CIGRE-UK > Women in Energy Events

Women in Energy Events

Proposed 2024 Events

January 2024: “How to Convene & Effectively Participate in CIGRE Technical Working Groups” – Webinar

April 2024: Application of Artificial intelligence (AI) in Energy Sector and empowering people with learning disabilities – in person event

June 2024 : International Women in Engineering Day – Webinar

October 2024: Collaboration between academia and industry – in person event

Previous Events

Clean Technologies Event

Online by Zoom, 25th June 2020

“Clean Technologies”, kindly sponsored by BakerHicks, was the second event of the Zero Carbon 2020 series organised by the CIGRE UK Women’s Network (CUKWN). This was the first CIGRE UK Women’s Network fully online and interactive event, combining technical, soft skills and networking sessions which is a format of CUKWN 2020 events.

Around 60 delegates joined the event which was opened by Biljana Stojkovska, Technical Manager Offshore Coordination at National Grid ESO and Chair of CIGRE UK Women’s Network and facilitated by our Master of Ceremonies, Robert Kahn, CEO of LeaderLike You!, who is also delivering the soft skills workshops for all our 2020 events.

Clean Technologies Summary

The first session was a technical session focused on clean technologies and the impact of the current pandemic both on the present and the future of the clean energy sector. Our main speaker, Danielle Lane, Vattenfall UK Country Manager, presented challenges and opportunities of offshore wind development and technical considerations in delivering offshore wind. She also discussed how site selection can play an important role in the cost of energy coming from offshore wind and how innovation is driving new opportunities. Our panelists detailed some existing and new forms of clean technologies. Gianluca Peviani, CEO of O2G, presented a new form of investment in renewable energy for oil companies, how non-performing offshore oil platforms can be modified into powerful hydroelectric power plant. Dr. Heinz Sittler, CEO of Kukburg, discussed how hydrogen can soften the imbalances between electricity production and consumption and gave a better understanding of the market trends and business potentials. Sina Beckmann, Head of BMW Group Green Logistics Strategy 2050, presented how existing high-carbon automotive supply chains could be transformed to low-carbon automotive supply chains by enabling, testing and scaling clean technologies and processes.

Clean Technologies Technical Session

This session included Slido Q&A which prompted lots of interesting and challenging questions to our main speaker and panelists, ranging from the environmental impact of using battery systems and maintaining wind turbines to the cost of production of hydrogen from renewables and studies on a potential decrease in demand profiles due to long term effects of COVID-19.

Clean Technologies Slido

The second session was another essential communication skills workshop delivered by Robert Kahn. Building up on the LeaderLike model introduced during our March event, this workshop focused on building essential communication skills and the impact equation: ‘Where high quality work needs to pair with acceptance and vice-versa to generate impact’. The attendees had an opportunity to learn how to manage their energy while removing a potential layer of conflict and entertaining all “offers” while remaining assertive through interactive videos and reflection questions discussed in the interactive breakout rooms.

Clean Technologies Soft Skills

The final session of the event was dedicated to online networking. The attendees were split into four breakout rooms with each speaker and panelist supported by our Steering Committee moderators, where they had an opportunity to deep-dive into the different clean technology topics while addressing additional questions.

Clean Technologies Networking

CIGRE UK Women’s Network is committed to deliver a forum for diverse engineers and professionals working in the energy industry to interact, develop their careers, increase their self-confidence, improve their professional skills, and accomplish their dreams. If you are interested to get involved, please get in touch here.

Zero Carbon System Operation Event

National Grid ESO, Warwick, United Kingdom, 11^th March 2020

“Zero Carbon System Operation” was the first event of the zero carbon 2020 event series organised by the CIGRE UK Women’s Network (CUKWN) Steering Committee.

The event was opened by Dr Biljana Stojkovska, Innovation Manager at National Grid ESO (NGESO) and Chair of the CUKWN. The event on 11^th March 2020 was kindly hosted by NGESO at their offices in Warwick. It combined technical, soft skills and networking session which is a format of CUKWN 2020 events. Around 40 delegates attended the event with more people joining the technical session by webinar due to COVID-19. The event delegates were very diverse and we had both women and men representing several companies, including utilities, consultancies, professional institutions, energy tech companies and academia.

The event highlighted the challenges we are facing in achieving zero carbon system operation of the electricity system and network assets. We discussed how the combination of clean, distributed energy sources and new emerging technologies are changing the way our electricity transmission and distribution systems operate. This is also changing the way we work, and in order to succeed, we need to work together, with a common net zero mission.

