Daniel Ioannou

2024 | Horticulture - Landscaping

“I am passionate about the removal of invasive species and re-introduction of indigenous species. I understand how important this is to the identity of Australia and would like to do anything that I can to help the cause moving forward.”

First of all, I’d like to thank BBM and the Global Footprints Scholarship team for giving me this amazing opportunity to travel the world in my field of horticulture.

Secondly, I just wanted to thank anyone again who helped me along the way, whether that was through work experience, somewhere to stay or just helping me as I travelled around.

I do just want to shout out the teams I worked with. That was the team at Culzean Castle in Scotland and, in England, Knepp Estate, Kew Botanic Gardens and Petworth Estate. Thank you all again.

My name is Daniel Ioannou and this is my Global Footprints journey.

My journey started in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. I spent time looking around the city and taking in some of the urban green spaces, as well as spending time with my brother. It’s pretty amazing visiting a rainforest in the middle of a city.

From Malaysia, I travelled to Istanbul, Türkiye, where I attended the 4th SURE World Conference for Urban Ecology. This was an amazing experience to meet so many people passionate in their field and share ideas with them.

From there, I was also able to travel to Gallipoli, which was an amazing personal experience for myself.

From Türkiye, I first spent time in Glasgow, where I spent time walking around public parks and the botanic gardens, talking to their crews about managing urban spaces.

I also spent time in the Highlands before travelling to Culzean Castle and working with the National Trust for Scotland. The team looked after me, even at one point throwing a barbecue for me, as they said, “It’s a perfect way to show the Aussie some black pudding and haggis.”

I then travelled from Scotland to England by train, first arriving at Petworth Estate. Working with the National Trust, this was an amazing opportunity and the team were happy to show me all the different aspects of their park.

It was after leaving Petworth that I had the most challenging moment of my trip, turning up to my Airbnb to find a sold sign at the front and a planning notice. This meant I contacted Airbnb, who were unable to find me accommodation in the area, which meant I contacted Bryn and David, who I’d been staying with, and organised to catch the train an hour and a half back out to them, which was lucky. So, thank you, guys.

From Petworth, I travelled to Knepp Estate, where I spent time with fellow Global Footprints scholar Bridie, working with the team. It was amazing to see the experiments they’d been running and the work they’d done over the years to establish this garden. It was truly amazing.

“You’re all super passionate and inspiring, and thank you very much for spending your week helping us learn.”

The last of my work placements was at Kew Botanic Gardens in London. It was amazing having the opportunity to be part of the team and I’m truly grateful to them for showing me around and showing me how they manage their areas within the park.

Lastly, before coming home, I was able to meet my sister in Portugal and Spain. We spent some time looking around the sights, as well as attending gardens such as the Royal Botanical Garden of Madrid and some of the castle gardens around Portugal.

Something that I gained from this trip for myself is confidence in my ability to problem-solve and communicate with people.

In terms of industry experience, it’s been amazing to be able to confirm my passions for the industry and see that there are pathways, and to see that there are other people with those passions too.

Something that I found really rewarding from this opportunity was the relationships that I was able to build along the way. Whether this meant finishing work and spending time checking out other sites around the area, or even going on weekends with people to check out other gardens in the area where I was staying.

I guess, overall, it’s confirmed my passion for sustainable horticultural practices. This is something I want to carry into the rest of my life and something that I want to do moving forward.

Daniel’s scholarship relates to these UN Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs):