Category Archives: Travel and Logistics

Employer Case Study: Devon County Council

Free Red stop button on yellow handrail in modern empty public bus during daytime Stock Photo

Name of Organisation: Devon County Council 

Description of Organisation:  

Devon County Council is one of the largest employers in the County. The County Council recently declared a climate emergency and post COVID-19 there is an urgent need to support the economic recovery. The Government continues to invest in infrastructure to stimulate activity on both these fronts with announcements for more investment in walking and cycling and in public transport. 

The transport planning and road safety team has a key role in developing transport plans to support delivery of ambitious housing and job numbers, whilst also ensuring that they respond positively to Devon County Council’s climate emergency declaration. 

Name of Employer: Hannah Clark 

Job Title: Transport Planning Team Leader 

Internship Scheme used:  

The Graduate Business Partnership Scheme (GBP) | Employer Engagement & Student Employment | University of Exeter 

Feedback: 

“Lauren has contributed towards researching economic benefits of active travel and provided support on public consultation activities. Lauren has also developed initial ideas towards the development of a Local Transport Plan. 

Lauren’s biggest achievement was running a public consultation for an active travel route in Dartmoor.  

Lauren was an exemplar intern, and we are delighted to welcome Lauren as a full-time member of our team.” 

  

Employer Case Study: Devon County Council

Free Bird Flying over Bus Stock Photo

Name of Organisation: Devon County Council 

Description of Organisation:  

Devon County Council is one of the largest employers in the County. The County Council recently declared a climate emergency and post COVID-19 there is an urgent need to support the economic recovery. The Government continues to invest in infrastructure to stimulate activity on both these fronts with announcements for more investment in walking and cycling and in public transport. They are looking for enthusiastic people to step up to this challenge and develop, influence and shape the way people travel around Devon. 

Name of Employer: Hannah Clark 

Job Title: Transport Planning Team Leader 

Internship Scheme used:  

The Graduate Business Partnership Scheme (GBP) | Employer Engagement & Student Employment | University of Exeter 

Feedback: 

“Lauren has contributed towards researching economic benefits of active travel and provided support on public consultation activities. Lauren has also developed initial ideas towards the development of a Local Transport Plan. Lauren was an exemplar intern, and we are delighted to welcome Lauren as a full-time member of our team.

 

Travel Behaviour Analyst – Devon Country Council

What were your main roles and responsibilities during the course of your internship?

  1. Completion of survey with shared path users and other contacts via email and social media including promotion by Devon County Council.
  2.  Research into other share this space guidance/information.
  3. Report and presentation recommending how project could develop, awareness

What would you say was your biggest achievement over the course of your internship?

My biggest achievement has been having the confidence to approach strangers and persuade them to pause their walk/cycle to talk to me about the shared space provisions across Exeter and Devon. Then, as I was representing the DCC, fielding questions about unrelated complaints which the public had. I have also had to create a report and deliver a presentation on my findings from this week in front of a large group of industry experts, which tested my presentational skills.

What benefits did your internship bring to your employer?

The feedback on the Exe Estuary Trail that we collected provided valuable evidence that the initiative is working, and that people understand the message. We highlighted key areas for improvement, whether physically along the trail, or with the existing signage. This sort of data hasn’t been collected yet, as the council couldn’t spare staff members for it, and so they are exceedingly grateful to have had us working on it this week- even if it was only for a few days.

 What skills were you able to develop through the internship?

Problem solving, customer service, assessing and managing risk

What attributes were you able to develop through the internship?

Motivation, logical thinking, work ethic

Planning and Research Intern – All We Can, Methodist Relief and Development

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What were your main duties and responsibilities during the course of your internship?

I had a variety of tasks to fulfil during my time as an intern at All We Can as I had various roles in the organisation. I was first tasked to review their travel policy for when staff members would go to meet partners in developing countries. This required extensive research on the transport to and from, as well as in, the respective countries. After this I worked on the organisation’s country profiling documents, assessing which countries would be viable for AWC to work in and find partners. Once again this required research on many aspects of the country such as its HDI, political environment, corruption levels and cultural backgrounds. The third task I was given was to create a flow chart describing the organisations guidance on scoping new countries for partners to work with. I helped at a supporters awareness meeting in the Midlands where I represented the organisation and assisted with answering questions from supporters and clearing down the room. I summarised and tabulated answers from the questionnaires filled in by the international partners regarding the advocacy and humanitarian work of AWC, as well as investigating what the salary scales for international NGO’s staff working in developing countries was.

What would you say was your biggest achievement over the course of your internship?

I received a first-hand eye witness experience of what it means to work in an international humanitarian aid organisation dealing with work directly related to humanitarian development with partners in developing countries. From this I have been able to gain a better understanding of what working in this industry entails, and all of the behind the scenes work that goes into making projects successful. The most rewarding of all was being exposed to a totally new, cutting-edge approach to humanitarian aid that I had not come across before in my studies whereby this small organisation is able to partner with communities and work not only with them, but for them.  The people receiving the funding are at the table with the donors setting the agenda for the aid work that will take place in the community. This was incredibly enlightening and eye-opening for me.

What benefits did your internship bring to your employer?

The work which I did for All We Can during my internship enabled them to accelerate their administration and planning programs regarding the new approach to partnerships in developing countries. This decreased and simplified the workload for several of the staff and provided support when several of the staff were away on international trips visiting partners. I also ensured the smooth running of the supporters awareness day.

Did you encounter any problems during the course of your internship and if so, how did you overcome them?

There were some occasions when I struggled to understand how to formulate certain information and I was able to ask for advice and support to complete the work effectively. I was unable to access the printer from my computer therefore I emailed the work to a colleague and they were able complete this for me.

“Joel  carried out research, providing global poverty and development statistics that fed into our country scoping strategy. He also analysed survey questionnaires on our humanitarian assistance and advocacy programmes and provided a summarised and condensed version of the results, spelling out trends and patterns. He also supported one of our volunteer training sessions.” – Head of Programme Operations.