2019 Annual Report & Newsletter January 2020
Celebrating a Decade of Growth and Influence
Table of Contents
Welcome from the AFBE-UK Scotland Chair
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Transition in Birmingham
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Events Gallery
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Real Projects
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Transition
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NextGen 2019
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Making Engineering Hot Over 2019
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Mentoring 2019 - a year of growth and new chapter
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Creating Genuine Diversity and Inclusion
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Member’s news
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Getting Involved
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Welcome
from the AFBE-UK Scotland Chair The Future of Gas by Dr Chet Biliyok and Energy Transition by Dr Alfiya Wright. “It’s amazing to see the response to Transition everywhere we go”. These were the words of one of the founding members of the AFBE-UK Scotland branch after our inaugural Transition event Scotland outside Aberdeen earlier this year. This year, seven years after the Transition programme began, AFBE-UK Scotland held our first Transition careers programme in Edinburgh. Some milestones feel like new beginnings and from the start of 2019, AFBE-UK Scotland has felt like a new organisation. My colleague Dr Roy Bitrus noted in a meeting held last month that one of the achievements of our team this year has been visibility. Roy’s observation was very apt because in 2019 we have held our most successful events, launched a new team in Edinburgh and ran two successful Transition events there, spoken at numerous events, reached more schools and the number of companies supporting us either through programme sponsorship or corporate membership has increased significantly. The year began with a sell-out lecture given by Mopelola Lamond, a project manager at BP talking about a modernisation and transformation programme run to help the company prepare for the big changes afoot in our industry. This was the first of 10 talks given at the University of Aberdeen and at Robert Gordon University in 2019. The aim of Real projects has always been to help our students prepare for the world of work by listening to the experience of professional engineers. Notable among the talks this year were ones on Innovative Technique for Drill String Fatigue Management by Lien Ta My and Henny Gunawan from Schulmberger, Safety in Numbers by Dr Emma Taylor, The Future Workplace by Prof Paul De Leeuw,
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More than 70 people attended the event which took place in the Student Union Hall at Heriot Watt University. Attendees listened to the inspirational story of Lynn Willacy, STEM Champion and Community & STEM Ambassador at Air Products UK & Ireland. They also listened to BP reservoir Engineer, Jonathan Edet speak about dreaming big and aiming high. This was the 2nd Transition held in Scotland in 2019, the first session took place in February 2019 at Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen. Lina Serpa, Vice President Wells at BP shared the story her career journey with a gathering of more than 70 students. Psychiatristturned motivation speaker Dr Tharaka also addressed students about thinking big. The feedback from students at both events was very encouraging and we continue to be buoyed by success stories which we receive with increasing regularity. In October 2019 AFBE-UK Scotland hosted our largest ever Transition event, more 150 people were in attendance to listen to excellent talks by Lynn Willacy, Dr Mary McPhail Director of Preparing4Life and Kola Akintayo, Head of HR at Oceaneering. Our Transition coordinator, Chudi Okenwa gave a talk about his Transition journey at the second Transition event in Edinburgh in November 2019. Helen West, Head of Integrity at Oceaneering told her amazing Transition story to students who had come from the
University of Edinburgh, Napier University and Heriot Watt University. This year, under our Schools programme manager Dr Urenna Adegbotolu we set out on our most ambitious school programme since the NextGen programme began in 2015. Our aim has always been to show pupils as young as 9 years old that the engineering profession is an exciting one to be in. We visited 11 schools and reached more than 500 students. The smile on the faces of the pupils often helped us to know that we had achieved our aim. There were many other standout moments this year as Spirit Energy and Oil and Gas UK became the first Scotland-based corporate members of AFBE-UK. CNR International became Sponsors of the NextGen programme, Shell and Baker Hughes joint sponsors of the Transition programme and 3 students, Michael TunjiEkpeti, Jadesola Odulami and Marc Fairburn won the Institution of Chemical Engineers (Aberdeen member’s branch) sponsored prize for outstanding performance at our Transition event. Finally, technology firm, Norwell EDGE has committed to becoming a member of AFBE-UK. I was privileged to be invited to speak at numerous events this Oil and Gas Vision’s Forum Discussion, a talk on the Ethics of Ethnic Diversity for the Aberdeen and Grampian Chamber of Commerce, The Diversity in Energy Summit at the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET), Savoy Place Office, a Black History Month event in partnership with KPMG’s Ethnic Diversity Network at the IET’s Conference on Diversity and Inclusion Conference in Glasgow in November. In October, I was appointed onto the Oil and Gas UK’s All Energy task group on Diversity and Inclusion. This group will be looking to improve the diversity of our workforce in line with the aims of Vision 2035. We aim to hit the ground running in 2020; school
visits, Transition events in Aberdeen and Edinburgh and a year-long series of great Real Projects talks are already being planned. 2020 will also see the roll out of our Leadership programme. The aim of this programme will be to equip our members with the skills they need to step up to leadership roles in their companies. 2020 will also see the return of our biennial Gala and Awards ceremony which will hold in November. Details of the Awards will be shared in due course. If you would like to get involved with AFBE-UK in 2020 by volunteering at events or joining the executive committee, please send us an email on info@afbescotland.org. So many strides have been made forward this year, but nothing epitomises the progress made on this 12-year journey and our increased visibility than the inclusion in the Queen’s New Year’s Honours List of AFBE-UK Chair, Dr Nike Folayan who has been made a Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE) for services to diversity in engineering. This is a well-deserved honour and an acknowledgment of the efforts of the whole AFBEUK family since our inception in 2007. Bravo! Dr Ollie Folayan CEng, FIChemE Chair, AFBE-UK Scotland #bepartofsomethinggreat
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Celebrating a decade of growth and success for university students to receive sound advice from engineering professionals and prepares them for the exciting world of work broadened its reach to Edinburgh, Birmingham and Leicester and we held our most successful collaboration event “Innovation Showcase” with UK BlackTech an organisation aiming to engage people in Tech industries.
