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