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Engineer by accident

Laura loved art, but an opportunity linked to her Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award led her to studying engineering at university. “I didn’t realise where creativity and science met, but it’s solving engineering challenges,” she says.


Laura joined the ELS programme while studying mechanical engineering at the Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen and used her funding to attend the Global Challenges Summit in Beijing, of which the Academy was a partner. “It really was crucial to my career,” she says. When Laura interned at bp she didn’t shy away from the challenge of the energy transition. “The inspiration I got from that summit gave me the confidence to influence the energy industry from the inside out,” she says.

The network the ELS programme has given me is irreplaceable.

How the ELS helped... 

Skills: “I’m using the skills I learned during the ELS in my role now. It got me thinking, how do I influence stakeholders and take a great idea and make it valuable.”

Network: Laura is still in touch with ELS programme alumni. “We brainstorm together. The network that it’s given me is irreplaceable.” 

Early access to business ideas: “It’s given me exposure to the Sainsbury Management Fellows completing MBAs, which is something I may not have considered had I not met these inspirational people during the process. It’s definitely a goal of mine now.”

Advice

“You can’t lose. I didn’t go to one of the most recognised universities and thought people from elsewhere would have had a better chance than me. But I went for it and it was the best experience ever. Even the application process will improve your skills.”

Award winning

Laura joined bp as a graduate and soon became a production support engineer in the offshore leadership team. She is now a mechanical engineer responsible for providing expertise and judgment in service of North Sea assets, and a carbon champion. “I’m finding ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and how to prioritise those projects within the business,” she says

Laura won the SPE offshore achievement ‘Young Professional of the Year’ award in 2018 for working with a supplier to develop an upgraded turbine air filtration system for a North Sea platform and creating a business case to get stakeholder buy-in. “That resulted in large cost and time savings, but more importantly emission reductions too,” she says, crediting the ELS programme with helping her develop business skills and match them with engineering knowledge to begin influencing.

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