Career Summary

Having studied International Business as an undergraduate, Morgan spent many years working in the Business sector both Australia and around the world. In 2019, she began her Master of Environment and Sustainability at Monash University, and now holds an important role as Senior Policy Officer for the Clean Energy Council – with a focus on providing more clean energy to Australia’s electricity grid for a more sustainable future.

During her time at Monash, Morgan received the Howard Brown Award for Best Environmental Essay for her thesis of a comparative analysis of climate change and COVID-19 responses in Australia and attended the UNFCCC COP25 Summit in Madrid, Spain in 2019 as a delegate for Monash University.

Career pathway

2022-Present – Senior Policy Officer, Clean Energy Council
2019 – Master of Environment and Sustainability, Monash University
2018-Present – Ambassador, One Young World
2021 – Low Carbon Advisor, BP
2019 – Strategic Infrastructure Advisor
2017 – Ship Operator
2016 – Sales Analyst
2015 – Sales Manager, Pilbara and West Kimberly
2015 – Retail Operations Excellence Analyst
2012 – Logistics Analyst

Why did you choose Monash for your Postgraduate Studies?

Originally, I was looking to do my postgraduate studies in Environmental Science, until someone recommended Monash for their Masters program. As soon as I read through the course description, I knew that this was exactly the course I was looking for.

A lot of other courses are more heavily focused on environmental science from a real life practical sense, but the Masters that I chose to study was much more well-rounded and explored how we can apply Climate or Environmental Science to the real world. That’s essentially why I chose to study my Master of Environment and Sustainability at Monash.

You completed a Bachelor in Applied International Business long before you pursued your Master of Environment and Sustainability – what made you choose this path?

While in a previous role, I went to a summit for people aged 18 to 30 called One Young World that focuses on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This moment was a catalyst for me and helped me to realise that I wanted to transition from the business field into something with an environmental perspective.

I’d always been passionate about the environment and I just felt so inspired and full of energy when I was at this summit, so I decided that I wanted to align my strengths and my skills with the things that I valued most.

I was living in Singapore at the time, working in shipping, so I started thinking about how I could move back to Australia to study my Masters and really set the foundations for the new path that I wanted to take. This is what compelled me to start looking at courses, and that’s when I found this Monash course.

I wasn’t entirely sure what I wanted to do, but Monash’s Masters degree is such a broad course with so many different paths around environmental sustainability to choose from that I knew this was the course for me. There is quite an environmental science perspective to it, but it also looks at how to engage with corporate sustainability and leadership for sustainable development as well.

What was the experience like of studying your Master of Environment and Sustainability at Monash?

I started mid-semester back in 2019, when the world was a different place. I’d made a deal with my employer that I could head over to Monash for three or four hours on Monday morning each week to attend class.

I still remember the first class and the atmosphere and how I felt being there on campus at Monash. The mix of students in my class was just amazing, and I remember leaving and thinking that I’m exactly where I need to be in my life right now. I was so excited about what was to come.

There's just something really exciting about the Monash campus.

You were in the workforce for more than 7 years before starting your postgraduate studies, and you continued to work throughout your studies. How do you think your Masters degree has helped you to further excel in your career?

I did work while I was studying, but it was in quite a different field. I actually spent 10 years in the oil and gas industry, and now I'm working in clean energy – more specifically, working with policy that enables and supports development of clean energy

Without my Masters degree, I can’t imagine I’d be in this role. I mean, I work in policy now, but I didn’t really understand how important policy was before I started my Masters. The course has definitely exposed me to so many more areas where climate science can be applied, and it’s opened my eyes to all these new things – like what a Permaculturist is and their role in sustainable environments.

Plus, it gave me the opportunity to connect with all my classmates who have all come from so many different backgrounds. That’s something that I really enjoyed about the course as well.

You’re currently working as a Senior Policy Officer at the Clean Energy Council? Can you tell us a little more about what your job entails?

The Clean Energy Council is a member-based organisation with over 1,000 members within the clean energy sector, with the goal to achieve 100% renewable energy capacity in the market by 2030. I'm in the Market and Grid Policy team, where we focus on the rules and regulations that allow the electricity market to operate, specifically what's required to get more clean energy in the Australian electricity market.

Something that I hadn’t spent much time thinking about before I started in this role was that solving the energy crisis goes beyond just building more wind turbines and solar farms, but we need to ensure we have the critical physical infrastructure to move energy safely and securely from where it’s being generated to the where the consumer needs it. Energy policy to support and accelerate investment in this new capacity is therefore critical. We need to make sure every new clean electron generated isn’t displacing existing clean generation in the market, but is adding new capacity that’s required as fossil fuel generation retires. This is now a key part of my work every day, and I get to engage with members across the entire spectrum of the renewable energy supply chain to determine how we can achieve this.