2019 started out as a blur for me on a personal note but for AFBE-UK I can confidently say it’s been our most successful year yet. Our Growth strategy meant that we had and took part in events across the UK from events in Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Birmingham and Leicester to Loughborough and Newcastle. Our membership grew by over 10% and we were able to gain more support from more engineering organisations. We have grown our network reaching and engaging with over 8500 individuals from ethnic minority communities. Our Making Engineering Hot programme this year alone reached 350 young people with some of the young people securing apprenticeships worth over £26,000 and expanding our placements to offer 10 placements this year. AFBE-UK’s successful Transition programme which started in Aberdeen in 2012 and provides an avenue
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We have partnered with more than 50 employers and institutions on our career programmes. In addition, we have features regarding our work in reputable magazines including the IET E&T magazine article Do I look like an Engineer, and Pearson’s A Guide to Tackling Maths Anxiety and The Least Important thing by Dr Ollie Folayan featured OGV online platform a leading engagement platform for the energy sector to name a few. Three of our members including myself, Dr Ollie Folayan and Yewande Akinola were recognised by the Royal Academy of Engineering Black History Month feature and Four of our members including myself, Dr Emma Taylor, Yewande Akinola, Vanessa Burton, Sakthy Selvakumaran were recognised in the Financial Times and Inclusive Boards 100 most influential women in engineering. We continue our involvement with All Party Parliamentary Engineering Group for apprenticeship and Diversity in STEM. We have also featured in the national and local media publications such as the Independent, Oil and Gas News and the Voice newspaper.
However globally, this year has also seen the rise in various polarising views and attitudes on aspects of our society; Impact of Climate change, to the Brexit vote. AFBE launched a new programme to cater for retention and mapping your career paths called Chess Club and a leadership programme which is due to commence in England and Scotland. Watch this space. Personally, I was able to achieve Fellowship status with the Institution of Engineering and Technology, received an award from the Nigerian community for Diversity in STEM and was very grateful to see a few of our members and affiliates including Yewande Akinola recognised in the Queens 2020 Honours list with an MBE. For us at AFBE, 2020 spurs us on to continue to inspire the next generation of engineers while providing more space for growth and progress where our professional members can thrive especially outside of our current base. We will continue to invest our time and effort in engaging with the community and the engineering industry by providing programmes that equip not just tomorrow’s engineers but enable growth amongst current engineers while sharing our expertise on how the diversity and inclusion challenge in Engineering can be tackled.
to the new event Innovation showcase alongside UK BlackTech. On behalf of AFBE-UK’s board we are very grateful for the commitment she has shown. Dr Roy Bitrus was also named AFBE-UK member of the year in Scotland. We would like to congratulate them both! At the turn of the decade in 2020, it is our desire that our industry continues to push the boundaries that create a more inclusive workforce. It is our hope that the articles in this newsletter will encourage you to support our mission and become a member of AFBE-UK community. We are also grateful to all our sponsors for making amazing happen. CNRI, Spirit Energy, Mott MacDonald, Shell, IET, IChemE, WSP, Balfour Beatty, De Montfort University, BBC Children in Need, Pall Corporation amongst others who support us in various ways. We are delighted to welcome Norwell Edge, PSE (a Siemens Company) and Oil and Gas UK to the AFBE-UK membership Regards, Dr Nike Folayan MBE (PhD, CEng., FIET) Chair, AFBE-UK
The success of AFBE-UK relies on enthusiasm and support of our members. This year the AFBE Member of the Year award goes to Abisola Ajani read our Member of Year article in this newsletter. Abisola joined us in 2015 as the student representative and took on the Transition Lead role this year, she successfully delivered our events in Birmingham and Leicester in addition
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AFBE-UK Chair recognised in Queen’s New Year’s Honours list 2020 Tolulope Osobu is a New Product Introduction Engineer at Johnson Matthey, an associate member of the IChemE (AMIChemE) and a member of the Energy Institute. Tolu studied Chemical Engineering (MEng) at the University of Surrey and worked at Pall Corporation prior to working in her current role. Tolu is a board member of AFBE-UK England and serves as Communications and PR Manager. She is also a keen STEM blogger (www.instemblog.com)
We are delighted to announce that our Co-Founder Dr Nike Folayan has been awarded an MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire) for her contribution to Diversity in Engineering. Nike is an Associate Director at leading Engineering and Consultancy Firm WSP but is more widely known as the co-founder of AFBE-UK (Association for Black and Minority Ethnic Engineers). AFBE-UK was founded by Nike and her brother Dr Ollie Folayan 12 years ago and; through it there has been tremendous growth in the inclusion of BAME people in Engineering. Nike is one of the leading voices and advocates for more representation of BME engineers in industry and works relentlessly through AFBE-UK to support underrepresented individuals. AFBE-UK has now actively supported over 8500 individuals seeking to work in engineering and engineering related subjects whilst also engaging a mix of communities across the UK ranging
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from companies to engineering institutions and schools, to develop and showcase the engineering talent available within the BME community thereby contributing to the wider engineering talent pool.
Nike is not only a brilliant engineer, she is an influential figure and a great role model for the profession, her recent appointment as a Fellow of the Institute of Engineering and Technology attests to this. Beyond AFBE-UK, her leadership is demonstrated though several roles, some of which include her position on the advisory board of prestigious institutions such as the Royal Academy of Engineering, Transport for London to name a few. Nike’s knowledge and expertise is also widely recognised and respected in industry, being regularly consulted to speak at seminars and conferences; some of the notable ones include SMART Technology, Digital Railways, diversity and inclusiveness. Of the recognition Nike stated, This is not just a recognition for me but for the entire AFBE-UK network including individuals and organisations that support our initiatives. We hope that companies and organisations will recognise that there is a real opportunity with AFBE-UK to reach out and connect with underrepresented groups to make our industry more inclusive.
