Laurie White

Laurie White graduated with an MA Honours in Geography and is now working as a Policy Manager for the Health Department of the Scottish Executive in Edinburgh.

Laurie's job is to help deliver the various health targets Scottish Ministers have set in areas like the recruitment and retention of nurses, midwives and other health professionals. Laurie's job also involves preparing briefing notes and contributions to Ministers' speeches and answers to Parliamentary questions.

Asked how her degree has been helpful to her in this career, Laurie commented:

"The subject content of the Geography courses provide a good background to a lot of the issues which are affecting our country today, including aspects of health, immigration, housing and environmental resource management. The statistical component has been particularly useful as I am involved with compiling a lot of data.

"In addition, doing Geography has also helped with having to write reports, do analysis and communicate effectively with the public and professional stakeholders. My advice to anyone thinking about doing Geography is that it gives you an insight into many topical factors which affect how we live in the world, so use it to broaden your mind, and get a career in virtually anything!"