SPE Aberdeen Young Professionals – Review of 2016.
By Wonuola Scott, Chair YP Committee
2016 has been a particularly great year for the Young Professionals (YPs). It kicked off with rebranding and restructuring of the YP committee, as well as bringing on board a mentor figure, Barry Marshall, to help guide and steer the group. This soon brought about a solid leadership structure; a strong team with direction and more than anything else, it brought together a team of diverse professionals with a strong purpose for making impact and giving back. What particularly worked well was the willingness to work together, collaborate and play to their strengths.
The YPs organised a number of events in the course of the year. Broadly, the events are divided into three types:
Simplified Series: A free monthly knowledge sharing and networking event where an experienced professional / subject-matter expert delivers a simplified technical talk or a trending / hot topic in the oil and gas industry to YPs. Topics and speakers are carefully selected and deliberately audience-centric to ensure a balanced mix of talks.
Some 2016 Simplified Series talks include:
- Entrepreneurship: our greatest asset or current downfall
- Modern perforating techniques: the key to unlocking reservoir potential (distinguished lecturer)
- Culzean: Managing a mega project
- Brent decommissioning
- Nurturing young talent and innovation in a new oil price environment
Unplugged 360: A bi-monthly personal development event series, launched in 2016, focuses on the learning and development of soft skills that will help the YP thrive and shine in the workplace or business situations. This perfectly complements the Simplified Series where technical knowledge tends to be the focus.
2016 Unplugged events include:
- The art of networking
- Dealing with difficult people
- Effective communication
Emerging Engineers Forum: An annual “bridge the gap” style event which aims to give YPs the opportunity to speak and engage with leaders and experts in the oil and gas industry, to discuss career development.
Other events held during the year include a movie night to see the Deepwater Horizon; Ambassador Lecture Programme (bridge event for students) and a joint institutions YP event organised with the Energy Institute, IChemE, and IMechE on the future of the North East.
These events were well attended, not just by YPs, but also by students and experienced professionals within and outside Aberdeen.
Looking ahead to 2017…
Excellence is a commitment to continuous improvement. So the resolve of the YP committee for 2017 is to see continuous improvements in how they work and what they deliver to the young membership of the SPE, even if these are small incremental gains.
A special thank you goes to the league of extraordinary volunteers who have given their time to organise and deliver these YP events:
Adam Zalewski – BP
Athira Ayveetil – RGU
Bogdan Bocaneala – OPECS
Chris Stewart – Expro
Cinthia Mijares – Add Energy
Emily Spencer – Halliburton
Francesca Twynam – Schlumberger
Lalit Bhamare – Fairfield Energy
Neha Porwal – Weatherford
Oyin Adeniji – Centrica
Philippa Anderson – RGU
Richard Cooper – TauRX Therapeutics
Sabeil Ahmed – GE Oil & Gas
Sajid Kutty – RGU
Tessa Scott – Rubicon Oilfield
Wael Awad – ConocoPhillips
Wonuola Scott, Chair YP Committee, IHS Markit
Wonuola Scott, Chair YP Committee, IHS Markit