Transition in Birmingham
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NextGen
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Making Engineering Hot
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Real Projects
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Transition
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Innovation Showcase, Round Table, Chess Club, Outing and Speaking Engagements
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Real Projects Real Projects is a lunch and learn event conceived by AFBE-UK Scotland to foster knowledge exchange and encourage networking and collaboration between our student members and engineering professionals.
Kasi Usani is a chartered Safety & Risk engineer with several years’ experience working on oil & gas projects in the UK, the Middle East and in South America. He is currently a Safety Engineer with the Shell Projects & Technology group. Previously, he worked for almost seven years at Wood Group PSN where he rose to become a Lead Technical Safety Engineer. He has been involved in different projects spanning the entire lifecycle of typical oil and gas facilities, both onshore and offshore. Kasi holds a master’s degree in Safety Engineering & Risk Management from the University of Aberdeen and is a TUVcertified Functional Safety Engineer (for Safety Instrumented Systems). Kasi is the Real Projects lead in Scotland.
Damilola Fari-Arole is a Design Engineer at Network Rail. Damilola has a masters degree in Chemical Engineering from Imperial College London. Prior to this, she graduated with a first-class honours’ degree from the University of Surrey. She joined Network Rail as a Graduate Engineer and now is a Design Engineer. Her work includes system modelling for railway asset management, engineering assurance, safety and sustainability. Dami is the Real Projects lead in England.
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London: 2019 Wrap-up For its third year running, AFBE-UK’s Real Projects programme delivered a series of events in London and for the first time ever in Portsmouth. Kicking off in February with the second in a two-part series on ‘Entrepreneurship in Engineering’, we partnered with Core Businesses Ltd to understand ‘Why Businesses Fail’. We were joined by Audrey Batten MCIPD, Managing Director and owner of CORE Business Group, for an educative and insightful talk where she shared her insights into how to run and grow a successful business with focus on common challenges and pitfalls and how to navigate them. In May, we collaborated with the Safety and Reliability Society (SaRs) to explore the challenges which lie in achieving safety in a joint seminar and membership event ‘Is there Safety in Numbers?’. Discussions of the evening, led by past-chair of the SaRS Colin Dennis, covered a range of safety-related topics including quantitative and qualitative risk assessments, handling uncertainties and societal concerns, with practical examples from the rail industry. The event concluded with a lively panel discussion and networking event. In September, Real Projects took a slightly unconventional turn and held a Personal Finance workshop in partnership
with Emmanuel Asuquo, award-winning Qualified Financial Adviser, Financial Expert on Channel 4s ‘Save Well, Spend Better’ and founder of Noir Excel. In a unique event which combined a seminar and personalised drop-in clinic providing tailored financial advice, Emmanuel shared on the key principles for financial planning including practical tools and tips to improve financial habits and achieve financial goals to an engaged and enthused audience of engineering students and professionals. Topics covered included savings and investment as well as property and mortgage. Our 2019 line-up of events concluded with a seminar on ‘Biotechnology: the Career of the Future’ in collaboration with Pall Corporation in Portsmouth. Described as an industry that is “moving faster than ever” by Bill Gates, the biotech industry has undergone recent advancements and cutting-edge developments to become one of the fastest growing industries today. Talks on the evening were led by Pall Directors Dr Clive Glover and Dr Alison West, covering the progression of biotechnology in recent years, as well as research and development and innovation within Pall. The event concluded with an exhibition tour and networking event at Pall offices.
And in Scotland In 2019, Real Projects in Scotland has continued to grow and is in high demand! In January 2019 we hosted Mopelola Lamond, a project manager from Oil giant BP. Mopelola introduced the company’s modernisation and transformation (M&T) programme and explained the motivation behind the initiative; she also talked about the strategic decisions and actions taken such as workforce engagement & motivation strategies, as well as the key learnings and results achieved so far including the impact that the adoption of agile ways of working had on plant availability and production rates.
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Dr Chet Biliyok returned in February 2019 to speak on The Future of Gas, this was the sequel to our previous seminar with Dr Biliyok on the Future of Oil. In March 2019, Elizabeth McAlpine gave a thought-provoking talk on Decommissioning of Offshore Oil & Gas Infrastructure which provided an overview of Decommissioning, shared the best available technology in decommissioning, the skills required to get into decommissioning and future challenges. In April we welcomed Dr Emma Taylor, Chair of the Safety and Reliability Society (SaRs) who gave a talk in Robert Gordon University on Safety in Numbers. Dr Taylor discussed the challenges in achieving safety,
the wider context around evaluation of risk (vis a vis Quantitative vs Qualitative risk assessment) that inform ALARP demonstration and risk management. This event which was also an open day for engineers interested in being part of SaRs and getting chartered was a successful collaboration, one we hope to continue in 2020. One of our best attended events this year happened at the end of May 2019 where we had the honour of welcoming back the Director of Robert Gordon University’s Oil and Gas Institute, Prof Paul De Leeuw to discuss the Digitisation of Oil, Gas and Everything. Prof Paul De Leeuw made us aware of coming changes taking place in our industry with regards to automation of tasks often described as transactional activities and challenged us to develop the skills necessary for the jobs of the future and to prepare for the pending transition to a low carbon economy. In June 2019 Lien Ta My & Henny Gunawan from Schlumberger showed an audience of students and engineering professionals, Innovative Technique for Drill String Fatigue Management and discussed the increasing complexity of wells currently being drilled, causes of high stresses on the drill string elements, increasing the risk of twist off, particularly in geosteering applications, due to the unseen effects of micro tortuosity. Much of the work we do in our industry happens either offshore or on plants so remote and not easily accessible to our audience. In August 2019, it was good to hear a presentation about a project just on our doorstep. The Aberdeen Harbour Expansion Project is one of the largest marine infrastructure developments currently underway in Europe and it was carried out in one of the UK’s busiest ports. It was good to hear Javier Buron & Lola Okunrinboye give us an overview of the Project. With all that our team does, you’d be forgiven if you thought we do not have regular jobs, but we do! We had the pleasure of hearing from AFBE-UK Scotland Chairman, Dr Ollie Folayan, a process engineer and combustion specialist in September 2019 on Relighting the Furnace at St. Fergus. In 2012 a multi-disciplinary team of engineers carried out a review of the existing furnaces in one of the Gas Plants at St. Fergus; their review highlighted more than 80 safety related issues. In this talk Dr Ollie
