Entering this second week of my research, I knew that I wanted to explore the different technical roles that consultants and firms can play; however this quickly became more challenging than I anticipated. The specialties of firms come from a wide range of academic topics, because the education of consultants also vary greatly. However, the work of an environmental consulting firm focusing on engineering vs. hydrogeology would vary significantly both in the education of their consultants and the needs of clients. This initial directional confusion was not left unchecked though. I was able to have several insightful conversations with peers and my teacher, which reminded me that I can explore multiple avenues of consulting without making my research too specific to approach. My primary interest within consulting is regulatory compliance. I am interested in how companies maintain standards set out by regulatory bodies, but also are still able to flourish. Although consultants come from the private sector, with their own financial incentives, I also learned how pivotal their role is as the ‘executors’ of environmental policy. Specifically when environmental assessments are mandated by law before a company can begin a project. It is completely on the ethics and effectiveness of the consultant to assess objectively and uphold high regulatory standards.
Going forward, I am excited to learn more about the different tools that regulatory agencies and consultants use. Such as ArcGIS (mapping out data), on the ground operations, community outreach, graphing data, and much more. All industries face regulation, and so someone needs to interpret and suggest effective and fair plans of action.
Comentários