Engineering for the Energy Transition - An Online Event
On the 4th March 2021 to celebrate World Engineering Day for Sustainable Development, COP26andbeyond and Global Engineering Futures hosted a virtual event: Engineering for the Energy Transition.
The event was supported by leading organisations including European Young Engineers, E2E, YGN, and the Institution of Chemical Engineers National Early Career Committee.
This online event featured a panel discussion, networking opportunities and interactive question and answer sessions with industry & academic experts and early-career engineers from many of the sectors crucial to the energy transition such as renewables, nuclear, aviation & industry.
The panel discussion began with each speaker discussing the biggest engineering challenges facing their sectors, before diving into the need for engineers to communicate better, the importance of not leaving communities historically reliant on fossil fuels behind, the importance of considering decommissioning, the need for engineering curriculums to keep up to date with the energy transition, how to get into a career in engineering, and how plans for the future are all very well - but its time to get on with it!
Our panellists also took questions from the audience on a range of fascinating topics from adapting to digitalisation to handling new waste streams from batteries and wind turbines. There was also a networking breakout session (not shown in the YouTube recording of the event) where our audience members could ask specific speakers further questions about their area of expertise.
The event was hosted by Edward Wilson from COP26andbeyond and Rhys Phillips from Global Engineering Futures.
Our panel speakers included:
Dr Andrew Garrad
Andrew Garrad is one of the pioneers of the modern wind energy industry and has been working on the engineering & mathematics underpinning wind turbines since 1979. He founded Garrad Hassan in 1984 which grew to become the world's largest renewable energy consultancy. Andrew is a fellow of the IMechE and RAEng and a former Chairman of the British Wind Energy Association (now RenewableUK) and president of the European Wind Energy Association (now Wind Europe). He has received numerous accolades for his work including a CBE in 2017 and he became a visiting professor in renewable energy at the University of Bristol in 2019.
You can see an interview with Andrew by our event supporters, E2E, on Youtube here.
Uchenna Ibe
Uchenna Ibe is a Chartered Mechanical Engineer with over 12 years of experience working on engineering projects. He originally worked on Oil & Gas projects off the coast of West Africa and in the North Sea, before transitioning to the clean energy & renewables sector. He is now a Senior Project Manager for Iberdrola / Scottish Power Renewables working on offshore wind projects in the UK and Europe. Uchenna is also very knowledgeable in emerging Hydrogen technologies, especially on the potential of integrating offshore wind projects and green Hydrogen production. He has also completed an MBA from the Imperial College Business School London.
Read our interview with Uchenna here.
Henry Preston
Henry Preston is a physicist and since graduating from Queen Mary University of London in 2016 has worked for the National Nuclear Laboratory, evaluating nuclear fuel and graphite cores from the UK’s Advanced Gas-cooled Reactor (AGR) fleet, to ensure continued safe operation. Primarily focused on underwater inspection of nuclear fuel, he has been leading innovation projects to implement new techniques and digital solutions. Henry was part of a team that came runners-up in the 2018 Spark! contest writing on the Energy Transition, and was awarded the National Skills Academy for Nuclear (NSAN)’s Scientific Graduate of the Year in 2019. He is a member of the Institute of Physics and helps co-ordinate outreach for the Nuclear Institute’s Young Generation Network (YGN) as an editor for the Nuclear Future Journal.
Read our interview with Henry here.
Yasmin Ali
Yasmin Ali is a Chartered Chemical Engineer and has worked across the energy industry in oil & gas, coal-fired power generation, district heating, hydrogen & energy efficiency in industry. She is also a prolific writer and presenter and has written about engineering and energy for the BBC, Huffington Post and the Metro, as well as presenting on various BBC radio & TV programmes. The Women’s Engineering Society has recognised her work communicating about engineering and she was given the Young Woman Engineer award in 2013 and they more recently named her in the Top 50 Women in Engineering Sustainability.
Professor Piers Forster
Professor Piers Forster is an atmospheric physicist and has been a Professor of Climate Physics at the University of Leeds since 2008. He is a highly cited researcher, a member of the UK Climate Change Committee, and the founding director of the Priestley International Centre for Climate, as well as a lead author with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), where he is currently coordinating the writing of their sixth assessment report. He is also a member of the Rolls Royce Environment Advisory Board and an expert on the effects of aviation on the climate.
Dr Daisy Thomas
Dr Daisy Thomas works for 3DATX Corporation as their Lead Automotive Research Engineer. Daisy has over 5 years’ experience in automotive emissions research, with a Ph.D. in engineering that focused on real-world emissions from hybrid vehicles and the impact of biofuels, from the University of Leeds, UK. Her research has explored climate solutions in the transportation industry that work alongside air quality objectives.
Read our interview with Daisy here.
Thaddeus Anim-Somuah
Thaddeus Anim-Somuah is a chemical engineer working as Engineering Manager Projects at Croda. Last year he was listed on the Forbes30under30 award for his work in the engineering industry. Thaddeus also has a role as European Young Engineers Vice President and as Global Engineering Futures Advisory Board Member. He’s passionate about sustainability and is part of the team leading Croda’s global decarbonisation roadmap.
Laura Hepburn
Laura Hepburn is a self-described career-chameleon. Having studied Futures Design at the Teesside University and then Innovation at the University of Oxford, Laura worked on feature films and TV production sets before becoming a founding director of Greenology, a UK firm that works on innovative solutions to complex plastic waste problems from tyres to wind turbine blades. Another prolific award winner, Laura was named on the Northern Power Women Future List in 2020, was named the Renewables Energy Association Young Entrepreneur this year, and also named in the Top 50 Women in Engineering Sustainability by the Women’s Engineering Society.
Read our interview with Laura here.