Folayan, discussed the reasons for this project, details of what was implemented and some of the challenges they encountered, particularly in the commissioning phase of the project. The talk generated many questions and much discussion afterwards. Dr Alfiya Wright was the Real Projects speaker in October 2019 delivering a talk on Energy Transition & the Role of CCS – an Economist’s Perspective. In what was described as one of the most engaging talks of the year, Dr Wright discussed the main issues relating to CCS and touched on the economics of this industry as well as address some commonly held misconceptions. This is a very important theme which we will be revisiting in 2020. In November 2019 a seminar on Youth in Energy was delivered by Dr James Mullins. This followed Dr Mullins attendance of a 3-month long virtual academy in Energy that included a Gas Forum for engineers and scientists, which took place in the Russian city of St. Petersburg. Participation at the programme followed a rigorous application and assessment process from which participants were selected. (similar to the renowned AFBE UK ‘Transition’ event) In summary this year was a very busy one for the Real Projects team with record levels of attendance to each event. The Feedback from participants at Real Projects events has been nothing short of inspirational, it has ranged from reports of how knowledge gained from the seminars has helped participants to complete academic and project assignments, to awe at how events of such quality and utility are rendered free of charge. Our line-up of events for 2020 is currently on the drawing board and will feature some of the most topical issues in our industry, digitisation, decommissioning, climate change, energy transition and safety. Needless to say, it would be worth keeping an eye out for Real Projects Flyers in 2020! We would like to thank all our speakers, facilitators and attendees throughout the year; you are the architects of all the impact that Real Projects is making. Kasi Usani and Dami Fari-Arole (Real Projects Hosts Scotland and England)
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Transition Transition is a career workshop designed to equip students and recent graduates with the skills required to scale through the employment process at the most sought-after companies. This event includes a CV review session, a mock interview session and an assessment centre.
Chukwudi Okenwa has a mechanical engineering degree from Aston University Birmingham and a master’s in petroleum engineering from Imperial College London. He is also a Chartered engineer with the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. He has worked as a support petroleum engineer to various Equinor operated fields and is currently a principle petroleum engineer on the Equinor operated Mariner field. He also leads the AFBE UK Scotland Transition programme.
On October 12th 2019, more than a 180 people gathered at Shell Woodbank House in Aberdeen in AFBE-UK ‘s largest ever Transition event. The students who came mostly from Aberdeen’s two university had come to receive coaching on preparing for the real world of work, on preparing for interviews and on getting their CVs noticed in a digital age.
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Abisola Ajani holds a master’s degree in Chemical Process Engineering from University College London and First-Class honours degree in Chemical and Process Engineering from London South Bank University. She is an associate member of the Institution of Chemical Engineers. Abisola leads AFBE - UK England’s Transition programme.
They also listened to an inspiration talk by Lynn Willacy, who is Community and STEM Ambassador for Air Products and sits on the leadership team. In a talk titled My Transition Story, Lynn shared her journey which began as an exhibition & furniture designer to joining Customer Service Organisation at Air Products in 2000. Lynn spoke movingly
about discovering she had a Bronchiectasis, a hidden disability that requires significant medical support. Despite these setbacks Lynn went on to achieve incredible feats including a walk of Hadrian’s wall to raise money for charity and organising a trip for 60 students to the National Space Camp as part of NASA’s 60th Anniversary celebrations in 2018. “Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass…
It’s about learning to dance in the rain”, said Lynn as she rounded up her talk to rapturous applause. Attendees also listened to Kola Akintayo, HR manager at Oceaneering give her insights into applying for work in the digital age. Dr Mary McPhail also a speaker at the event summed up the event as follows:
“You know when you read an amazing book or see a terrific film and you’re just dying to tell people about it? You just want to share something because it’s so good? Well, that happened to me on Saturday. I attended the ABFE-UK Transition Careers Event at Shell Woodbank House (a fabulous location). There was a fabulous turnout of final year students who spent the day: • Having mock interviews • Getting feedback on their interview CV • Solving a group problem and being assessed • Presenting their solutions to the whole room They also heard the inspirational Lynn Willacy talk about her career journey; Abhishek Goswami discuss Energy Transition and Kola Akintayo give them tips on how to make their CV ‘searchable’ in the digital age. Fabulous pastries and a delicious lunch rounded off the day. Any student interested in Engineering should look out for the next event. It truly is an exceptional opportunity to boost your knowledge of how to prepare for the job application process, And it’s FREE!”
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80 people in attendance. Hosted by Ortis Deley, television presenter best known for his work on BBC Children’s Saturday flagship morning show ‘Live and Kicking’and ‘The Gadgget Show’, the event received positive feedbacks across the board.
This was one of four Transition events hosted by AFBE-UK Scotland in 2019. Two were held in Edinburgh, our first two outside Aberdeen and the turnout and feedback have been encouraging. This year Transition events received the support of Shell, Baker Hughes, the Aberdeen Institution of Chemical Engineers and BP
Next in line was our first ever Birmingham Transition event which held at WSP Birmingham Office in the Mailbox on Friday 11th October 2019. Hosted by WSP and Mott MacDonald, the students who participated on the day had a motivational speaking session with multiple award winner Yewande Akinola and a ‘My Transition Experience Panel with representatives Cleopatra Meade and Jaimal Mistry of Mott MacDonald and WSP. (Check out the Transition in Birmingham Video on Page 7 of this newsletter) We were invited to run another Transition event at De Montfort University for the second year in a row. Sponsored by the University, AFBE-UK hosted it’s second Transition event in Leicester on the 16th November 2019.
