Graduate Story: Victoria Halliwell

“The course gave me the tools and knowledge to develop our four-year sustainability strategy.“

Victoria Halliwell
Vendor Governance and Social Impact Manager
Diploma in Business Sustainability Graduate

Tell us about your role and background

I recently moved from a procurement role into a Vendor Governance and Social Impact Manager position. My responsibilities include business governance, social impact and supporting environmental initiatives across the organisation.

I’ve always had a personal interest in sustainable living, but I wanted to build my understanding of sustainability from a business perspective. When I moved into my new role, I was looking for a course that would help me understand how organisations approach sustainability strategically and give me the knowledge to apply it within my own organisation.

Why did you decide to take the course? 

I’d been following the Institute of Sustainability Studies for quite a while but hadn’t been able to enrol previously. When I found out the course was available through the apprenticeship with Baltic, it gave me the opportunity to finally complete it.

What attracted me most was how holistic the course was. It covered everything from sustainability strategy and reporting to implementation, operations, supply chains, biodiversity and diversity, equity and inclusion. Rather than focusing on one specific area, it provided a well-rounded overview of business sustainability.

I also liked that it linked sustainability to business. Some courses are very science-focused, while others only cover sustainability as a small part of a wider business programme. This course brought those two elements together and showed how sustainability fits within an organisation.

How was your learning experience?

The platform worked really well and I liked how everything was broken down into manageable sections.

I’m someone who learns by doing, so the Pause and Reflect activities and assessments really helped the information sink in. The mix of written content, videos and interactive elements also kept things engaging.

One module that really stood out to me was sustainable finance. It wasn’t an area I knew much about beforehand, so it was interesting to see how sustainability connects with business decisions beyond environmental issues.

I also enjoyed joining the webinars and masterclasses. Being able to hear from industry experts and other professionals added another dimension to the learning experience.

Did the course have an impact on your work?

Yes. Before taking the course, our organisation had sustainability activities taking place, but they weren’t necessarily connected through one overall strategy.

The course helped me bring those different elements together. I used what I learnt to develop our social impact pledge and write our organisation’s four-year sustainability strategy.

Because we’re a Group Purchasing Organisation, some topics, such as Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions, didn’t always directly apply to our business model. In those cases, I found it useful to think about how the frameworks would apply to organisations I’d worked for previously, which helped me understand the concepts and how they could be adapted.

I’m sure I’ll continue referring back to the course as we develop our reporting and continue implementing our sustainability strategy.

Would you recommend the course to others?

Definitely.

I think it’s particularly valuable for people who are new to business sustainability or moving into a sustainability role. It provides a broad understanding of the different areas organisations need to consider and shows how they all fit together.

For me, the biggest strength of the course was that it connected sustainability with business. It doesn’t just explain the theory – it provides practical tools and knowledge that you can take back into your organisation and apply in the real world.

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Want to read more graduate stories?

• Graduate Story: Heather Crossland
• Graduate Story: Julie Westcott