Meet Ellie Duffy, Operations Manager at Vet Sustain

Q Please introduce yourself and your current professional interests!

Hi, I’m Ellie. I’m the Operations Manager at Vet Sustain. As well as being a small animal vet, I am a One Health advocate and I have a Masters degree in Environment, Development & Policy. My interests lie in creating a safer and more equitable planet for all and passion is in supporting veterinary professionals navigate the nuanced challenges at the human-animal-environmental interface to support this sustainable future. I joined Vet Sustain, as their first employee in February 2023.

Q What does a typical day look like for you?

My weeks can be pretty varied, no two weeks are ever the same! My time is generally split across supporting various projects and people, with a brilliant network of volunteers, partners and commercial organisations that work with Vet Sustain. I might be supporting one of our sustainability training courses, writing new resources, helping a practice with their carbon calculation, or working with one of our supporters. Part of my role is also about ensuring we are making progress towards our own objectives and supporting the 6 Veterinary Sustainability Goals in the veterinary professions, so I am involved in lots ‘behind the scenes’ here at Vet Sustain.

Q What is your favourite part of your job/role?

I get to speak to and work with lots of incredible people who are pushing for, and actioning, sustainable change through their work - whether that’s one of our volunteers or working group members, a participant on our courses, one of our commercial supporters or partner organisations, or a veterinary professional in practice. It gives me hope for the future to see dedicated people championing change to continually improve the health and wellbeing of animals, people and the environment!

Q What is the most challenging part?

Often keeping up with the workload can be a challenge! We’re a small team, and as our global crises have worsened over the last decade, our need to take action has become more urgent. Therefore lots of the work that Vet Sustain is doing is super important to support veterinary professionals to address these challenges in the urgent manner needed. Sometimes this urgency can fuel the eco-anxiety!

Q Do you have any tips for achieving a good work-life balance?

I’m definitely still working on this myself! For me the moments of ‘balance’ often happen when I’m able to get out in nature and walk my two dogs, or even just pause to identify the birds that are visiting our feeder in the garden and intentionally ‘be’ in the present amongst the hectic days!

Q What do you feel are the major opportunities to drive sustainability in the veterinary sector?

Collaborations and partnerships present huge opportunities, we have a huge wealth of knowledge and expertise within the sector. If we are able to collaborate more widely, we can share knowledge and experience and work together much more efficiently for rapid change!

Q What are your top tips for veterinary professionals wishing to take the first steps to drive sustainability in their roles?

There’s so much veterinary teams can do! But one action - if you don’t already have a ‘green team’, find an ally in your practice who’s also concerned about the impacts our actions have on the environment. Collaboration and communities are essential for making change, so get together with colleagues and make an action plan! There’s lots of free resources on the Vet Sustain website to help, including the Greener Veterinary Practice Checklist, which is a brilliant place to start.

I’d also highly recommend joining a Carbon Literacy course (Vet Sustain run one especially for Veterinary Professionals) to enable you to feel informed and empowered in your decision making and set your own pledge for a better planet.

Q If you could wave a magic wand and make one improvement to drive the sustainability impact of the veterinary profession, what would it be?

I’d give every veterinary professional the knowledge and confidence to realise that they all have sustainability superpowers, without magic! We are part of incredible professions that have a huge sphere of influence across our communities, in everything we do we can support and further the Veterinary Sustainability Goals. No one needs to be a sustainability ‘guru’, veterinary professionals just need a little know-how and confidence to step into their role as change-makers.