Our last event of the year was in Edinburgh and I got to share my Transition Story. I was one of three speakers on the day, the others being Helen West (Director of Integrity at Oceaneering and Dr Mary McPhail of Preparing4Life). It was encouraging to receive questions from the students and to receive their feedback at the end. We will be running more Transition events in 2020 in Aberdeen (Feb 15th and October 10th) and in Edinburgh (March 7th). AFBE-UK Scotland will also be running Transition events for our corporate members including Spirit Energy. If you would like to assist, please send an email to info@afbescotland.org FAO Chudi Okenwa. Finally, the buzz we get from these events is topped only by the joy we feel when we receive testimonials of former students telling us about how they made their Transition by securing jobs. It makes it all worth it! Down south it was yet another successful year for AFBEUK after running 2 amazing transition events and our inaugural ‘Innovation Showcase’ event in collaboration with UKBlackTech and Bloomberg. We launched the innovation Showcase at the prestigious Bloomberg Headquarters in London on Friday 24th May 2019 where 10 innovators showcased their tech and engineering innovations to over
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Transition in Edinburgh November 2019
With over 40 students and 30 professional volunteers with varying Engineering backgrounds in attendance for both Transition events, students had the opportunity to get a personalised CV review session with professionals, one-toone interviews for a hypothetical graduate role and mock assessment centre. Participating students were also able to complete psychometric tests as they would when applying for real-life graduate roles.
NextGen 2019 The NextGen event aims to create a positive perception of engineering among young people by presenting it in an exciting, vibrant and informative way. Our focus is to promote engineering to young people in primary and secondary schools within underrepresented communities in Scotland.
Urenna Adegbotolu obtained a PhD in Environmental and Material Science at the Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen, Scotland. She leads the NextGen programme as part of AFBE-UK Scotland. She has worked in industries such as academia, oil and gas, waste and currently, in Research and Development, at RAB Microfluidics. She actively volunteers as a STEM Ambassador, encouraging school children to enjoy science, engineering, technology, maths and computing. Her hobbies include teaching, writing, singing, cooking and travelling.
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The NextGen STEM events have been so amazing and rewarding for both the school children and the volunteers. This year, we visited 12 schools in Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire. We received the corporate sponsorship of Canadian Natural Resources International, CNRI who not only financially sponsored the NextGen programme but also provided staff presenters to talk on ‘A day in the life of an Engineer’ based on their professional life. The aim of the NextGen programme was to demonstrate to the students the role of STEM professionals with more reference to Engineers, the benefits and interesting facts about STEM careers, how far these professionals have helped to solve their communities and global problems, the future challenges that future STEM professionals can strive to solve, the massive need for future Engineers and other STEM professionals and answer questions regarding how the school children can start their journey towards becoming Engineers and STEM professionals. The actual programme comprised of a mini exhibition which showcased some engineering models and gave pointers to different interesting engineering skills. This was followed by presentations on what is engineering, a day in the life of an engineer and how oil is formed. We had safety, electrical, robotics, decommissioning, computer / information technology engineers share their inspirational and compelling stories. The best part of each school visit was the Helipad and Lego challenge. This gave the school children the opportunity to develop their creativity and work as a team building; engineering structures and compete to be named the champions for the day. The aim of the helipad challenge was to build the strongest model offshore helipad out of paper, paper clips and tape, and a strength test was used to measure the strongest helipad. The aim of the Lego challenge was to build different oil and gas structures that engineers use in oil exploration and production using different Lego pieces. Some of the school children had this to say: ‘We enjoyed the NextGen STEM workshop because we learned about engineering in a fun and interactive way. Everything they said was clear and relatable. The videos were interesting and made a lot of sense to everyone. They made sure we
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understood everything. The helipad and Lego challenge activities at the end were most people’s favourite parts because they were interactive’. The school children also learned that engineering is not just computers and phones, it is also bridging and finding the right materials for making things. From the feedback we got from the schools, we can say the aim of the programme was achieved this year. Certainly, AFBE NextGen programme is making a positive difference in the career journeys of our future leaders and STEM Ambassadors by setting their path into engineering and other STEM careers. The knowledge transfer during the NextGen events is what every society needs to thrive in this fast-paced world of innovation.
And the AFBE-UK 2019 Member of the Year Award goes to… Abisola Ajani (BEng,MSc, AIChemE)
Dr Nike Folayan on the awardee:
About our 2019 AFBE-UK Member of the Year
Abi’s contribution to the team was outstanding in 2019 as it was in 2018 and 2017. This year Abi led the Transition programme efforts taking on the Innovation Showcase event and working towards one of our most successful events this year. Not only that, the Transition events held for the first time in Birmingham and then in Leicester where Abi led all the efforts (introducing new psychometric tests formats) with very little support from me as Chair. In addition to this Abi has been a keen supporter of the Making Engineering Hot programme supporting where she can and even raising funds through her company ADM to support the programme. This year already she has spearheaded a visit to ADM’s plant for young people from Croydon to understand what is done in that environment. A very supportive team player and as I call her “a real-life rocket”, Abi has so many leadership qualities and I know she will be successful in all her endeavours so do watch this space. ;-) I would therefore on behalf of the team like to take this opportunity to thank Abi for her enormous contribution to AFBE-UK and to congratulate her on his ‘Member of the Year’ award.
Abisola Ajani is a Process Engineer at Archer Daniels Midland Company. She graduated with a Master’s degree in Chemical Process Engineering from University College London and First-Class honours degree in Chemical and Process Engineering from London South Bank University. She joined AFBE-UK as a student member in 2015. Since joining the organisation, she has been actively involved in planning and executing key events one of which was the first Transition event in London. According to Abisola, AFBE-UK is the perfect platform for Engineers of Black and Ethnic Minorities to come together to inspire each other and grow as a group in the UK’s engineering sector; as well as to motivate, mentor and build the future generations of engineers that need role models that they can aspire to be in the future.
