{"id":4847,"date":"2020-11-17T11:22:24","date_gmt":"2020-11-17T11:22:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/alumni\/?p=4847"},"modified":"2024-10-08T12:37:50","modified_gmt":"2024-10-08T12:37:50","slug":"unusual-career-paths-and-creative-outlets-for-alumni-by-alumni","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/alumni\/2020\/11\/17\/unusual-career-paths-and-creative-outlets-for-alumni-by-alumni\/","title":{"rendered":"Unusual career paths and creative outlets \u2013 For Alumni, By Alumni"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n
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James Orpwood (<\/em><\/strong>BSc 2002, PhD 2006<\/em><\/strong>)\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>has gone from fisheries scientist to mountaineer, conquering tremendous heights and tackling a new career path. He\u2019s also about to publish his first book, written during many lockdown hours as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>James describes\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>his personal career journey\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>and<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0how he\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>made\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>the most out of his spare time<\/em><\/strong>\u2026<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

I remember my years\u00a0at\u00a0Cardiff University fondly. Arriving as a fresh-faced undergraduate in\u00a0the autumn of 1999, I spent three very happy years working towards my first degree. As someone who had not been too fond of school, I surprised myself\u00a0by\u00a0loving the rich environment\u00a0of\u00a0learning and\u00a0research and\u00a0was\u00a0inspired by the most motivating academics\u00a0I could have ever wished to meet.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

The early years of my life were dominated by fish and my childhood was spent paddling in New Forest streams searching for bullheads and minnows.\u00a0So\u00a0it was fortunate that,\u00a0much later\u00a0as a young man,\u00a0my interests in freshwater ecology, fish biology and statistics blended perfectly in\u00a0my final year\u00a0of studies.\u00a0I graduated in 2002,\u00a0ostensibly with a BSc in Ecology and Environmental Management, but weighted favourably towards all things fishy!\u00a0Happily, my association with Cardiff University\u00a0(and fish)\u00a0continued and I went on to complete a PhD (2002-2005) and my first post-doc (2005-2007) before moving on to\u00a0another university\u00a0and then\u00a0the public sector.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

A major change happened at the start of my PhD\u00a0–\u00a0I moved to Scotland as that\u2019s where my day-to-day research work was carried out.\u00a0I have been there ever since!\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Exploring Scotland during my time off (if there is such a thing during a PhD) I became completely captivated by the country\u2019s mountains. Foreign climbing trips to Morocco, Nepal, Bolivia and Iceland did little to dampen my enthusiasm for fun in high places.\u00a0Eventually, despite a promising scientific career, I took the decision to retrain so I could work professionally in the mountains of Scotland.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Many years of focussed and determined hard work followed, enabling a complete change of direction in my working life, and supported throughout by my wife who I met on a climbing trip in the Himalayas.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

I gained\u00a0enormous pleasure from working year-round in Scotland\u2019s mountains, leading guided hill walking and mountain skills training\u00a0courses\u00a0through my own small business, as well as working for other outdoor activity and adventure holiday providers.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

It was all going well, until \u2026\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

The worldwide pandemic of COVID-19 needs little introduction, having dominated the media for\u00a0many\u00a0months, affecting daily life around the world in a way not experienced since WWII and, tragically, leaving many thousands of people mourning the death of a loved one.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

A temporary suspension of all my work began in\u00a0mid-March 2020\u00a0due to\u00a0the COVID-19 outbreak and related restrictions on movement. Indeed, even\u00a0before\u00a0the enforced lockdown, many outdoor professionals, myself included, had already cancelled their work for the foreseeable future. We did not want to encourage folk to travel to the Highlands for fear of spreading the virus and putting extra pressure on the relatively limited NHS resources in our rural communities. My summer season\u2019s work programme evaporated overnight.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

So, what does a scientist-turned-mountaineer do during lockdown? I turned creative.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

I noticed that\u00a0a friend of mine from fishing days had taken to social media, regaling tales of his interesting life. It occurred to me that I could do the same.\u00a0However,\u00a0the volume of my tale soon made the social media outlet seem unrealistic.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

My creative streak resulted in my first book,\u00a0A Quest\u00a0For\u00a0Fulfilment,\u00a0<\/em>which has now been published.\u00a0<\/em>I never thought\u00a0that\u00a0I would go from researcher to mountaineer, to author.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

I had often contemplated writing the tale of my career change, hoping it might inspire someone, somewhere, to pursue their dream, whatever that might be.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

James\u2019 new book, A Quest\u00a0For\u00a0<\/a>Fulfilment<\/a>, is out now and you can find out more about his\u00a0<\/em>mountaineering endeavours<\/em><\/a>\u00a0from\u00a0his website.\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>

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Tell us what matters to\u00a0you\u00a0<\/strong><\/h5>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

We\u2019ve\u00a0introduced \u2018For Alumni, By Alumni\u2019, because who knows our alumni community better than…you guessed it, you!\u00a0We’d\u00a0love to hear from you<\/a>\u00a0with ideas for articles or online events that you’re interested in, you can give insight on, or maybe you ARE the story! Check out our\u00a0full line-up of\u00a0articles<\/a>\u00a0and watch back our\u00a0live events playlist<\/a>.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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