Profile
Joy Ommer
My CV
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Education:
– A-levels at the Gymnasium Odenthal, Germany
– Bachelor in Geography at the University of Cologne, Germany
– Semester abroad at the University of Turku, Finland
– Master in Disaster Management & Sustainable Development at the Northumbria University, UK
– PhD in Environmental Science at the University of Reading, UK -
Qualifications:
After school, I had no idea what I want to become. I traveled around the world and thought I would know afterwards but I didn’t. I applied for many different subjects and in the end chose geography. I never thought about studying geography but my friend I traveled with was certain she would study it. I am very happy to have chosen this subject. I also never thought I would study at all because I thought I could not afford it but with working while studying it was possible and now I am even doing a PhD. Geography is a very broad subject and I finally found my path while studying abroad for one semester. I have been always good with other people and, especially, children and therefore, development studies in Finland made me find the right way.
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Work History:
– Babysitting
– Delivering newspaper
– Coaching
– working at a company that takes the time in running competitions
– being a waiter
– internships at the German Weather Service and European Joint Research CentreVolunteering work:
– children summer camps
– cooking with people with disabilities
– writing a report for disaster risk reduction in Africa -
Current Job:
Currently I am working as a scientist in an IT company focusing on how to reduce disasters with solutions inspired by our nature.
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What’s your project about?: I'm a disaster scientist - I am working in a project on how we can minimize disasters like flooding or many hot days in a row with solutions we have learnt from the nature.
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Read more
I am working on a project with many international partners from all over Europe. As part of this project, partners are testing different techniques to reduce disasters such as flooding or heat waves (many days with very hot temperatures). These techniques are techniques you can find in the nature. For instance, a pond can collect water during a heavy rain and minimise flooding of surrounding areas or plants on the roof of houses can help to cool the house during hot days. In the project, we are testing these and evaluating the effectiveness but also we are calculating which other benefits they have like plants on the roof can help to improve the quality of air or a pond can help cooling air during hot days.
I am working on gathering all this information and presenting the outcomes on a platform in the internet; thus, everyone can learn from our experiences.
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What’s your project about?: I'm a disaster scientist - I am working in a project on how we can minimize disasters like flooding or many hot days in a row with solutions we have learnt from the nature.
-
Read more
I am working on a project with many international partners from all over Europe. As part of this project, partners are testing different techniques to reduce disasters such as flooding or heat waves (many days with very hot temperatures). These techniques are techniques you can find in the nature. For instance, a pond can collect water during a heavy rain and minimise flooding of surrounding areas or plants on the roof of houses can help to cool the house during hot days. In the project, we are testing these and evaluating the effectiveness but also we are calculating which other benefits they have like plants on the roof can help to improve the quality of air or a pond can help cooling air during hot days.
I am working on gathering all this information and presenting the outcomes on a platform in the internet; thus, everyone can learn from our experiences.
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How will your work shape the future?:
This project is focusing on disasters and how we can reduce or even avoid disasters. Disasters are estimated to appear more often in the future because of changing climate; thus, it is important to prepare yourself for possible disasters but also to try to minimise disasters.
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My Interview
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How would you describe yourself in 3 words?
travelling master of disaster
What did you want to be after you left school?
I had no idea
Were you ever in trouble at school?
Most likely yes
What's your favourite food?
Pasta with spinach sauce
If you had 3 wishes for yourself what would they be? - be honest!
more time to travel
Tell us a joke.
Why is there would you be never hungry in the Sahara? Because of all the SandWhichIs there
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