6.30 AM
My alarm wakes me up and (can’t believe I’m writing this) I spend half an hour on TikTok before getting out of bed. Once out of bed, I start making breakfast alongside my housemates– we love watching ABC News Breakfast.
8.30 AM
I begin my morning walk to work. Canberra has a natural feel with lots of tree-lined streets. It’s refreshing to walk through before work.
8.55 AM
I arrive at the office and say hello to Duncan, our friendly Security Officer, before taking the lift upstairs to my workstation. My first rotation is in Method Development – the team is responsible for writing new carbon crediting methodologies under the Emissions Reduction Fund (ERF). I mainly work on two new methods – a new savanna fire management method (which credits ERF projects that increase carbon stored in the landscape through burning) and an integrated farm management method (which allows project proponents to run several different ERF projects on the same piece of land).
9.00 AM
I start checking my inbox, and my team's inbox and begin planning my day. In my team’s inbox, an enquiry has come through overnight, it’s from a university academic with some questions and feedback on the new savanna fire management method.
I start drafting a reply to their email and ask a colleague for some advice on how to answer one of the email’s more technical questions. My supervisor signs off on my email and it’s good to go! I send the academic’s feedback on the new method to the rest of the team and document it in our online file system so we can refer back to it easily.
9.30 AM
Team meeting! Our team of 6 has a daily meeting to catch everyone up on past and upcoming meetings, daily tasks, information concerning our team, important news and renewable energy space. I let my team know about the email that came through to the team’s inbox overnight, I give a summary, and tell them that it is in their inboxes for their reading.
9.45 AM
A smaller team meeting with only two of my colleagues. For the last few days, we have been working on a data analysis task and brief to assist our team leader in a meeting they have with some of the higher-ups. It’s only a couple of hours away from being done.
12.00 PM
My colleagues and I finalise the analysis and brief and send them off. I see an email has come through from a potential ERF project proponent that is interested in participating in the co-design process for the new savanna fire management method we are developing. I reply with an invitation to the upcoming co-design workshop and attach all of the relevant documents. I add their details to our stakeholder list so we can remain in contact in the future.
12.15 PM
I think this might be a good time to have some lunch before getting stuck into a different task. I send a message on Microsoft Teams to our graduate group chat and see that one other person is in the office today and keen to have lunch with me. Today I have leftover stir fry and noodles for lunch, and we eat in the kitchen with a few other staff
12.45 PM
After lunch, I begin working on the draft method guide with my team for the new integrated farm management method. This is a document for potential ERF project proponents explaining how to plan, register, deliver, and report on a project. I chip away at the sections allocated to me while my colleagues also work on their respective sections.
2.00 PM
Another team meeting, only this time, to complete the Sydney Morning Herald quiz. A few teams at the Clean Energy Regulator have a friendly competition to see who can score highest on the daily SMH quiz. I find it a great way to break up the day and better connect with my colleagues. Unfortunately, we didn’t score well today, the Wednesday quiz is always difficult.
2.15 PM
Social club meeting! All the graduates are encouraged to join the social club and help facilitate agency-wide social events. I love it. It’s a great way to meet everyone in the agency. In the meeting, we discuss the logistics of hosting an agency-wide trivia event, and on a more fun side, what snacks to stock our new vending machines with.
3.00 PM
Time for the graduate project meeting. As part of the graduate program, we need to research and write a report on an important agency-relevant topic for the Senior Executives and the Board at the Clean Energy Regulator. We have only just begun our project, so in this meeting, we are discussing our readings and making a start to our scoping document.
4.00 PM
I return to work on writing and editing the simple method guide for the new integrated farm management method. I see some colleagues have written some comments on the work I completed earlier, so I spend my time actioning them.
5.00 PM
Home time! I start to walk home with my earphones in (100 gecs anyone?)
5.25 PM
I have a small snack, start pressing my tofu in preparation for dinner, and head to the gym.
6.30 PM
Cooking, dinner, and chats with the housemates– featuring background ABC TV noise in the background (can you tell we love the ABC in my house?)
7.30 PM
Piano time. I’m trying to learn Debussy’s Arabesque no. 1, so I practice that and then play a few other pieces for fun.
8.30 PM
Web surfing while on a phone call with my friend.
10.00 PM
Bedtime!
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