Jonas Rune, Environmental consultant

Jonas Rune. Photo: Margareta Ohné.

Jonas Rune has a degree in Biology and Earth Science and has also studied natural resource and environmental economics at the Swedish Agricultural University (SLU). He now works as a project manager for environmental assessment at WSP, a very large international consulting company with a total of 67,000 employees in 40 countries, of which 4,000 are in Sweden. 

Jonas works mainly with energy transfer and permits for new plants, an area that will be large and require a lot of staff for many years to come. 

Jonas has been with WSP for seventeen years and has worked on more than 250 different projects, so he knows how difficult it can be to reconcile conflicting interests. "When you work with permit processes, there is never one right solution," says Jonas, "everything becomes a compromise. You have to be able to talk to all kinds of people and you have to use your ecological knowledge to try to create a win-win situation. Networking and collaboration are essential, especially when you are at the beginning of your career.

Petra Wallberg, Ministry Secretary

Petra Wallberg. Photo: Margareta Ohné.

Petra Wallberg begins by congratulating the thirteen students attending the meeting on becoming ecologists - you have a fantastic future, she says. She herself studied biology and then defended her thesis on marine biology and ecotoxicology. She now works at the Ministry of Climate and Enterprise, but before that she had a long series of jobs at government agencies, research councils and consultancies. 

"Working at government agencies provides a lot of knowledge," says Petra, "and if you get a question from citizens, it is a high priority to answer." As a consultant, you have to be able to decide what is important and what is less relevant. It's important to see the whole picture, something that ecologists are actually good at. To illustrate the importance of imagination and seeing others' perspectives, she brings out a little Easter witch - flying backwards...

Someone in the audience asks how important it was for her to have a PhD and she replies that for some jobs it was necessary, for others not. But even in the latter case, it may have helped her find more interesting work.

On attitudes to work and colleagues

Both Jonas and Petra emphasize how important it is to go for something you believe in. Both have said no to jobs or tasks that felt wrong. It is also important to like and trust your immediate superior.

Petra, who has had at least fifteen jobs, knows what she is talking about when she says that you should always be friendly to people - you never know who you will meet again.

Jonas repeatedly says that you should do what you really want to do, but also be humble, ask questions, listen and learn. If you have problems communicating with others, you should see it more as a learning opportunity than a conflict.

Petra emphasizes that she does what she does because she likes it and because she knows she makes a difference. As Jonas puts it: "Happiness brings success. Success does not bring happiness."