placement ended, Rasa originally worked with an English local authority on their waste minimisation strategy. However, she has recently undertaken the final research for a PhD and will be working with Forward Scotland, on a voluntary basis, on a research project involving European migrants in Glasgow and their ability to input into the sustainable development agenda. View Rasa's case study report HERE
Guillem’s task was to work with Future Focus to find European collaboration possibilities around sustainable development and to help the Maltese Environmental Planning Authority (MEPA) to implement sustainable development principles into its policy and practice. He organised training for staff and carried out an environmental audit on the MEPA office. As a result of the placement, MEPA staff and clients are now beginning to implement sustainable development principles into their assessments, which they weren’t doing before to any great extent. MEPA are now also looking at formal training for their staff in Environmental Impact Assessment. Guillem is now back in UK. View Guillem's case study report HERE
Peter’s placement involved helping his company, Durga-Vishnu Deva research the energy policies in other countries to prepare the company for expansion. Durga-Vishnu Deva are a company involved in carrying out energy efficiency renovations in block housing in Hungary. He was also responsible for preparing presentations for the company representatives attending conferences throughout the EU and to help the company with English translation. Peter has since decided to return to university to study sustainable development. View Peter's case study report HERE
Zoe was placed with General Electric in Hungary, working to help the company deliver its REACH obligations. She was responsible for liaising with plant managers in Europe and United States and collected data; put together a database of “critical to production” substances and identified the substances that required pre-registration. She also managed the company’s supply chain, organising a reporting structure of various products supplied to GE. The benefits to GE have been very significant. They have reported high satisfaction levels on issues such as savings in resource use, new business opportunities, improved stakeholder relationships, increased profits and new staff initiatives being put in place. The company were so pleased with Zoe’s work that they gave her a management award and at the end of her placement, they offered her a position. Zoe returned home to UK to complete her contract obligations with Forward Scotland, before returning to Budapest to take up her post. She has since accepted a transfer to the company’s Dutch operation. View Zoe's case study report HERE
Carolyn’s placement was to develop a sustainable tourism strategy for the Maltese Tourism Authority. Carolyn had previously undertaken a study into sustainability in Majorca and was keen to apply her knowledge in a similar setting. Her placement involved a great deal of research into the tourism industry, the effects on the environment, society and the economy and the use of indicators to measure the level and attainment of sustainable tourism. Her work involved a lot of liaison with MTA officials as well as the Maltese people and tourists. The result of her work is the first ever comprehensive strategy proposal for Tourism in Malta, complete with indicators and tools to enable its implementation. The strategy proposal was presented by Carolyn to the Ministry of Tourism in Malta, who showed great interest. Carolyn was offered a permanent position with the MTA at the end of her placement, but preferred to return to the UK. She is now working as an associate consultant and continues to help MTA develop the tourism strategy for Malta on a freelance basis. View Carolyn's case study report HERE
Alice had two placements in Malta. The first was with Le Meridien Hotel helping them to achieve Eco certification. As a result of her placement at Le Meridien, the hotel has made savings in resource use, has increased the level of awareness amongst staff and has improved the hotel's relationship with its stakeholders. Her second placement was with MEEREA, a small charity promoting renewable energy, to help improve the delivery of their services. During her time in Malta, she helped MEEREA organise a conference on Tourism and Climate Change, designed an information leaflet on energy issues and how MEEREA can help, updated the organisation’s website and designed a presentation on renewable energy and energy efficiency which was delivered to teenagers later in the year. MEEREA is a small voluntary organisation and Alice’s work has been invaluable in their efforts to raise their profile on the island. View Alice's case study report HERE
Oier worked with a legal firm Deguara Farrugia Advocates to develop the legal framework to enable a community trust to be set up, enabling the community to develop projects and activities around sustainable development issues and to apply for funds from EU to resource their activities. He carried out a great deal of legal research, drafted reports and met with clients to get the job done. At the end of his placement, he was offered a permanent position with the firm and after returning home to complete his contract obligations with Forward Scotland, he returned to Malta to take up his post. Oier continued to work for the firm until March 2009 when he was successful in gaining a position with the Bellona Foundation in Spain as a Political Campaign Consultant, mapping climate change mitigation strategies and monitoring Carbon Capture and Storage initiatives. View Oier's case study report HERE
Beverley was placed with GE Hungary, working on the REACH project, an EU directive dealing with registration, evaluation and authorisation of chemical substances imported or manufactured in EU. During the placement, Beverley co-ordinated activity to ensure all GE suppliers provided compliance certification and had to maintain a database of supplier details and compliance certification. She was responsible for increasing the compliance notification rate by 30% and also helped GE get compliance for 2 new products, allowing project deadlines to be met. Beverley is currently looking for employment in the field of sustainable development and CSR. View Beverley's case study report HERE
Deborah was placed with MOL group within their sustainable Development department. Her main task was to edit the company’s sustainable development report, elaborating on biodiversity guidelines and producing PR literature. The company have since reported that as a result of Deborah’s work they have improved relationships with their stakeholders and improved CSR policies. Deborah is currently seeking employment in the field of Journalism. View Deborah's case study report HERE
Dorina was placed with Kovet Inem Hungaria to provide assistance in helping to organise the first Hungarian CSR Market Place Event and to help with setting up the UN Global Compact Network in Hungary. To do this Dorina had to learn a great deal about sustainable development in the field of human rights, corruption, labour and the environment. She was responsible for maintaining external communications and was a language coach for her colleagues. She also carried out voluntary work for 350.org and helped this organisation develop their website in Romanian in preparation for the launch of their activities there. Since completing her placement, Dorina has undertaken a position in human rights at the Hague. View Dorina's case study report HERE
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| Last Updated ( Monday, 07 September 2009 ) |
Each of the graduates participating in GRADES undertakes a different project during placement although all are fixed around an element of sustainable business development. Here is a short summary of the projects undertaken by each graduate who has taken part in GRADES so far, along with their achievements. Full case study reports can also be downloaded in this section
Rasa Luzyte Msc Human Geography from Jagiellonian University.
Guillem Vich-Callejo. University of Glasgow MSc Environment and Sustainable Development.
Peter MacLeod University of Glasgow MA Politics.
Carolyn Mitchell-Santiago Napier University MSc Ecotourism.
Alice Hamling University of St Andrews BSc Sustainable Development.
Oier Aristizabal-Juaristi University of Glasgow LLM Commercial Law and International Relations.
Beverley Lovatt University of Edinburgh BSc Geography.
Deborah Namugere University of Stirling BA Journalism.
Dorina Damsa. University of St Andrews M. Litt. International Relations and Security Studies.
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