Schools Career Guidance

Organised by SPE Aberdeen Director and ICOTA Europe committee member Colin Black and SPE SCG Louise Thomas, the SPE ICOTA European Well Intervention Conference held a School Careers Event on 16^th November at P&J Live. Keynote presenter Simon Roddy, SVP, Shell UK & Wells Taskforce Co-Chair welcomed 17 career advisors and STEM subject teachers which included Developing the Young Workforce (DYW) Employer School Co-ordinators, Skills Development Scotland (SDS) career advisors and Excelerate (Wood Foundation funded) Business & Community Support Officers, North East College (NESCOL)  Staff.  The schools represented included Kemany, Alford, Northfield, Inverurie, Cults, Harlaw, St Machar, Banff, Turriff, & Bucksburn Academies. Seven S6 pupils from Kemnay Academy also attended as part of the SPE SCG pilot project developing career pathway guidance led by Business Community support Officer , Chris Dunhill.  After hearing about the important role the Well Intervention Sector plays in Energy Security and its drive to reduce emissions whilst maintaining critical energy supplies on our journey to net-zero, the pupils and career professionals were then taken on a tour of the 52 Exhibitor area to meet potential employers and hear about future career opportunities.  The SPE SCG & ICOTA YP volunteers who took part in the event were as follows: Colin Black (Carjon NRG Ltd), Karen Sinza (Equinor), Mark Gillard (Fraser Well Management), Chetna Sapru (TotalEnergies) James Brown (Halliburton), Elliot Kinch (Sentinel Subsea), Brian Crossan (Retired Teacher / Supply Teacher) and Soma Salavati (Weatherford). Presentations were also made on potential careers in CCS, Hydrogen, Electrification and Geothermal. Feedback from all attendees was extremely positive with extensive feedback including comments such as “Personally for me, learning that key connections matter to help get young people in school over the barrier of recruitment where sometimes a lack of experience or qualifications can prevent them getting past recruitment filters” ,  “I have a much better understanding of an industry that I didn’t have much knowledge on beforehand.  Plus it was such a relaxed atmosphere” (DYW) ,   “On the whole the Pupils found the visit worthwhile and of great interest. They didn’t have a lot of prior knowledge about oil and gas before the event and learnt a great deal about this whilst there. The pupils were also very pleased to be acknowledged in the opening address and keynote speeches; it gave them a great sense of pride”.  

Following the huge success of ‘NASA in Aberdeen’ in early 2017 a week-long series of events will return to Aberdeen City & Shire in March 2018.

Jointly organised by the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE), Energy Institute (EI), the Society of Underwater Technology (SUT), TechFest and Aberdeen Science Centre, the project was first launched in March 2017. The objective was to “inspire the next generation” to consider a career in science, technology, engineering and maths based roles, particularly within the energy industry. Given the similarities between various processes and technologies used both in the energy sector and in space, the events offered participants valuable insight into the close links between the two industries. The project attracted an audience of over 3,000 participants over a unique week of events. Many of the attendees at the events were school pupils from rural areas who have limited access to STEM related activities. Subsequent teachers continued professional development programmes have been rolled out in schools along with numerous career related activities.

2018 events will focus in on a specific link between the two industries – the increased use of robotics. Discussing this topic will be former Robotics Engineer for NASA, Mason Markee, as well as astronaut, Bob Cenker who will talk about his NASA career.

Beginning his career at NASA, Mason contributed to designing and building prototype lunar rovers, electric cars, and humanoid robots. An active supporter of robotics education, Mason continually volunteers with the FIRST and VEX Robotics Competitions.

Former astronaut Robert J (Bob) Cenker flew on the space shuttle Columbia on a six day mission in 1986 as a payload specialist. He performed a variety of physiological tests, observed the deployment of the RCA Satcom Ku-1 satellite, and operated primary experiment, an infrared imaging camera. Bob has extensive experience in telecommunications and satellite industries.

NASA in Aberdeen Chairman, Colin Black acknowledged the generous support that the project has received from the Oil & Gas industry, with new sponsors Apollo, BP, Nexen, Oceaneering and TAQA joining the original sponsor Statoil to support and promote NASA in Aberdeen to an even wider audience.

Hedda Felin, Managing Director of Statoil Production UK said:

“Statoil seeks to inspire young people’s interest in Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths competence which is critical to solving many of the dilemmas we face in the energy industry and wider society. We are proud to once again support NASA in Aberdeen, which this year links the energy and space industries through the theme of robotics,”

The NASA in Aberdeen week of events will begin on Monday 19 March with talks to primary school children, and will end on Saturday 24 March with a family day at Aberdeen Science Centre. The week will also include talks to secondary school children and a public lecture titled “To Mars and Beyond”. The public lecture will be held on Friday 23 March at Robert Gordon’s College.

You can buy your tickets by phone or through Aberdeen Box Office on 01224 641122 (Mon – Sat, 9.30am – 6pm), online here at aberdeenperformingarts.com or in person at Aberdeen Box Office.

Places are first come, first served and must be booked in advance. Those who attend on the day without a booking cannot be guaranteed entry to the lecture. Only blue badge holder parking is available at the venue. Parking is available nearby at Harriet Street and Denburn public car parks. Please car share or use public transport where possible. For more information on this event, or the NASA in Aberdeen project, contact Stuart Farmer, Head of Physics, Robert Gordon’s College on s.farmer@rgc.aberdeen.sch.uk.

