Alumni Profiles: Agathe Detanger

A multicultural Environmental Geoscientist with a passion for the environment and currently working in the waste management and valorisation sector.

In 2020, I graduated from UCL Earth Sciences Department with a first class MSci degree in Environmental Geosciences. I was able to develop and further explore this interest during the work on my final year master's dissertation which covered the evolution of bromate contamination in the Hertfordshire Chalk aquifer. I had the honour to be guided, pulled through the Hertfordshire bog and challenged by Prof. William G. Burgess.

“My time at UCL and the diversity of the modules available in the Earth Sciences department, made it possible to tailor the course to my interests in hydrology, geology and groundwater management; what a luxury!

During my 3rd year at UCL, I was determined to develop a career in the environmental services where the needs globally are the strongest but the challenges among some of the greatest. I applied for a summer internship in my third year in Hong Kong, working on the South East New Territories (SENT) landfill operated by Veolia. Eager to gain operational field experience, I joined the landfill's environmental teams collecting environmental monitoring samples (ground water, surface water, noise, dust etc.). I also had the opportunity to write and present a report summarising data analyses and suggestions for further actions to the SENT management teams on Site.

Caption: Field environmental monitoring at SENT landfill with the Environmental Teams (August 2021)

The impermeable liner system; the leachate collection and treatment system, the landfill gas collection and management system, the surface water collection system; restoration and aftercare facilities, and more had me hooked. In September 2020 I officially joined Veolia as a full time Environmental Engineer in the field of waste management, working on the SENT landfill. I continued and expanded on my internship project and developed new projects both on the landfill activities and also to participate in project development discussions around waste recovery and management in Hong Kong.

In early 2022, I joined PT. (Ltd in Indonesia) Veolia Services Indonesia's PET recycling plant in Pasuruan, East Java, Indonesia.
My role as Project Manager is two fold: providing technical support on the PET transformation process on topics such as wastewater and energy optimisation and; working with the informal waste collection sector in Indonesia.

Caption: On-site at PT Veolia Services Indonesia (April 2022)

Although my field of work has shifted away from the Geosciences sector, I am proud to be working for a company at the forefront of the ecological transformation and am never too far from my geological roots.
Living now in one of the world's most geologically complex regions bordered by tectonically active zones and characterised by intense seismicity and volcanism I am never too far from my love for adventure and geology.

Caption: On top of active volcano Gunung Welirang (April 2022)

Although my professional experience is still young, I hope to pursue my activities and duties in the waste management sector in Asia and maintain the application of the balance between office and field work duality.

Links:

LinkedIn profile

Alumni Profiles

Find out about what careers Earth Scientists have gone into and how we keep in touch with our Alumni:

William Davis

After completing a 1st class Masters degree in Geophysics in 2017, Will pursued a PhD in Earth Sciences at the Univ. of California, Berkeley and is now the J.W. Miles Fellow in Geophysics at Scripps. His research focuses on machine learning & stochastic differential equations.

Agathe Detanger

A multicultural Environmental Geoscientist with a passion for the environment and currently working in the waste management and valorisation sector. At UCL I served as the Student Academic Representative and undergraduate mentor.

Simran Johal

An Engineering Geologist with a passion for geothermal energy development. My interest span from geology to engineering geology and geothermal energy fields. At UCL I was able to take classes in soil mechanics and civil engineering to expand my qualifications.

Rachel Bilsland

Earth Scientist pursuing her interest in volcanology, working towards PhD at Leeds University. Her project, modelling surface deformation due to magma migration through mush zones is part of EU- funded research focussing on strengthening volcanic forecasting and interpreting volcanic activity using deep learning.

Cristiano Fortuna

Hydrogeologist working in water management sector focusing on water resources and water quality monitoring and improvements. I have experience working in the Flood Risk sector with emphasis on GIS skills, incident management and public engagement.

Jo Reynolds

Low Carbon Geophysicist at British Petroleum. I’ve been lucky enough to work in various exploration teams and spent seven months in central Carbon Ambition team, directly contributing to bp's Net Zero agenda. I am able to combine my passion for low carbon with my geophysical skillset.

Grace Campbell

Senior geologist specialising in natural hazard and risk projects working with designers, engineers and international development consultants to increase the resilience of society and the built environment to earthquakes, flooding, landslides and climate change-related shocks and stresses.

Matt Wincott

Geo-environmental consultant at a multi-disciplinary engineering consultancy. My work involves a great deal of site work, analysis and reporting to clients. We investigate chemical and physical ground conditions, providing remediation and geotechnical recommendations.

Roberto Bugiolacchi

Planetary Scientist, teacher and musician currently an Assistant Professor at the Key State Laboratory of Lunar & Planetary Sciences in Macao, China. Roberto's research focuses on analysis and geochemical interpretation of multispectral images of the Moon.

Terry Cotton

Exploration Geologist working in the mining industry, looking at the structural and geochemical aspects of mine operations, designing diamond-drill programmes, mine planning and ore-reserve calculation.