In addition to technical sessions, CUKWN are dedicated to support our members with soft skills development to unlock our individual potential to maximise performance. In order to support diversity and inclusion, we aim to deliver workshops which enable individuals to present themselves with gravitas and authenticity to get their message across, to make a difference in their respective areas and organisations.

The first session was a soft skills workshop “Building LeaderLike Communication Intelligence 3 ways” delivered by the internationally renowned Robert Kahn, CEO of LeaderLike You! who will deliver soft skills workshop for all our 2020 events. Robert has been coaching teams and executives from global industries and UN organisations. This workshop focused on the characteristics and impact of three styles of communications:

Authoritative – Passive aggressive, Overlay aggressive, Openly aggressive;
Apathy – Passive, Pleaser, Placater;
Assertiveness – Strong, Medium, Gentle.

Robert used very illustrative and engaging role plays to allow the members to see and experience the different communication styles. It was great fun!

Rob presentation

Our second session was the technical session which focused on a number of key challenges and solutions that need to be addressed to operate the electricity system and network assets at zero carbon from both system operator and network owner perspectives.

Angela Wilks, Operation Manager at National Grid ESO, delivered her presentation via Webinar due to COVID-19 travel restrictions. Angela is one of the NGESO most respected control room operation managers and leads a team that manages real time electricity power system operations to meet license standards safely and economically at all times. She presented some of the major challenges that Electricity System Operator of Great Britain is facing to achieve the goal of zero carbon system operation by 2025. She also talked about exciting new ways the company is working to enhance stability and voltage and explained how the NGESO is taking forward collaboration with the rest of the industry to help them overcome these operational challenges.

Angela presentation

Paul Gallagher, Engineering Services & Innovation Manager at National Grid ET, provided an overview of how the Electricity Transmission Owner for England and Wales will facilitate the transition to a low-carbon economy. He shared the investment needed in the infrastructure to support low-carbon generation, how to facilitate new low-carbon connections and how to work closely with partners to reduce transmission related constraints.

Paul presentation

The final session of the event was dedicated to networking. New connections where naturally made around tea and macaroons. It was very pleasant hearing feedback and comments from our diverse members and delegates. Men and women commented very positively on this first event and we already have a good part of them determined to join the full 2020 Zero Carbon CIGRE UK Women’s Network event series!

Networking

CIGRE UK Women’s Network is committed to creating empowerment environment for women in energy sector, deliver inspiring events and creating a strong community where women can help each other and men support them. If you are interested to get involved, please get in touch here.

Journey to Zero Carbon Energy Systems

IET Savoy, London, 7th November 2019

“Journey to Zero Carbon Energy Systems” was the sixth event organised by the CIGRE UK Women’s Network UK (CUKWN) Steering Committee (SC) since the establishment of the Network in 2016.

The event on 7 November 2019 at IET Savoy in London was kindly sponsored by Capita Consulting and National Grid ESO. More than 60 delegates attended the event, representing a diversity of age and gender, and widespread backgrounds, including utility services, equipment suppliers, consultancies, professional institutions and academia.

Closing

The event highlighted that carbon dioxide reduction is an issue not only in national infrastructure but also for all engineering businesses. The theme of the event focused on the ways in which carbon emissions can be quantified and managed by professionals during design, planning, operation and maintenance of networks. The speakers focused on actions supporting professional and personal development, with the use of technology to complement professional behavioural strategies that will eventually provide direct impact upon carbon emissions.

The combination of clean energy sources with new emerging technologies will materially change the relationship of society with energy. With an ambition to achieve zero carbon energy systems, we will need to overcome a wide range of challenges, change the way of working and transform our own roles. In order to succeed, our energy industry will need to work together, where all industry stakeholders have a common mission.

This latest CUKWN event combined three keynote speakers and three workshops to deliver an exciting and stimulating day for delegates.

The event was opened by Dr Biljana Stojkovska, Innovation Manager at National Grid ESO and Chair of the CIGRE UK Women’s Network, followed by a presentation by Chris Cartwright, Head of Utility at Capita Consulting.

Keynote speaker Dame Fiona Woolf, former Lord Major of London, gave an inspirational talk on the context of zero carbon networks and how the potential for deep cultural change is powerful enough to generate major societal change in the energy domain.

Adam Middleton, Managing Director of Siemens Netherlands (Gas & Power Division) and Chair of CIGRE UK, and Diana Van Den Heuvel, Corporate Account Director at Siemens Netherlands and Vice Chair of CIGRE Netherlands, delivered an engaging workshop on the deep challenges of delivering a zero carbon energy life style. The workshop aimed at providing delegates the opportunity to discover how they can personally contribute to zero carbon energy systems, both professionally and through their personal lives.

