VHE University Placement Year Students – Where are they now?

Luke Beirne was a Geo-Environmental placement student between 2011 and 2012. During his time with us he worked on several gaswork remediations across the country, material trials at a wastewater plant, and ongoing monitoring of landfills.

He graduated from the University of Leeds in 2013, with a BSc in Geology, and began a job as an Environmental Consultant at Arcadis, working across the UK and Europe on land and groundwater remediation. Since 2016 he has emigrated to New Zealand and now continues his environmental work for Aurecon, as an Environmental Geologist. He works across New Zealand, specialising in ground gas investigations and soil remediation, and is the chairperson of the local professional body for contaminated land practitioners.

Luke commented; “At the time I left University the jobs market was especially competitive, with an oil and mining downturn providing a glut of geologists, drillers, and scientists all chasing job opportunities. Without the prior experience I gained in my year in industry at VHE I would have really struggled getting my foot onto the career ladder. I learnt a lot about remediation, earthworks, and the processes of business at VHE, and I still apply what my year in industry taught me in my day to day job eight years later and on the other side of the world.”