Claire Conlon

Claire graduated from Heriot-Watt University in 2012 with a Masters in Civil Engineering. She now works for AECOM as a member of the Flood Risk team in Edinburgh's Tanfield office.

Can you tell us about your current job?

I work as a graduate engineer for AECOM in the Flood Risk Management sector of the water business line. Our team specialises in assessing flood risk to existing and proposed developments and designing sustainable flood risk management solutions. A large proportion of my work centres around building hydraulic models of areas at risk of flooding, using software programmes such as InfoWorks and ISIS.     

What was your experience of doing a postgraduate degree at Heriot-Watt University?

I had a really great experience whilst studying for my degree at Heriot-Watt. I thoroughly enjoyed meeting and learning alongside people from a variety of cultures. The course content was well organised and relevant and I found the lecturers very approachable. The modules I studied and software packages we used really helped prepare me for a career in water and flooding in particular. Overall, I feel the postgraduate degree at Heriot-Watt university really prepared me for the professional working world.

Overall, I feel the postgraduate degree at Heriot-Watt university really prepared me for the professional working world.

Do you think your Heriot-Watt postgraduate experience gave you an edge in your chosen field and why?

Yes, I believe my experience at Heriot-Watt really gave me an edge in terms of the work that I do now. A lot of the modules I took, especially towards the latter end of my degree, were geared towards water engineering. This provided me with a good foundation on which to build and I have been doing so ever since graduating!

What advice would you give to a student considering embarking on their studies at Heriot-Watt?

I would say that if they are looking for a university that provides an excellent standard of lecturing and the tools and skills required in the professional working world, Heriot-Watt University is the place to go!