Róisín Batch, Practice Lead – Government & Strategic Advisory
Róisín is an experienced environmental professional with an impressive decade-long track record in environmental management, sustainability and project management. She has worked across the transport, infrastructure and construction industries, and is currently developing natural disaster recovery grants for state and federal governments.
Throughout her career, Róisín has worked on a range of different projects. She has developed and implemented environmental management systems, overseen environmental and sustainability management for infrastructure projects worth more than a combined $1 billion, and supported Government to deliver complex and politically sensitive programs.
Róisín graduated from the University of Queensland with a Bachelor of Environmental Management and achieved Lead Investigator Incident Cause Analysis Method (ICAM) accreditation. She is also an Infrastructure Sustainability Accredited Professional (version 2.0), and Blue Book certified by the International Erosion Control Association.
Today, Róisín leads WolfPeak’s government grants team and is working on secondment for the Department of Regional NSW. She is currently developing more natural disaster recovery grants to help NSW communities continue their recovery from bushfires, storms, and floods that have devastated many regions across the state.
Her proudest moment over the past two years supporting the NSW Government was seeing the successful delivery of more than $30 million in community grant funding to help NSW communities recover from the Black Summer bushfires.
We spoke to Róisín about her role…
What is your role at WolfPeak?
I am currently on secondment as Strategic Coordinator for the Department of Regional NSW Regional Recovery Programs Unit. That essentially means I retain the backing and support of the WolfPeak team while embedded in a government department to provide direct, integrated support.
I support the development of NSW natural disaster recovery grants and help to secure grant funding. As part of that role, I develop the strategic approach for recovery grants in consideration of the current policy setting. I also develop communication resources and project management documentation for the delivery of the grant programs.
What are your top three responsibilities?
Project management is an important responsibility of my role. Grant programs can be worth more than $50 million, so the scope of any program can be quite wide with a lot of moving parts that need careful management.
Stakeholder management is also a key element of my day-to-day job. Developing government programs involves bringing people together from many different departments and community groups. There is usually a range of internal and external stakeholders involved — all with different backgrounds, skill sets and needs. So I must work to ensure stakeholder understanding of the programs is strong, and as many of their needs as possible are being met.
Risk assessment is another critical aspect. Most large recovery grants will come under media scrutiny. I must consider how the grant programs are likely to be reported, lead the funding support messaging, and identify any opportunities to strengthen the public narrative.
What are you currently working on?
Right now, I’m working on bushfire, storm and flood recovery grants for communities across NSW. That starts with understanding the impact of each disaster and the corresponding need from affected communities. From there I work to develop the grant guidelines for applicants and the program management documentation that ensures the programs are meeting the recovery needs for communities, probity, governance and delivery requirements. This process is definitely the most challenging aspect of my role. It’s critical to the success of the entire project that we get the guideline right. If we get it wrong, then the grant funding ultimately won’t have the positive impact we want to achieve on the ground.
What do you love most about your job?
I love the supportive nature of the WolfPeak team. Even though I am currently working on secondment, WolfPeak has my back. We have a culture of support and learning, not criticism and judgment. I feel encouraged to ask for help when I need it, and that creates a very constructive environment where there’s a lot of opportunity to develop your skills and experience.
This has given me the opportunity to transfer my skills into new areas. I came from environmental management in construction, and there may be some people who wouldn’t expect to find someone with my background in my current role. But the management team at WolfPeak could see how my project management skills and experience are transferable, and they really backed me to move into the government and strategic advisory role.
What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learned in your current role?
Don’t underestimate yourself. I think many professionals don’t necessarily appreciate how transferable their skills and experience can be. If you have a supportive team behind you, you can achieve more than you previously thought possible.
What has been your proudest moment at WolfPeak?
I worked on a joint Commonwealth and NSW State Bushfire Community Recovery and Resilience funding program with Resilience NSW. The grant was able to deliver around $30 million to help NSW communities recover from the bushfires.
It’s very satisfying to see the funding help improve people’s lives after they’ve been through such a traumatic event. There’s a lot of planning and paperwork that goes into developing a grant, but seeing it go from a guideline on paper to having a positive impact in the real world for real people makes it all worthwhile.
What are your career goals?
I want to build the Government and Strategic Advisory team within WolfPeak, and give people opportunities to work on diverse projects that make a difference, and help them realise the value of their transferable skills.
I know WolfPeak has and continue to offer a lot of value for Government initiatives and it gives our people the opportunity to work on projects that create a lot of real-world good for people and communities.
If you would like to find out more about a rewarding career at WolfPeak, contact us on 1800 919 716 or email your resume to info@wolfpeak.com.au
