Beccy Ives, final year Ecology & Conservation student, reflects on her journey and experience at Kent as her degree winds down:
Hey!
I’m Beccy, a final-year student at Kent, studying Ecology and Conservation. I’ve just finished my last exam, but it feels like yesterday that I was writing my UCAS applications and choosing a university. As my degree winds down, I’ve had the chance to reflect on my journey and experience here.
I was always fascinated by wildlife, having grown up with family members working in the sector. However, attending a small school in Cornwall, I was told that the only way to work with wildlife was to become a vet—something I didn’t want to do. So, I kept it as a hobby. Consequently, when I finished school in 2016, I chose to explore Philosophy and Ethics as a degree instead. I applied and got accepted to three universities (Kent being one of them), but after an applicant day, I knew that this was not the right course for me.
I decided to defer for a year and took a gap year in Africa to explore a career in conservation, which turned into a five-year stay! I had the best time working in conservation but realised I could only advance so far without a degree in the field. When COVID happened, I was visiting my family in the UK, and with the borders back to Botswana closed, I couldn’t return. By August, I decided it was the best time to pursue the degree.
When I was looking around, Kent was the only course that stood out because it applied conservation theory to real-world scenarios, making a difference for both wildlife and the people living alongside them. However, I didn’t meet the entry requirements due to my A-level choices. I reached out to a lecturer on the course, had a few calls and meetings, and they advised me to complete an Access to Higher Education course to gain some scientific knowledge and refresh my education. I did that in 2020-2021 and applied to start at Kent in September 2021—I’ve never looked back!
The highlight of my degree has been getting to know the lecturers. They are active conservationists working in the field who lecture to share their knowledge and expertise with students. Not only that, but they’ve been amazing support—helping me run statistical tests for assignments or giving a much-needed pep talk over a cup of tea. They are connections that will stay with me throughout my conservation career, and I feel very lucky to have met them. Similarly, witnessing my friends and I find our paths as conservationists has been inspiring. The course starts broad, offering a snippet of various aspects of conservation, ecology, sustainability, practical skills, and analytical skills, and then allows us to specialise. Consequently, we’ve been supported to become individual conservationists with niche interests and specialities. I’m very excited to see where we all end up!
Towards the end of my degree, I joined the Sustainability Working Group and the Women in Conservation Canterbury Network. These groups have truly made university feel like a community. Working alongside experts and students from different stages has motivated me throughout my degree!
Growing up in the countryside of Cornwall and then the African bush, I never thought I could live in a city. However, Canterbury has been incredible. There is so much green space and woodland on campus that it’s felt like a home away from home. Even the city centre is quaint, with beautiful gardens throughout! My favourite day out is either reading in Westgate Gardens in the city centre or taking a long bike ride to Whitstable to spend the day at the beach. The bus routes and trains around Kent are inexpensive and frequent, so it’s easy to explore without a car.
Thinking back on my favourite moments at Kent, there have been so many. I’ve met incredible people doing amazing things worldwide, and I’ve had the space to grow as a conservationist and develop my passion alongside my academic knowledge. I’m genuinely excited about the next steps, and I have Kent to thank for that. It’s been my home away from home, and I hope anyone who studies here at Kent will have a similar experience.
All the best!
Beccy ✨