Name of Student: Rebecca Jones 

Degree Subject: Global Sustainability Solutions 

Job Title: Carbon accountant 

Company Name: Exeter Science Park 

Description of Organisation:  

Exeter Science Park is the South West’s centre of activity for businesses in science, technology, engineering, maths and medicine (STEMM). 

It is the result of a vision to develop a regional science park that stimulates a knowledge-based economy, delivering better jobs, higher productivity and economic growth. 

Their mission is to help innovative STEMM businesses to deliver extraordinary growth in a like-minded community. 

Type of Internship:   

 Student Business Partnerships (SBPs)  

What were your key duties and responsibilities during your internship? 

To calculate carbon footprint for Exeter Science Park and calculate emissions from commuting habits. Also, to provide recommendations on how to lower emissions and which aspects of business protocol were most carbon intensive and create presentation and report of findings. 

What was your biggest achievement on your internship? 

Creating a carbon footprint report for the whole company! The work increased my confidence, gave me insight into corporate life, and provided me with experience that has enhanced my CV massively. 

Were there any challenges and how did you overcome these?  

Being a remote worker, it was difficult to always stay in contact with the company. We scheduled weekly phone calls to overcome this. Also, being from a non-accounting background, I also struggled with some of the technical expense data. A combination of extra research and maintaining contact with the finance team helped me with this. 

Skills Learnt:  

• Researching  
• Organisation 
• Problem Solving 
• Communication 

Attributes Developed: 

• Commercial Awareness  
• Confidence 
• Motivation  
• Independence 

 Your message to other students considering a similar job role, organisation or sector? 

My internship experience was a highly-rewarding, independent and a challenging learning curve. I have learnt things about myself and the corporate environment that will be hugely beneficial to life after university. Undertaking the internship alongside my masters was challenging at times but has taught me how to balance high workloads and hugely enhanced my CV for postgraduate work.