Megan Griffiths

What is your role at Ricardo?
As part of Ricardo’s Environmental Chemistry and Toxicology (ECT) team, my role encompasses technical delivery and project management of diverse projects relating to the environmental hazard and risk of chemicals.

What does your average day at Ricardo look like? 
A big benefit of consultancy work is the variability. I’m normally working on multiple projects simultaneously, spanning different stages from proposal writing to delivering final outputs to both private and public sector clients. My work generally falls into retrospective and prospective risk assessments of chemicals and industrial discharges. I could be designing and coordinating laboratory tests to generate robust persistence, bioaccumulation, (eco)toxicity data, or searching scientific literature, regulatory databases, and large monitoring datasets to critically evaluate and synthesise evidence. The cross-cutting nature of the chemicals industry means I also collaborate with Ricardo’s policy and water teams.

What do you look forward to at work? 
I look forward to learning about the complex challenges our clients encounter, and developing creative, scientifically robust, and forward-looking solutions tailored to their specific needs. As new chemicals continue to be manufactured and policy/regulation continue to be updated, there is always a new challenge to address!

What do you find most rewarding at work? 
The biggest reward is that we are genuinely making the environment a safer place. Whether it is through ensuring the safety and sustainability of a company’s chemical portfolio, or contributing to the improvement of chemicals regulation, assessment, and testing, every single project makes a tangible difference.

What do you most enjoy about working with your team?
There is a real sense of ‘team’ despite our distribution across the UK and further afield.  While we all have specific areas of expertise, we work collaboratively to achieve a common goal, and it means there is always someone to learn from! Regular meetings and social activities further reinforce our team dynamic.

What opportunities do you have at Ricardo to share your knowledge or expertise?
Cross-business working, collaboration days, and Brown Bag Lunch presentations provide the opportunity to showcase the expertise of the ECT team internally, while the preparation of peer-reviewed scientific papers, conference posters and presentations, and networking, increase visibility to a wider audience.

What advice would you give to anyone considering a career as an Ecotoxicologist?
Be ready for continuous learning! Environmental chemistry and toxicology are a rapidly growing fields, leading to the constant evolution of both scientific understanding and the resulting regulatory landscape.