This is what water pollution actually looks like!
Before I even started the internship with EDF, I spent some time talking my reporting manager and setting expectations for the amount of time I had available and the type of work commitment I would be able to meet. We decided that 8-10 hours a week spread over 7 days was acceptable for both parties and once the expectations were set, we jumped into defining the scope of the project. Scoping is often the hardest part of any short-term project and the time it takes is often under-estimated. My project came defined with 4 research questions around enhanced efficiency fertilizers (EEFS):
a) The current state of the EEF technology
b) The industry landscape
c) The environmental impacts
d) The barriers and hurdles to adoption of EEFs.
I realized quickly that this was too broad and in order to be effective within my 6-week time frame I had to be far more specific. I went back to my boss and through further conversation clearly articulated questions for each of the above areas. We agreed that success for the internship would be defined by how successfully I was able to answer the research questions we formulated.
Now with my task cut out for me, I quickly designed a work plan and drew up a list of experts that I would need access to in order to execute my work. The first stage would be data gathering and I would spend the last couple of weeks synthesizing data collected for the final deliverable. EDF is a very well respected organization and I had no problem in getting access to experts or finding the right persons to connect with. I first identified experts within EDF to interview and most of them were able to connect me with colleagues and experts in the industry. I was excited at the opportunity to talk to a wide variety of individuals across a range of organizations, from farmers to research academics!
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