I am excited to have started working as the Island Community Action Network Development Officer (giving me the best job acronym ever – ICAN DO!) with the Island Centre for Net Zero (ICNZ) project. I’m also continuing to contribute to the Carbon Neutral Islands project (CNI) and will be looking at opportunities for collaboration across the two projects.
I was born and raised in Orkney by parents who had moved to the islands from Liverpool, so I feel I have both an insider and outsider perspective on island life. Having previously worked for Orkney Islands Council as a Customer Service Advisor and Library Assistant in Stromness for nearly 23 years, I feel lucky to have remained part of the community in which I grew up.
During my time working for OIC I was also studying, initially a BA (Hons) in English Language and Literature with the OU, and then an MLitt in Highlands and Islands Literature with UHI Institute for Northern Studies. Having discovered a passion for research I went on to combine my interest in community, communication, and renewable energy by undertaking research for a PhD with UHI Institute for Northern Studies.
I completed my PhD thesis “Words and Waves: ecological dialogism as an approach to discourse, community, and marine renewable energy in Orkney” in 2021. I still maintain a link with UHI INS and have recently joined the supervisory team for a student starting a PhD in Island Studies. I also sit on the board of Orkney Renewable Energy Forum and have been involved in a number of collaborative projects with Orkney International Science Festival aiming to engage the wider public, and young people in particular, with issues of climate change and renewable energy.
Outside of work I am lucky enough to get to look after and ride a friend’s horse, so I spend a lot of time covered in mud and horse hair!
becky.ford(at)communityenergyscotland.org.uk
Phone: 07930 084909
