TMK Environmental Science Prize is Awarded to High Flying Uni SA Graduate Bradley Reynolds

The TMK Prize for Environmental Science is awarded to a University of South Australia student who has completed a Bachelor of Environmental Science (LBVT) and achieved the highest GPA as deemed by the Program Director. This year’s recipient is Loren Cockshell who graduated with a 6.58GPA. John Weber, one of TMK's senior associate & senior environmental scientist awarded the prize to Bradley.

This degree provides students with cutting-edge techniques and technology to help learn how to monitor and manage environments, along with tools to process and evaluate this data to critically assess its meaning. TMK has been a prize giver for 4 years.

Bradley originally chose environmental science because of his love of the outdoors.

“ I have always had a connection with nature, as a kid I loved letting my imagination run wild in the garden. After doing some travel as an adult, I was looking to start a career being involved in something that I not only enjoyed but was going to achieve something good.”

Though the award is managed through the University, TMK always aims to catch up with the recipient to find out what drives them and what they hope their future holds.

Bradley, what are you doing currently?

I am currently undertaking a grad program with Iluka, a mineral sands mining company. My role is spread across the environmental and rehabilitation teams, where I undertake a variety of tasks such as weed management, environmental monitoring and seed collection (see photo below of Bradley in action!).

What is your ultimate role and/or career goal?

I really want to be involved in the ecological restoration/rehabilitation space, which is why I’m grateful to be in my current role.

Who do you admire and why within the field of Environmental Science?

I've always been a big David Attenborough fan, it's safe to say his documentaries were my favourite growing up. He's such an iconic figure and pretty inspiring to see he still has the same passion and enthusiasm for the natural world.

Is there a project which you have been involved in during your degree that stands out.

In 2021 there was a field trip to the Flinders Ranges, as part of the Landscape Evolution course. We spent 5 nights based at an old ranger station, overlooking the ancient hills and river redgum-lined creeks of that region. The experience was tough, we worked incredibly hard hiking the hills during the day, trying to balance learning and mapping the geology, lugging our backpacks around all day and taking in the scenery. In hindsight, it was an incredible experience that further developed my readiness for hard work in South Australia's harsh environments, and inspired my career goals.

What was your favorite activity/module whilst at Uni SA and why.

My favourite subjects at uni all involved a mix of researching the literature and field work/practicals, which complement each other. Early on in my degree there was Sustainable Ecosystems, where we had to choose a bushland site and study a plot multiple times in the semester, then compile a report. The combination of learning ecological theory and field work (in line with what happens in the real world) is something I strive to achieve in my career.

If you could study any ecosystem in the world, what would it be.

I currently work in arid South Australia which I believe is such an underappreciated, beautiful landscape and is something I want to explore further. To balance that, I would love to study a marine environment as I grew up near the beach.