Engineers Australia is consulting with members and other stakeholders to determine the suitability of several prospective new Areas of Practice (AoP) and specialisations.

One of these is our Clean Energy AoP. Engineers Australia invites interested and suitably qualified engineering professionals and stakeholder groups, within Engineers Australia and externally, to participate in discussions about the Clean Energy AoP and to form our working group.

If you are interested in participating in the working group, email [email protected]

Please include your name, organisation, role, years of experience and a contact number in the email. Engineers Australia will reach out to those suitable candidates.

Our discussions on clean energy will provide the foundation on which we begin working towards the creation of a Clean Energy AoP.

Background

In late 2021, Engineers Australia embarked on a comprehensive review of the AoP model to ensure our approach for supporting the engineering profession in Australia remains relevant. 

The outcome of the consultation was support for Engineers Australia to introduce new AoPs and Specialisations that are important to the engineering profession. These AoPs would be in areas that support government policies and plans to progress the nation and society.

An AoP is a subgroup of the engineering profession that practitioners align their engineering knowledge, skills and work activities with to deliver value to the community. It is intended to be the platform to advocate for all things related to the area of practice and, to address the needs and challenges of its various stakeholder groups. These could be the recognition of skills, knowledge and expertise in an area of practice, having and maintaining a register of competent engineering professionals and the development of skills and competencies for the betterment of practice and society.

For example, in 2022 we introduced the Construction Engineering AoP. This was in part shaped from our productive partnership with the Australian Constructors Association (ACA) with whom we worked to develop the Construction engineer learning and development guide.

Practising engineers can apply to be a Chartered Engineer (CPEng), Chartered Engineering Technologist (CEngT) or Chartered Engineering Associate (CEngA) in one or more AoPs.

An AoP can be discipline, industry or role based. Formal education, informal education and work experience will influence how an engineering practitioner identifies with an AoP. These are different from engineering specialisations which are identified by industry or government and have specific individual assessment criteria.