This year’s Engineering Leadership Conference is focused on exploring pathways to leadership, transitions in leadership as well as leadership in the profession for engineering a better society.

To give rural and regional members a chance to attend, the Year of Regional Engineering Team Steering Committee (Regional SIG) decided to offer free registration to nine lucky award recipients, one from each Division at Engineers Australia. The selection process involved applicants submitting 300 words as to why they should be selected to attend and what they should get out of it.

Congratulations to the nine winning recipients:

Elizabeth Moyses, South Australia

Elizabeth Moyses lives and works in Roxby Downs as a graduate Civil Engineer. Her rural location however means Elizabeth no longer has access to the networks she formed while completing her engineering degree in Adelaide, giving her limited opportunity to mix with and learn from others in differing fields. Elizabeth values her involvement with Engineers Australia and enjoys attending the yearly events as they provide an opportunity to learn about topics and issues from different industries – something which will essentially help improve her own work. As a graduate, Elizabeth believes attending the Engineering Leadership Conference will provide her with invaluable experience and insights from others on how the engineering industry should be shaped in the future.

John-Paul Foster, Northern Territory

John-Paul is a Chartered Civil Engineer who has worked on projects in Australia as well as the UK. Working principally on highways and infrastructure, John-Paul has been involved in projects from small urban improvements for local government to large mixed-use developments for private developers. John-Paul is a qualified Senior Road Safety Auditor, with a wide range of experience which allows him to teach a tutorial class in Road and Traffic Engineering at Charles Darwin University. John-Paul has also been involved in professional institutions, having been Chair of the ICE Thames Valley Graduate & Student Committee in the UK, and is now currently President of the Young Engineers Australia Northern Division.

Jonathan Barnes, Sydney

Jonathan Barnes is the Deputy Chairperson for the Western Sydney Regional group (WSRG) of the Sydney Division. He is currently working for RailCorp in a Senior Engineering role and was last year a finalist for Graduate of the Year. Jonathan believes that this year’s Engineering Leadership Conference will enable him to learn important leadership skills which will become invaluable to his role within RailCorp. Due to his involvement with Western Sydney Regional Group and Young Engineers Australia, Jonathan was fortunate enough to attend last year’s Leadership Gala dinner in Sydney. The presentations at this event helped shape his understanding and appreciation of Engineers as leaders which is why Jonathan is looking forward this year’s conference and the valuable lessons that will be imparted.

Graham Currie, Western Australia

Graham Currie graduated with a Bachelor of Civil Engineering from Dalhousie University in Halifax, Canada, focusing on Environmental Engineering, structural design and Geotechnical Engineering. Since that time, Graham has been involved in a variety of project management and project engineering activities. Since joining Engineers Australia, Graham has been an active participant and ambassador for engineering in regional Western Australia. He continues to serve as a committee member of the South West (SW) Group of Engineers Australia where he helps organise SW events and actively promotes engineering within his community. Graham believes that the Conference will provide invaluable opportunities to develop the management and leadership skills for improving his own leadership role within the SW Group.

Nasir Shah, Victoria

Nasir Shah is a young regional engineer working with Grampians Wimmera Mallee Water Corporation in Horsham. In this role, Nasir is responsible for the concept design of water treatment and supply projects. Outside his workplace, Nasir has taken up the roles of Secretary/Treasurer of the Wimmera Branch of Engineers Australia and Secretary of the Apex Club of Horsham. In these roles, he has learnt a different set of leadership skills from that which he learnt within his own work place and consequently, is always looking to improve his skills and believes the Engineering Leadership Conference will provide an opportunity for him to meet and listen to national leaders in engineering and learn from their experiences.

Andrew Boyd, Tasmania

Andrew Boyd is a dual trade qualified electrician and instrumentation technician, with a background in Electrical and Industrial Automation fields. He is currently employed in a technical support role with the local Caterpillar dealer where he is responsible for supporting Caterpillar autonomous and remote machines along with telemetry and product health systems. Andrew is looking forward to networking with other like-minded professionals at this year’s Engineering Leadership Conference to get an understanding of how leadership plays a key role in industries like his and others.

David Kinsey, Newcastle

David Kinsey is a 25 year old Mechanical Engineer working at Eraring Power Station, Australia’s largest electricity generation site. David acknowledges that his industry faces many challenges which are all contributing to a lack of direction and leadership. David is currently on the path to achieve Chartered Engineer status during 2012, and in the process of completing a Masters in Engineering (Power Generation) degree through the University of Queensland. David is looking forward to better appreciating the challenges that other industries face, and forming a network with other Young Engineers who share a similar drive and passion at this year’s Engineering Leadership Conference.

Romy Quis, Queensland

With 17 year’s experience within the construction industry, Romy has gained a broad set of knowledge in consulting structural engineering and related environments, focusing on increasing her knowledge and abilities to provide economic solutions. Whilst Romy already feels a strong rapport with her team members, she is interested in further training in staff management, negotiation skills, forming a winning vision for the company and for my own career – many of the topics which will be explored at this year’s Engineering Leadership Conference.

William Hutton, Queensland

William Hutton graduated with a Bachelor of Engineering majoring in Civil Engineering and completed his degree part time whilst working with an engineering firm. Upon graduation, William was thrown into a small leadership role, managing a team of draftsmen. Given his background and experience, developing leadership skills is an important part of his professional development and a process that he believes will help facilitate his ability to lead his teams to success in future. William sees the Engineering Leadership Conference as an ideal opportunity to do this as he believes teams are the corner stone of most engineering projects and being able to lead a successful team is an important skill that all young engineers need to learn and develop as they move into more senior positions.

To register for the Engineering Leadership Conference please visit
http://www.elc2012.org/register.asp