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Making Engineering Hot Over 2019 The Making Engineering Hot (MEH) Campaign uses role models to bring engineering careers to life for students aged 12-18 years old. Over this time 350 students in Southwark, Newham and Hackney have benefited from the programme. Making Engineering Hot Careers Day May 2019
Reneth McKenzie-Schoetz is a Mechanical Design Engineer. She is the current schools’ programmes Manager for the AFBE Schools Outreach programmes. Reneth runs her own engineering company and is a Director at AFBE-UK. Reneth is also responsible for quality control and planning to ensure schools outreach projects are delivered to time and are of high quality. In her spare time, Reneth is a keen biker and enjoys running, yoga and tending her allotment where she grows fruits and vegetables.
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In 2019 we focused on the family and routes intoengineering. 350 students in Southwark, Newham and Hackney have benefited from the programme this year alone.
the contributions of British BAME engineers and scientists through their innovations, designs and patents. Balfour Beatty also supported us at this event.
In April we held a family evening at UCL, to celebrate the contributions of BAME Engineers with Robin Walker, an author known as the “Black History Man�. He brought to life
We held our Careers Day in June, giving young people direct access to engineering employers and universities. UCL and Kings College London participated in the event.
Robotics Session at London South Bank University
Engineering employers such as Rolls Royce, WSP, UKPN and Balfour Beatty also attended. Speakers highlighted the benefits of apprenticeships and explained the university application process. Our programme would not be successful without the contributions of our mentors. Instilling the “can do” attitude into the students they mentored. In September we held a MEH Champions evening to promote volunteering and to thank existing mentors and volunteers. We would also like to thank LSBU and advisory board member Dr Safia Barikzai for their continuous support of our programme, through their coding and programming workshops. Over the past school years, we have seen positive outcomes and feedback from teachers, students and parents. We have given students access to engineering environments through work placements. Arup and Balfour Beatty have worked closely with us to offer work placements. Our programme has also given young people the confidence to apply for and to gain degree apprenticeships. We have also benefited from funded from the IET, who have brought our programme to the fore to engineering organisations. As one of the organisations funded by BBC Children in Need, the Making Engineering Hot Programme was nominated as an outstanding organisation and in November was the focus of BBC and Adobe Creative jam held at the very grand BBC London Headquarters. In November we were invited to BBC “Creative Jam” where teams of student designers and BBC creative staff were challenged to create a new Making Engineering Hot logo.
Students of the University Academy of Engineering have participated in Making Engineering Hot programme for the 2017/19 academic year. The intention was to give the necessary skillset that will enable them to apply for degree apprenticeship roles in the engineering sector. They went through a rigorous programme of CV writing practise, application form filing practise, interview practice and activity centre practise. They also were provided with industrial mentors, who supported them throughout the process. Overall out of 12 students who were on the programme, 5 of them were able to secure degree apprenticeships in engineering. This would not have been possible without the huge role played by Making Engineering Hot. -Testimonial from Mr Fiberesima University Academy of Engineering Southbank
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Mentoring 2019 - a year of growth and new chapter The year started off with new leadership and new members within the mentoring group. Simply put, we had old tools but new hands. The first quarter of the year was used to lay the foundation, understand the tools, update the database and determine how to meet the needs of mentees whole supporting mentors to carry out their roles effectively.
Demi Ademuyewo studied mechanical engineering at the University of Aberdeen, Scotland. She leads the mentoring progarmme as part of AFBE-UK England. She has worked in various industries such as in oil and gas, waste, rail and currently is employed as a Project Manager within Siemens. She actively volunteers as a STEM Ambassador, encouraging school children to enjoy science and maths. In her free time, Demi enjoys outdoor walks, cooking and travelling.
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Chartership Blitz held in July 2019
As the year went on we were able to match experienced professionals with mentors in industry and interestingly a second year engineering student keen on investing early in his future. Some recent graduates who had been struggling to find roles since graduation were also helped and I am pleased to report that they are currently in employment. Getting the ‘Chartered’ engineering status is a professional recognition that many young engineers aspire towards as proof of their hard work, engineering competency and dedication to the engineering profession. With a considerable percentage of the AFBE-UK membership being young engineers, AFBE-UK held the inaugural ‘Chartership Blitz’ event on the 6th July 2019. ‘Chartership Blitz’ is a programme that aims to aid our young engineering members on their Chartership journey to connect with Chartered Engineers who are further along in their professional journey. At the well-attended event, participants had one-to-one mentoring sessions with chartered engineers from various institutions including the IChemE and the IET.
Unfortunately, we had to assist two young engineers who were faced with some workplace difficulties. One was dealing with constant verbal abuse from their manager in front of their peers and the other was an apprentice that was experiencing discrimination in the workplace. We reached out to them and provided advice and support. Fortunately, the first engineer was able to secure a better opportunity, and the apprentice now feels like they are treated much more fairly at work. As with all things there were some challenging moments such as late responses from mentees, or lack of show of enthusiasm and pro activeness after being matched to a mentors. In some cases the mentoring team found it challenging to match the mentee to the right mentor. Our targets for 2020 is to recruit a new team member to help us with, recruiting more mentors and increasing the number of AFBE-UK members that get chartered or attain fellow status within their respective professional institutions.
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Creating Genuine Diversity and Inclusion By Catherine Boyd-Maunsell, Head of HR – PSE, FCIPD and Nike Folayan, Chair AFBE-UK
There is a skills shortage in engineering, but women make up only 12% of the workforce and BAME engineers are at 8.3%. In December 2017 writing for CIHT’s transportation professional magazine I provided my honest views on diversity, inclusion and quotas. In my view, the key to improving the statistics on the number of underrepresented groups within engineering lies not in setting largely unattainable quotas/targets but in improving current conditions and the sense of belonging of the individuals employed by organisations while being transparent on progression prospects.