An interactive question and answer session and a networking break closed the first part of the event.

The second part of the event was a thought-provoking presentation from Lily Coles, Commercial Operations Director at Anesco, on current and new technologies needed to create zero carbon energy systems, with a case study of the UK’s first subsidy free solar farm.

Ayssar Hanza, Risk Engineering Director at ACE Energy Group, led an interactive session around future technologies.

The last session was opened by Anne Wilson, Head of Careers at University of Warwick, who delivered a talk on the need for future skills.

This was followed by a workshop lead by Dawn Hurst from EA Inclusion. The workshop focused on different traits, values and behaviours required for a future success in the low carbon energy industry and challenged our personal behaviours around the need for change. The session was eye-opening around what constitutes the level of personal change required to deliver a Zero Carbon Energy landscape.

In concluding the event, it was clear that the industry faces a range of deep and material changes if Zero Carbon targets are to be achieved within the political time frames. Much remains to be done.

CIGRE UK Women’s Network is committed to creating empowerment environment for women in energy sector, deliver inspiring events and creating a strong community where women can help each other.

The event presentations can be found here and the event photos can be found here.

Women in Engineering and Science

Imperial College London, 7th March 2019

Dr. Biljana Stojkovska, the Chair of CIGRE UK Women’s Network was invited to give a presentation to the students at the Imperial College London during the day of “Women in Engineering and Science”. She joined Nina Skorupska, Chief Executive at Renewable Energy Association, and Tatiana Ustinova, Innovation Team – Technical Workstream Lead at UK Power Networks, for evening talking about their career experience in male dominated energy industry.

Energy Digitalisation and How to Build Resilience

Accenture Office, London, 6th November 2018

One more event stand out from CIGRE UK Women’s Network Steering Committee with an innovative agenda that combined high level talks on Energy Digitalisation and offered a professional workshop on How to Build Resilience.

CIGRE UK Women’s Network (CUKWN) supports and actively promotes diversity and believes that communication is key for positive and progressive outcome in any organisation, team and business at national and international levels. The Steering Committee believes that one of the best practices to learn and improve communication gaps is to keep working on your network. Hence, CUKWN keeps working on developing strategies and organising networking events for career development and support to our members.

The event was kindly hosted by Accenture on the 6^th of November 2018 in London. Around 50 delegates attended the event. The delegates represented a diversity of age and gender, and widespread backgrounds such as utility services, consultancy, professional institution and academia.

The event was opened by Dr Biljana Stojkovska, Innovation Manager at National Grid ESO and Chair of the CUKWN, and Adam Nicholas, Managing Director at Accenture. The opening was followed by the keynote speaker Heather McCusker, CEO of CHiME IT Software, who gave an inspirational talk about her career journey and highlighted the ways she embraced to overcome the challenges she has been facing in her career.

The Energy Digitalisation panel aimed at providing delegates the opportunity to discover what lies ahead in the changing energy landscape in energy digitalisation and what new trends are coming our way. It was evident from the discussion that energy sector is undergoing a “chaotic revolution” where diversity of thoughts and views will play crucial role. Four panellists presented well oriented subjects on the topic:

Rob Hopkin, Managing Director at Accenture, described ‘’What is Energy Digitalisation, impact on energy system and consumers’’
Mark Borrett, CEO of Reactive Technologies, gave an ‘’Insight related to and ongoing project on Energy Digitalisation”
Linda Chandler, Smart Cities Advisor – Energy System Catapult, outlined ‘’What lies ahead and career opportunities in transition to Energy Digitalisation’’
Claire Spedding, Head of Business Development at National Grid ESO, talked about the ‘’Place of woman in Energy Digitalisation transition’’

An interactive questions and answers session and networking lunch closed the first part of the event.

The second part of the event was an interactive three-hour workshop for a growth of personal resilience. The workshop focused on strategies for building the resilience to evolve wellness, growth and performance in day to day life. The combination of role playing, engaging videos and a case study helped the delegates to develop personal tactics and use mindfulness to re-set resilience. The main topics of the workshop were aimed to:

Explore the relationship between pressure, stress, performance and resilience
Gain an overview of the four cornerstones of resilience
Look at the importance of personal values for resilience
Explore strategies to develop their bounce back mind set
Create a personal action plan for improved resilience

CUKWN is open to new ideas and approaches that can support females in the energy sector, upskilling its members and promote diversity.

Engineering in Women

CIGRE Paris General Conference, 30th August 2018

“Engineering in Women” session chaired by Dr. Biljana Stojkovska, the Chair of CIGRE UK Women’s Network. Please click the image below to see the presentation.