Queenie Fensham – Bachelor of Environmental Management

Queenie’s industry placement in the Department’s environmental planning team involved research and analysis to further the development of climate change policy in Queensland.

Queenie’s feedback on her placement experience:

Was the placement relevant to your studies?

Absolutely! I am studied environmental management and policy, a field that intersects with all facets of the environment, society and economy. Climate change policy was most relevant to my area of interest to understand how to effectively communicate and mitigate climate change.

What did you learn?

I learnt that there is no simple answer in policy, and often identifying the question is harder than expected. Climate change policy is a challenging space to work in when there are overlapping values, interests and impacts to consider across government and public stakeholders.

What did you enjoy the most?

Feeling inspired by the team I worked with every day and being able to pick their brains on their expertise and opinions. Being immersed in a field that I am extremely passionate about and being able to apply what I learnt to my studies was hugely rewarding.

Which three words would best describe your placement experience?

Empowering, multi-faceted, motivating.

“It was really great to get some young energy into the team, and it certainly added some new perspective. Queenie learnt critical analysis skills at university and she was able to apply those to some policy analysis. Her GIS mapping skills were also very useful for us.”

– Rebecca Duffy, industry placement supervisor