It was therefore a pleasant surprise to find out about PSE from an AFBE colleague working there and how inclusive the organisation is. PSE employs a diverse group of highly skilled individuals mostly with doctorate degrees in engineering for the very specialised skills they bring. Certainly, for the industry to move towards a more inclusive work force a mantra which is often emphasized is “recruiting the best people for the job”. Having heard and seen PSE’s transformational approach this can be achieved through a diverse and inclusive workforce without the need to compromise standards. I have found in my work as part of AFBE-UK that setting (often) unresearched diversity quotas leaves the entire organisation feeling under-valued especially where these targets are not backed by any real or relevant actions. For diverse groups in some cases these targets exclude them even further as they may assume
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others may not necessarily value them for their skills and talents but as a token. There is a strong business case for diversity and inclusion and it should not be viewed as an extra burden or challenge to tackle by employers. A report from business management consultant McKinsey & Co states ‘companies in the top quartile for racial and ethnic diversity are 35% more likely to have financial returns above their respective national industry medians’. The measure of inclusion should always include the figures of retention. It is therefore important to monitor the progress of real actions being taken towards more diverse work force and measure/benchmark progress rather than set quotas. We are delighted to welcome PSE as a sponsor of AFBE-UK activities in 2020- Nike Folayan
English isn’t their first language to communicate their abilities effectively. It is all too easy for recruiters to discount candidates because ‘they don’t have great communication skills’ or ‘I wouldn’t put them in front of a client’ but you are missing a massive opportunity to improve diversity here. We are also prepared to fly people to London, sometimes long distances, for an interview to give them the best chance of meeting us.
Article from CIHT Transportation news Nov/Dec 2017
Catherine Boyd-Maunsell of PSE... I work for a global chemical engineering software and services company with 170 employees. We have a significant over-representation of BAME groups and a percentage of women and LBTQ people that I am told is high for an engineering company. Given the current trend in HR to focus on diversity and inclusion, I am often asked how we achieved this. What was the ‘magic’ HR initiative we put in place? Did we use quotas? What ideas do we have that other companies can ‘borrow’ to achieve the same? The answer is that there isn’t any quick fix or magic formula. I believe there are two important aspects to diversity: really good recruitment practices and a genuinely inclusive culture. I don’t think that most of the companies imposing quotas have really looked carefully enough at getting their company culture right first. This article outlines some of the areas we have focused on. 1. Recruitment should focus on technical skills and not use soft skills as an excuse to reject people The company has over 60 employees with PhDs and many others with first degrees. The recruitment process is set up to find the people with the best technical skills and to really measure people’s technical ability. We interview people from other locations using Skype video calls to improve nonverbal communication, in order to allow people for whom
Once candidates have passed an initial screening interview we then make sure we really assess their technical skills based on their knowledge and ability to learn. In the case of engineers, we ask them to present on their technical topic of expertise and set them a test designed to challenge how they would apply this technical knowledge in practice. Software developers have to complete a coding test to demonstrate how they approach coding problems and then complete a live development test with the team to see how they would develop code in a collaborative situation. They also interview with several team members to avoid people just recruiting ‘people like themselves’. 2. Be properly open to other cultures and make allowances for cultural differences – don’t insist that people fit into your ‘recruitment best practice’ box Recruiters need to be aware of cultural differences when interviewing candidates. For example, in India it is not unexpected to have a CV nine pages long with a description of all of your projects and qualities; for some people from Asia it is seen as aggressive if they look you directly in the eye; in many cultures people are uncomfortable answering in the negative in case they appear to be disagreeing. For any CEO considering quotas as a way of improving their diversity, I would first encourage them to spend time with their talent acquisition teams and observe how they are screening candidates. If they have started using technology to auto-screen people, cultural biases can be amplified further. 3. Be prepared to do the legwork We have always been open to hiring people who require visas if we believe they are the best people technically. Despite what any in-house recruiter will tell you, they are reluctant to look at such candidates when screening applications because it is time intensive and costly for them to do this.
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4. Focus on encouraging applications and filling your pipeline, not setting quotas or removing personal details from CVs To encourage women to apply we ensure that the language of our job specs is neutral and that we feature women in technical roles on our website. We also have an internship programme with universities in Europe that have a 50% intake of women into chemical engineering to ensure that we have a steady stream of female talent being recruited into the company. Some of our best recruits in recent years have come via this route. 5. Make sure your leadership team reflects your desired culture There have been many studies identifying that the single biggest influence on company culture is the leadership. Our MD has been with the company for 18 years. He is not from the UK, primarily hires people based on skill and is very family-focused. Our leadership team of 10 people has five people not born in the UK and one woman, and as a result people can a) see that leadership positions are open to everyone based on skill and b) feel that their views are represented. 6. Create sustainable diversity internally; - celebrate cultural difference and make it easy for everyone to feel welcome For diversity to be sustainable, it is important not just to attract people in the first place but ensure that they feel comfortable and welcome in the organisation enough to want to stay. There are 34 nationalities working at PSE and we openly celebrate our cultural differences. People are proud of their cultures and want their peers to know about them. We have an International Dish Day where people bring in food they have cooked from their country or region to share with other people. Everybody who partakes donates their lunch money to a charity we have selected. The Ecuadorean ‘Holy’ Soup remains my favourite. We also have a tradition that whenever you go on holiday you bring back local delicacies for everyone to share. I am never happy when it is the liquorice delicacies from Scandinavia, but we have a constant supply of (usually delicious) sweets, cakes and tea from other countries.
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We respect people’s cultural religious beliefs. Many of our clients are international; we have a prayer room for visiting Muslims which is also used by practicing Muslims in the company, and we make allowances for the people not eating or drinking during Ramadan – we don’t hold any social events during this period. If we are hiring someone bringing more diversity into the company, we will see what we can do to make them feel included. We hired a software developer three years ago who told us a week before joining that they were transgender. So, we contacted Stonewall and spoke to the candidate about what we could do to ensure the company met their needs and made them feel included. I’m pleased to say that recently they said how they love coming to work because they feel like themselves and everyone treats them for who they are. Quite an achievement given engineering companies are viewed as culturally conservative. 7. Be family-oriented Having a family-oriented culture helps people who are culturally different become assimilated more quickly and more deeply and increases the likelihood of their staying with the company. We ensure that our belief in being family-orientated is reflected in everything we do – from the summer parties where employees’ children come along to play games, to our benefits and our flexible working practices that allow all of us with families to make it work – be this compressed hours, different timings or part-time working. All of these aspects make a huge difference to attracting and, crucially, retaining people with families. So, I hope these points demonstrates that if you have a genuinely inclusive culture you will attract and build genuine diversity – but it is the culture where you need to start. It really is about being genuinely open and recognising the contribution that different people can make. I’m afraid that setting quotas or prioritising some groups over others is only going to make your existing people feel devalued and make it harder to retain the people you hire. No one wants to feel like the token person who was hired because of quotas, and no-one wants to be the person who missed out on a promotion for the same reason. And if your company culture hasn’t changed to be genuinely inclusive, it is likely you will lose your new hires fairly quickly anyway.
