Jess Ryan-Smith

Life before Leeds

Prior to starting her MSc at the University of Leeds, Jess had already spent ten years working across industries in various roles, most recently as the Customer Success Lead at Google’s main consumer hardware training contractor.

I wanted to be part of how we, as a species, redefine, interact and engage with the world around us.

Despite her career success, Jess explains that she’d reached a point where “I was no longer happy as an observer while we edged closer to climate tipping points. I wanted to be part of how we, as a species, redefine, interact and engage with the world around us.”

She continues, “Having seen both well-intentioned, low-impact, and cynical approaches to the climate crisis in the corporate world, I felt implored to better align my career with my beliefs.”

Jess knew her path was to prioritise finding solutions to the climate crisis, so left her job and dedicated a year to studying a Masters in Sustainable Cities at Leeds.

Why Leeds?

Jess explains that “I chose this course because I felt it would help equip me with the knowledge and skills needed to be on the front lines of sustainable city development, driving real progress toward meeting our zero-carbon goals and leading to more equitable, nature-focused and climate-resilient cities.”

(...) you’ll leave as a well-rounded sustainability practitioner that is able to approach challenges critically and creatively, and identify practical, considered solutions.

The diversity of the teaching team also greatly appealed to her as she knew it would bring a “breadth of perspective” which in turn challenged her to think more critically and creatively, and better prepared Jess for entering a new chapter in her career.

She highlights that the course isn’t just about teaching students theory and instead focusses on real solutions and real communities. She continues, “It teaches you about frameworks for change. It equips you with a broad understanding of the scale of the challenge. It gives you the opportunity to interact with industry experts and get hands on with what solutions mean in practice. It gives you the opportunity to engage with communities and collaboratively explore solutions.

“Together these things mean you’ll leave as a well-rounded sustainability practitioner that is able to approach challenges critically and creatively, and identify practical, considered solutions.”

A sustainable mindset

Jess flags that many of the narratives we consume around sustainability can feel negative. Although it’s paramount that we act to address climate issues, she relays that the MSc Sustainable Cities course “has given me a renewed sense of hope and helped make me feel more empowered to do something about the climate crisis”.

Exciting projects

As part of her degree, Jess has been involved with many projects, giving her opportunities to skill-build in areas such as policy-making, creating community improvement plans and producing surveys.

Jess gives further details about the project work she did for the Sustainable Energy module: “I worked on a group project about energy insecurity in Lagos, Nigeria. Based on our work, I then produced a consultancy report on a new energy market opportunity. This project helped me develop skills and understanding of energy policy and provided me with a baseline technical understanding of energy infrastructure and business, which has helped me in greatly in my current role working within UK energy policy.”

Future ambitions

Jess’ long-term ambition is to “work in the green infrastructure space to deliver projects and frameworks that help make our communities more resilient to the impacts of the climate emergency and also make them nicer, healthier and enjoyable places to live and work.

Deciding to do this course was one of the best decisions I’ve made.

“During the course I honed my passion and enthusiasm for the potential of green infrastructure. This informed my choice of dissertation topic, for which I researched urban residential gardens as green infrastructure, their capacity to reduce flood risk, and the behavioural, structural, and policy barriers to adopting more sustainable management practices. I’m now going to convert this passion into a PhD, which I’ll be starting next year

“Deciding to do this course was one of the best decisions I’ve made. It has helped me turn my passions into a career, given me lifelong friendships, and provided me with the skills and knowledge to make positive changes in the world.”

Join us

To find out more about studying in the School of Earth and Environment view our Postgraduate courses.