I don’t have a background in electrical engineering, so it's been quite a big learning curve for me, but it's also been a great way to build my knowledge base in the area, as it is essentially the foundations of how we can achieve 100% renewables penetration. In order for us to make progress towards the targets that the Australian government has set to achieve net zero, we need to have a strong transmission network throughout the country. As the well-worn clean energy industry saying I’ve since learned goes, ‘there’s no transition without transmission’.

What was your favourite unit throughout your Masters degree at Monash?

I studied a unit called Leading Change for Sustainable Development. It was an MBA-style unit, but it was all about the role that each of us can play in sustainable development. That subject was great, as it provided us with a broad lens around sustainability in the past and the different roles of our leaders in sustainability – as well as how we could look internally at our own role in sustainability.

I remember my lecturer, Andre Taylor, talking about the concept of being the ‘same person in every room of the house’. This means making sure that you’re being the same person you are at university as you are when you are at home or at work or anywhere else. In other words, we need to let our values guide what we do and apply that in every part of our life. This really resonated with me, because at the time I felt like what I was doing and where I was working wasn't really aligned with my values anymore, and I was struggling to be the same person in every room.

I truly believe that my motivation to work elsewhere, like the Clean Energy Council, came from my time studying at Monash. It gave me a chance to get really clear on what my values were and how I wanted to apply them in my career.

Who did you feel most connected with at Monash?

Dr Susie Ho, the current Director of the Monash Innovation Centre, was the Course Coordinator during my Masters degree and one of the most motivating teachers I had. You could feel she truly wanted us to learn and develop into the best champions for sustainability we could be – she really gave us the tools to succeed.

Dr Susie was easily one of the most impactful professors I had in my time at Monash. She was also one of my core supporters when I was completing my thesis. Finishing that was the biggest sense of accomplishment I’ve ever felt, and also one of the biggest challenges, and I couldn't have done it without her support.

You travelled to Spain as a Delegate at the UNFCCC COP25 Summit in 2019. Tell us about that experience.

I'm so grateful to have had that opportunity. That was one of the most eye-opening experiences for me in terms of how policy either happens or doesn't happen. It's the biggest political climate change event in the world, so it was an honour to get to be a part of that.

Reflecting back on the Summit now actually working in the policy field, I have much more context and understanding for what I experience but nonetheless being there at that summit in 2019 sparked the fire that led me to get into policy and the role that I am in now.

There was a day where we got to meet with Angus Taylor, the Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction at the time. I hadn't had that kind of exposure before, so I didn’t say much, but if I was in a room with Angus Taylor now, I’m sure I’d have a lot more to say and questions to ask

At the end of the day, though, it's about so much more than these big summits and bringing everyone together at the top to try and make change. We’ve got to make change at every level, every day. Anything you can do each day is still just as impactful as what takes place at those summits.

What advice would you give to current and future students of Monash?

Stay open minded.

As part of the structure of my degree, you could either do an internship, complete a work project or a thesis. When I first started my Masters, I expected that I’d end up doing an internship, because I just couldn’t see myself writing a thesis. As I progressed, though, I changed my specialisation, then I changed where I wanted to focus, and eventually I decided that maybe I should do a thesis after all. As you can see, I ended up taking a completely different path to what I first thought I would. So, I would say that you just need to stay flexible.

I used to be quite a rigid, strict person. Even back in high school, I knew that I wanted to do my Bachelors degree, and then I wanted to get into the workforce. But, staying - or becoming - flexible has helped me to take the right path for me. As it turns out, my career has taken quite a different journey over the years as well.

I was really very proud of myself for the thesis that I ended up writing, but I doubt that I would have chosen to write it if I had gone to a different university and studied a different course with different options.

So, as you grow through your degree, or through life for that matter, remember that you’re allowed to change the trajectory of what you're wanting to achieve.

Apart from academics, what were some of the highlights of your time at Monash?

One highlight that stands out was seeing Greta Thunberg speak at a climate rally in Madrid while I was there for the COP25 Summit. It was a very surreal, but very cool moment. A big fan-girl moment for me.

Aside from that, as I mentioned, writing my thesis was a huge achievement, though I think it was when graduating earlier this year and again coming back to Monash to receive the Howard Brown Award for Best Environmental Essay that were the most rewarding moments.

Coming back to campus for those events gave me time to stop and reflect, , because when you're in the midst of studying, you're doing it because you enjoy it and you want to do it, but it’s also a lot of hard and all-encompassing work, so you don’t have a lot of time to process it all. Reflecting on it now, though, it's a nice feeling to think, “I achieved that!” – especially given the difficulty of the last couple of years.

Interview conducted by intern Shreya Vats, 2022