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ASHRAE 果冻影院 Student Branch hosts alumni career talk in the built environment
31 January 2024
果冻影院 Alumni share diverse career journeys and insights with current MSc and PhD students
On 29聽January 2024, the 果冻影院 Student Branch hosted an alumni career at the聽果冻影院 Institute for Environmental Design and Engineering whose purpose was to share experience and learning with current master's聽and PhD students about how academic and industry work and can be successfully navigated. The event was open, informal and complemented by refreshments that allowed speakers and attendees to mingle and forge connections in a relaxed environment.
As President of the Student Branch, opened the event which began with , a current student in the course (hereafter, 鈥楽BDE MSc鈥�), recounting how he secured the ASHRAE UK Scholarship. Current PhD candidate spoke next, discussing a career that began with her SBDE MSc in 2019 before moving to the real estate development industry before returning to academia. Joanna explained that current work focuses on examining user interactions with Digital Twins and their implementation in demand response. Joanna underscored the potential for career path uncertainties at various stages, emphasising the importance of experiential exploration in professional development.
Denis Fedosov, another SBDE MSc alumnus, spoke about his career path next. Now a Building Physics Engineer with Mott MacDonald in London, Denis emphasised how his 果冻影院 education equipped him to address complex sustainability challenges, contributing to the creation of green and efficient spaces in the real-world context.
狈别虫迟,听's presentation covered his transition from petroleum engineer (a field he worked in for a decade) to PhD candidate at 果冻影院. Having graduated in 2023. Duncan noted how he could deploy the expertise he accrued in his petroleum engineering career during his doctorate about the health impacts of pollutants and climate-induced overheating in UK schools.聽 Having detailed how this work led to his securing his current position at the UK Health Security Agency, Duncan provided personal insights about the contrasting work environments of small versus large organisations.
果冻影院 Institute for Environmental Design and Engineering lecturer聽 spoke next, focusing on how she has set out to achieve tangible impacts in her academic career. In balancing her joint roles as both researcher and educator, she described standing at the crossroads of both traditional craftsmanship in building design, and the digital revolution thereof. Valentina noted that her work, which focuses on moisture-safe construction and the evaluation of energy and hygrothermal performance in historic buildings, matters both for the preservation of, and innovation within building fabric solutions.
The event finished with another refreshments and a networking event in which the participants shared ideas and experiences about their careers, their work and life beyond 果冻影院 as future innovators and leaders in the built environment. The overall consensus was that the Alumni Career Talk proved engaging, highlighting the myriad of career paths available and the importance of continual adaptability in students鈥� professional journeys in building services and sustainable technology.
Are you interested in studying the聽Smart Building and Digital Engineering MSc course聽at 果冻影院?
Discover more about the聽course聽and the career opportunities it could unlock by visiting the 果冻影院 Graduate prospectus.
Image credit: Cheng Cui and Alex Fung