Susannah Telfer
Biography
Susannah has worked for Ricardo for 13-years. Susannah is a Senior Air Quality Consultant in the air quality team working on projects for the UK, Scottish, Northern Irish, Welsh and Irish Governments. She has worked with various clients to provide educational packages to promote air quality knowledge and behaviour change within Primary and Secondary Schools. Susannah also supports Local Authorities and private clients with regards to their air quality reporting responsibilities.
Story
What is your role at Ricardo?
I’m a senior consultant and team leader within the Air Quality and Environment practice.
What does your average day at Ricardo look like?
Luckily, my day can be very varied with tasks being dependent on the time of year. During the main audit seasons, I’ll be out on site carrying out UKAS accredited audits of air quality monitoring sites, scoping visits, or training/assessing new team members. I also lead the Glasgow Lab as the Location Manager and Technical Records Manager, ensuring that all our equipment and team member records are up to date and compliant.
What do you look forward to at work?
I look forward to seeing what new challenges and opportunities each day will bring. I also like catching up with my colleagues, especially if they have been travelling for work.
What do you find most rewarding at work? / Are you proud to work at Ricardo?
I hope that my work with have a positive impact on air quality monitoring and management. I also hope that sharing my knowledge with the general public will bring better understanding about the personal impacts of poor air quality and promote positive behaviour change.
What was your team’s latest achievement and how was it celebrated?
The team are always busy working hard on project deliverables so we will usually have a team meal when the Business Unit Manager or Practice Director visit the Glasgow office. Also, the employee spotlight is regularly used to highlight colleague’s good work.
How have you developed your career at Ricardo?
I joined AEA Technology (now known as Ricardo) in 2010 as an analyst field team member within the Air Quality team, carrying out Local Site Operator (LSO) tasks and UKAS accredited audits. I also learned to carry out data checking and data ratification using our internal programs. I became the Glengarnock then Glasgow Lab manager with increased responsibility and worked my way to becoming a Senior Consultant.
How do you support career development opportunities for your team?
As a team lead, I like to find out what sparks team members interests, and we’ll then work together to plan next steps to get them involved in that area. It’s also beneficial to keep up to date on the variety of current and pipeline projects so that I can highlight these in team catch up meetings or general discussion to see if they are of any interest.
What do you most enjoy about working with your team?
In the overall Air Quality team, I enjoy seeing the variety of specialisms and knowledge colleagues have and how it translates into the projects we work on. It’s great that everyone has a clear passion for air quality management and client engagement.
What opportunities do you have at Ricardo to share your knowledge or expertise?
As a field and lab team member, I get to train new colleagues on LSO tasks, audits, data checking, data ratification and lab tasks. I can also share my knowledge with the general public as part of the varied STEM educational programs we provide on behalf of our clients.
What advice would you give to anyone considering a career as an Air Quality Consultant?
Be prepared to work in a varied role with the potential for lots of travel. Be enthusiastic about getting involved with different types of projects and keep up to date with the latest related technology.