Meet Owen – Our Awards & Events Coordinator

1. Tell us a bit about your role!

I am the Awards and Events Coordinator, meaning I help organise the wide range of amazing events we have popping up throughout the year like screenings, talks and awards.

2. What’s your background?  I grew up with a fascination of everything in the natural world; from the huge specimens I saw in museums and zoos to the spiders that set up their webs in the corner of my room. This fascination only ever grew the more I saw and led me to a zoology degree at University of Bristol. I have lived in Bristol since and worked up from a runner in natural history TV to an Assistant Producer mainly within the BBC Springwatch team. Throughout this time, I learnt about Wildscreen and the great work it does for individuals and the industry and proudly have joined the team on two occasions now!

3. What motivates you? As someone who has always lived in cities and towns, I learnt about the importance of the natural world through every avenue available to me without much access to nature itself. It would have been difficult to nurture this interest without the help of my parents, teachers, books and TV shows which showed me the breadth of incredible species and behaviours found locally and globally. This motivates me to educate others in every way I can to give that same opportunity at a time when the natural world is more important than ever to know and care about. 

4. If you could change one thing about the natural history industry, what would it be?

It is an industry that is constantly changing which lends to it being able to improve quickly at times but I think there is still work to do in terms of the accessibility of entry into it and it being a stable career for individuals who can’t afford expensive kit, training or months out of work at a time. Luckily, Wildscreen is trying to battle these barriers which is very important!

5. What are your career goals?

I would like to keep trying to make a difference to as many people as possible in whichever form that comes in. As long as I am learning and teaching along the way then I will be achieving those goals!

6. Favourite moment working at Wildscreen?

Being Room Producer at the 2024 Festival, it was great to see the event clearly inspiring people to create and teach through the amazing talks and networking occurring.

7. What’s your favourite story from nature?

This changes so frequently for me but recently I would have to say at the moment the survival strategies of mesopredators (predators that are also predated on) like the mimic octopus or a wolf spider. The tense stealth of the hunt whilst also being a targetted by something bigger/scarier is so gripping!

8. Describe working for Wildscreen in three words! Rewarding, Inspiring, Eventful!9. If you could turn into any animal for a day, what would you be and why? I’d love to be an octopus purely out of intrigue to how such a complex and beautiful animal experiences the world (hopefully on a day not many sharks are about). Who wouldn’t want to know what it felt like to shapehshift, have 8 limbs and fit through almost any space possible?! 10. What’s a fun fact about you? I love getting lost! Going somewhere I’ve never been will never get boring as usually it’s when you discover the most unexpected and amazing things.