Alan Daly

Alan Daly had previously worked as a Sound Engineer before deciding to change his path and study Wildlife and Conservation Management at SRUC Elmwood. Alan says: “I started off working at the Edinburgh Fringe which provided me with contacts to further my career. I worked as a Sound Engineer and an Audio-Visual Technician freelance in Edinburgh and Glasgow and occasionally working in England. This involved being the first person onsite to set up and then at the end of the event de-rig the venue. Rigging and testing all the audio equipment, working through sound checks with the artists on stage and putting on live shows for the public. This comprised of long hours working in various places such as theatres, hotels, music venues and conference centres. I then moved on from working in Live Sound Reinforcement to working in Live Outside Broadcast as a sound engineer for football, basketball, Question Time and Debate Night. Even working on a few exclusives such as Channel 4 live debates. My work was very varied in location and venue, no day was ever the same, it was a challenging and enjoyable job with a great bunch of people.”

“I have always been fascinated with nature and spent a lot of time outdoors hill walking and taking photographs. As my position in television progressed it involved working more in England and I realised this was not the direction I wanted my career to take me. I realised nature was my passion and this was the direction I wanted to go as I became more captivated in the flora and fauna around us so made the decision to change my career path.”

“I chose SRUC as I heard positive things about the college and the support given to students. It offered the course I was most interested in and sounded like an establishment I would be very proud to be part off. My time so far at SRUC has been a very positive one. The whole experience of returning to college was daunting but I have enjoyed every minute of it with fantastic tutors, first rate teaching modules and an excellent library.”

“My career goal is to be an ecologist in montane and upland areas of Scotland. As I am a volunteer at Ben Lawers National Nature Reserve I have some understanding about the position and thrive to be as experienced and knowledgeable as seasonal ecologist at Ben Lawers Lewis Donaghy. I thought about being a countryside ranger but as my passion is learning about the flora in Scotland, gaining more knowledge in botany is my aim with the hope of become an ecologist when I finish studying at SRUC. I may even be able to utilise my audio degree into some acoustic ecology projects in my future career.”

“It has helped me to aim towards a career choice which I should have taken many years ago. Choosing to study at SRUC has helped me focus my career in the right direction and at the same time helped me realise that sometimes you do not know what you want until you are older. By studying it will help carve out a future career in an area I am very passionate about and make things better personally for me while providing a positive impact on conservation in Scotland benefitting others around me.”

“Three words to describe my experience is awe-inspiring. passionate and exciting”