Q&A with Dr Vanessa Lawrence, CB
Read our interview with 2024 Founder’s Medal recipient, Dr Vanessa Lawrence, CB.
Dr Vanessa Lawrence CB is a British geographer known for her work as senior advisor to governments as well as inter-governmental and private sector organisations.
From 2000 until 2014, Vanessa served as the Director-General and Chief Executive of Great Britain's national mapping agency, the Ordnance Survey. She was also a founding co-chair of the United Nations Committee of Experts on Global Geospatial Information Management (UN-GGIM).
[...] if you have set your heart on something, try looking at how best to achieve it from several different angles.Dr Vanessa Lawrence, CB
What did you want to be when you were a teenager?
"I wanted to be a geographer. My love of geography started when I studied a Robert Morden map dated 1695 and wondered how it was made. At school, I was encouraged by an inspirational geography teacher called Mrs Dover who brought geography lessons to life, by illustrating our studies with real-world stories, maps and photographs."
What role do you do now and how would you describe your work?
"Today, I work internationally as a senior advisor to governments and large private sector organisations, assisting them to underpin all their data with authoritative geographic information, to help their decision-making. Often, I am assisting the country to build, for the first time, authoritative geographic information – the equivalent of the large-scale geographical information that is available in Great Britain from Ordnance Survey and used every day by thousands of organisations from the NHS and the Police to every estate agent."
What have been the highlights of your career so far?
"I am fortunate enough to have had many highlights created by the use of geographical information, within my career. There are four that really stand out to me:
- Assisting the South African Government to build, for the first time, the election ward boundaries for the 1999 General Election, to ensure free and fair elections for everyone in South Africa.
- Assisting Ordnance Survey colleagues to create OS MasterMap in 2001, the modern authoritative digital geography for Great Britain. Today, Ordnance Survey makes at least 20,000 changes to the master map of Great Britain every day reflecting the ever-changing landscape.
- Being the geospatial lead for the Olympic Games, London 2012.
- Assisting in the establishment and being the inaugural co-chair of the United Nations Committee of Experts in Global Geospatial Information Management (UN-GGIM) which is now the lead policy formulation group for geographical information in the world."
What projects are you working on right now?
"I am currently supporting several governments to think through their geographical information needs. For some it is about creating, for the first time, authoritative geographical information. Taking The Bahamas for instance, their important work will inform their assessment of climate impact, the emergency response they can provide to their citizens at a time of a hurricane and also e-commerce and home delivery."
What is one thing you wish you had learned earlier in your career?
"That most people are very approachable and wish to be helpful."
Do you have any advice for someone wanting to go into your field?
"The best advice I ever received was a saying 'If you can dream it, you can do it'. For many years, I thought it was just an inspirational saying by the leader of the South African Independent Electoral Committee. I then discovered in 2008 that it was quote by Walt Disney; however recently this has been disputed.
"Another piece of advice is if you have set your heart on something, try looking at how best to achieve it from several different angles. When I first left education, I set my heart on a job using my geographical knowledge but, in particular, working with geographical data. It was a tough job market and hence I could not find an obvious role but I did need a job. I joined Longman, as a geography publisher which involved having new ideas for university-level books, finding suitable authors, taking them through the writing process and finally producing the books for the bookshops. I was tangentially working ‘in geography’ but the tremendous business training I was given helps me even now in my day-to-day work."
What legacy do you hope you’ll leave?
"The legacy I hope I leave is that many individuals, whether they be students or people working on humanitarian matters, public or private sector colleagues or global leaders, will understand that by using geography their decision-making is improved."
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