Member’s news New Jobs Demi Ademuyewo, Project Manager Joined Siemens in 2019
Family Demi Ademuyewo, Project Manager and Mechanical Engineer Gave birth to her son Made on 2nd January 2019 Rahman Mustapha, Electrical Engineer Rahmans’s wife Remi gave birth to their son 18 July 2019
Professional Qualifications and Awards Dr Ollie Folayan awarded community service award at the FaceYouth Heroes Gala and Awards ceremony Fiona Okonkwo, Area Excellence Lead at Pladis Global Obtained Chartership status with the Institution of Chemical Engineers 2019 Samuel Elegbede, Telecoms Engineer Obtained Chartership with the Institution Engineering and Technology 2019 Nike Folayan, Associate Director, WSP Was accepted into the Fellowship of the Institution Engineering and Technology 2019
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Getting Involved We are often asked by individuals seeking to find out about AFBE “What’s in it for me?” Here are some answers on why you should get involved as well as some frequently asked questions on AFBE:
• Recognition: As a member you will gain recognition among your peers, leading and influential industry leaders and others. This year 4 of our members featured in the Financial Times 100 most influential women in Engineering list • Mentoring: You can be assigned to an industry mentor or be a mentor to others. • Networking: There are lots of networking opportunities because we have several annual events across the UK where we bring people from within our industry together.
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• Influencing Change: AFBE-UK continues to gain recognition within the engineering industry, and we have a voice in influencing change in international development and issues relating to BME communities in the UK. Through our Making Engineering Hot Campaign and NextGen you can help inspire the next generation of engineers. This will give you greater influence within your community as you provide career options to young people. • Sharing your Experience: You can share your experiences in an informal environment, give and receive advice from other members. We have many members with varied levels of experience from different areas and fields. • Connections: There are many opportunities to meet high profile engineers and industry leaders through our bi-annual advisory board meetings and annual seminars. • Careers news/Information Portal: We provide our members with any information we have about opportunities and vacancies within our industry. Visit our job board on our website.
Why do we need a group that represents BME interests in Engineering? Over the last few years, research has consistently shown that the popularity of science, technology, engineering and mathematics subjects (STEM) have declined. Ethnic minority communities form around 6.7% of the total population of working age and it has been estimated to double within the next 50 years. Although 25% of graduates are from Black and Minority ethnic backgrounds only 8.3% of us work in engineering. AFBE works to bridge the gap between BME engineering graduates and industry
Is AFBE-UK exclusively for people of ethnic origin? Certainly not. AFBE is not exclusive to people from any ethnic origin, however our activities focus on people that have and share an interest and the experience of people of BME origin in our communities. Our mission is to display the vast array of engineering and technical talent available in the BME community in the UK. Our Vision is to function as a representative body on issues and developments that affect the careers of BME Engineers and BME Communities in the UK and abroad. Our organisational members come from a wide variety of industries too
Do I have to work as an engineer to be part of the AFBE-UK? Not Necessarily. Our members come from a wide spectrum of scientific and technology related backgrounds. Other members studied for degrees in engineering and moved into other fields while others work within the engineering industry but are not necessarily
engineers by training. Others have a keen interest in inspiring the next generation in STEM although they do not have a STEM background. The important thing is that they have a strong STEM (i.e. Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics) passion for the engineering industry.
How is AFBE-UK different from other professional engineering institutions? We have links with organisation such as Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET), The Institution of Mechanical Engineering (IMechE). Institution of Chemical Engineers, (IChemE), Engineering UK, The institution of Civil Engineering (ICE), the Energy Institute and the Association for Consultancy and Engineering (ACE) amongst others. We encourage our members to work towards chartership through involvement with these recognised bodies. We therefore exist to complement these organisations.
How does AFBE-UK fund its activities? The events are fully self-sponsored by the generous donation from our student, industry and organisational members. Most of our members donate time and money to support this cause
How can I support AFBE-UK? You can support us through membership and donations. We also welcome contributions through provision of venues for our events. Get in touch with us at info@afbe.uk to find out more. Annual Subscription fees are £30 for full time professionals and £10 for students. Organisational membership of AFBE-UK is also open to all organisations. We also have a job advertisement portal.
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Wherever you are, whatever industry, and whatever stage you are in your career. AFBE-UK can help you and you can help AFBE-UK. 32
We would like to thank some of our 2019 key sponsors!
About Us AFBE-UK (Association for Bme Engineers) is a registered not-for-profit organisation. AFBE-UK promotes higher achievements in education and engineering particularly among people from black and minority ethnicity (BME) backgrounds. Our mission is to increase the number of BME Engineers who succeed professionally and support young people to explore a career in engineering. AFBE-UK was founded in 2007 in London as a network of engineers who enjoy what they do and seek to engage the industry and make a positive contribution to the community. These goals are achieved through our conferences and programmes. AFBE aims to contribute to discussions on sustainable development across the globe. We currently have three chapters: In England/Wales, the Midlands and Scotland. To find out more about AFBE-UK and the work we do visit our websites; www.afbe.org.uk and www.afbescotland.org for activities in Scotland.
www.afbe.org.uk MAKING ENGINEERING HOT | NEXTGEN | TRANSITION | REAL PROJECTS | MENTORING | NETWORKING