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SPEI 2017 Distinguished Service Award – Colin Black

SPE Aberdeens Colin Black recognised on the global stage

Volunteering for an organisation brings a multitude of benefits, and for the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) Aberdeen Section, one individual’s tireless efforts have transformed the way energy topics are taught in schools.

Colin Black has been involved with the organisation for 25 years and was honoured for his dedication earlier this year, receiving an SPE International Distinguished Service Award at their annual technical conference in San Antonio, Texas. SPE have over 164,000 members in 143 countries.

Colin, managing director of Carjon-NRG Ltd, who deploy innovative “patented” energy technologies globally with investments in Gas Exploration, was recognised for the instrumental role he has played in organising technical events and encouraging school pupils to take an interest in STEM subjects and careers in the oil and gas sector globally. Part of this has seen him help drive forward the adoption of Energy4Me (SPE’s global STEM programme) lesson plans in the Scottish Schools Curriculum.

Starting his Oil career in 1982, Colin spent several years offshore before becoming Operations Manager at Petroleum Engineering Services, graduating with an MSc in Management at RGU & developing numerous innovative technology companies globally. Latterly he was Vice President OPTIMA, A TETRA Company which at the time was a @$1Bn organisation with over 3,000 employees.

This breadth of industry experience has been invaluable in his efforts to lead SPE Aberdeens engagement with youngsters, teachers and career advisers through the organisation’s Schools Career Guidance (SCG) committee which he founded.

Together with Energy4Me, which provides factual energy resources for students, teachers and the public to access, this has played a critical part over the years in sparking an interest in STEM subjects.

Colin received the prestigious award not only for his efforts in Aberdeen, but also on a global basis. He has helped organise technical programs, school career guidance initiatives and Energy4Me events in locations such as USA, Mexico, Brazil, Italy, Ghana, Angola, Nigeria, Norway, the Caspian and Australia.

One of the major milestones in Aberdeen, however, has been bringing NASA to region. As a programme which Colin championed & now chairs, NASA in Aberdeen resulted in more than 3000 children in the City and Shire learning about Outer space & being inspired about STEM careers last year, by astronaut Rick Heib and space scientist Dr Sue Lederer.

Through this work, Colin has created a name for himself around the world, promoted SPE Aberdeen and been valued by other sections globally, who have looked to him for best practice advice. As well as being a member of the SPE Global Energy Information and Energy4Me Committee, he has also served on the board of SPE Europe from 2011 to 2017.

Speaking about his SPE experience and award win, Colin said: I am just a volunteer surrounded by a great team who make a real difference Inspiring the Next Generation around the world. It is a huge honour to receive this recognition from my peers.

Ian Phillips, chairman of SPE Aberdeen, said: “From the moment he first joined SPE Aberdeen, Colin has worked with passion and dedication to share and promote the many opportunities within the oil and gas sector to members & young people. In particular, Energy4Me becoming part of the school curriculum in Scotland is testament to his hard work.

This, and his many other efforts behind the scenes, make him an invaluable member of SPE Aberdeen and it was a great moment for us all when his commitment was recognised with the Distinguished Service Award.

Teachers with SCG Committee members: Colin Black (Carjon-NRG Ltd), Lien Ta My (Schlumberger), Dave Peter, Will Davies (ITF) & Tim Clarke (Corazon Oil)

The School Career Guidance committee organised a teacher show around at the SPE ICoTA Well Intervention Conference and Exhibition at the AECC on the 9^th November. There was a good turnout at this event; seven guidance teachers, career advisers from Skills Development Scotland and Developing the Workforce from across Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire attended.

The event started with the teachers, along with the SCG committee volunteers, attending the keynote presentation which was given by the Oil and Gas Authority. This gave the teachers general information about the oil & gas industry and also the future of North Sea development.

This was followed by a guided tour of the exhibition hall. The volunteers brought the teachers around the different companies exhibiting at the event where they had the opportunity to talk to the company representatives. At each stand the teachers had the opportunity to discuss the company business, technology, products and hear the various personal career stories of the company representatives; these covered a diverse range of career paths from all over the world. Company representatives emphasized the importance of continuing to recruit both young apprentices and graduates across a range of roles and education background. This experience gave the teachers a better understanding of how to guide students in developing the skills needed to create their own careers.

The event provided an opportunity to create links between industry and teachers and those involved in helping students choose subjects and make career choices. The teachers were all very positive about the event, found it very informative, they welcomed the opportunity to develop links with industry and look forward to building on the contacts made at the event. A representative from the Aberdeen Science Centre also attended the event and provided information about STEM projects available in Aberdeen Science Centre to all teachers.

SPE Europe Director and Global energy4me committee member Colin Black, MD, Carjon-NRG Ltd commented “ICOTA Exhibitors and innovative technologies as well as real life experiences help to inspire the Teachers and Career Guidance Staff who are then better informed to guide pupils towards engineering and science related Careers in our sector. As such this event was a great success, well done to the SPE Aberdeen SCG team”.

The teachers were also directed to other resources about energy industry information including free class room material at http://energy4me.org/resources, http://inside-industry.org.uk/