Engineer at EnergyAustralia and NSW Energy Leader at Engineers without Borders
Officially, I’m a newbie to the world of humanitarian engineering, but the more people I meet and the more I hear of the innovative ideas and collective goals of the space I can see myself feeling very much at home. As such, I’m looking to completely immerse myself in the area, having seen first hand the incredible impact working with developing communities can have on everyone involved.
I would love to gain further exposure and build from my personal experiences to encourage more initiatives and partnerships between Australian engineers and developing communities. In particular, I am a strong advocate of renewable energy and look forward to building the profile of energy efficiency initiatives, renewable energy solutions and increasing awareness of the space within the Australian engineering community.
My tertiary years saw me completing Electrical Engineering and Commerce degrees from UWA. However, an unremitting desire to travel was a staple during my uni days and summer holidays were synonymous with me leaving the country. Thinking back to 2004, the flicker for development work might well have been ignited during my first summer placement to the Indian Institute of Technology in the monsoon jungles of South India, where I studied the application of wireless technologies in rural communities.
The following year I found myself covered in snow, cross-country skiing to lectures to learn development economics from altruistic Swedes. My ‘voluntouring’ then saw a return to the warmer regions of SE Asia where I lent a hand in lighting Laos. I spent 3 months volunteering as a renewable engineer for Sunlabob and the Laos Institute for Renewable Energy, working on rural electrification projects and focusing on the role of hydro and photovoltaic technologies in remote, off-grid areas.
On graduating uni I worked as a management consultant for two years, helping to build strategic plans for banks, governments, corporates and non-profits. However the call for something more ‘real’ was too loud to ignore.
Now based in Sydney, but very much without borders, I am settling into a role at EnergyAustralia by day, but excited to be thinking about humanitarian engineering as a lifetime occupation.
