Mel Moss – Skills Bootcamp: Future Climate Leaders
Get to know our Skills Bootcamp: Future Climate Leaders alumna Melissa
Melissa Moss is a Skills Bootcamp: Future Climate Leaders alumna and currently works as a Programme Manager (Outdoor Experiences) at the National Trust, a conservation charity that provides access to heritage and culture in both indoor and outdoor settings for everyone. Melissa's role is to create more opportunities for people to be active and enjoy meaningful experiences in the outdoors.
1. What have you gained from the course?
I’ve learned loads. I didn’t realise what I didn’t know until I started and thought, blimey, how did I not know all of this? Climate change can feel really overwhelming, and if I’d tried to learn it all on my own, I probably never would have done it because it would have been too much to take in. I started from quite a low level of understanding, but my knowledge has increased hugely.
I’ve got a colleague in my team who’s much more knowledgeable about this than I’ve ever been, but now I feel like I’m actually alongside her rather than just listening to her.
2. How did you find the delivery of the course?
I loved the online delivery. I do everything online all day, every day, so it actually made life much easier. There was no travelling and no logistics to organise, it was just really straightforward.
It’s easy in meetings to be distracted by your inbox or people chatting to you online, but I was very focused on the course because the content was so engaging, varied, and interactive. It was something I looked forward to every Thursday morning!
If you want to learn and explore how you can embed sustainability into your own work, then I’d really recommend the course to anyone. I’ve already passed on the course details to a few people!
4. What support did you receive?
We were fortunate because there were a lot of great guest speakers on the course, and the array of topics was really fascinating.
The standout ones for me were around the use of different tools, like the Scope Analyse Vision Implement (SAVI) canvas. We had a session focused on taking a problem and developing solutions to address it quickly, both individually and with others. These tools were enlightening and incredibly helpful in making sense of difficult challenges.
LIFLAD also taught us about commons and commoning, which explores how land meant for common use is managed, along with the principles behind how it works and the shared values involved, which really resonated with me.
The peers I was on the course with were just brilliant; I made friends with some who I am still in touch with! We all came from very different backgrounds, which was great. It created a supportive group where we could share ideas and offer each other feedback on our approaches, which I found incredibly helpful.
LIFLAD also taught us about commons and commoning, which explores how land meant for common use is managed, along with the principles behind how it works and the shared values involved, which really resonated with me.
The peers I was on the course with were just brilliant; I made friends with some who I am still in touch with! We all came from very different backgrounds, which was great. It created a supportive group where we could share ideas and offer each other feedback on our approaches, which I found incredibly helpful.
The standout support we had was from the university team. The way the sessions were run was so brilliantly structured that it enabled you to produce a project by the end. The team were always on hand to answer any questions, and the expertise that came from within the university was amazing.
5. How did you apply the learnings from your course to your workplace?
Climate change is an underpinning principle in the National Trust’s latest strategy. We have a whole team that leads on adapting to climate change and planning for the future, but that sits within our Land and Nature directorate. In contrast, I sit within the Experiences directorate, which focuses on providing visitors with the best possible experiences.
I started researching more about the brilliant work the National Trust is doing in the climate space. When exploring our resources, I noticed we have lots of guidance for properties from a land and nature perspective, but very little of it applies to experiences, so I realised there was a gap.
I decided to focus my action project on the course on developing a sustainability plan and a set of resources specifically for experiences. The idea is that if you are delivering an experience at any level, you can clearly see the minimum standards you should meet to ensure it is as sustainable as possible, and, if you have more capacity, the best-practice or gold-standard approaches you could be working towards. This could include simple changes, such as reviewing procurement practices, as well as longer-term planning to move away from less sustainable suppliers. We will theme the work and phase it in manageable sections, for example, starting with areas like procurement or transport, and then measure the impact within each of those areas.
I have secured buy-in from our directors, and everyone is supportive of me forming a working group to identify those themes. I am now developing a brief to shape the plan and identify the support required to implement it.
I have secured buy-in from our directors, and everyone is supportive of me forming a working group to identify those themes. I am now developing a brief to shape the plan and identify the support required to implement it.
About Skills Bootcamps
These Skills Bootcamps were funded by Cornwall Council through the Government’s Lifetime Skills Guarantee, helping everyone gain skills for life.
Funded by UK Government
Net-Zero Exchange
Skills for Life Skills Bootcamp
Cornwall Opportunities
Cornwall Council