Canberra Graduate Welcome Event Thursday, 28 March 2019

Engineers Australia celebrated new graduates at a welcome event on the 27th February. Emceed by Kelly Power, Client Manager for Engineers Australia’s Canberra Division, the event was attended by 48 enthusiastic engineering graduates from the region.

The three guest speakers were Kiri Robbie, Division Manager, Engineers Australia; Kelly Power, Business Development Manager, Engineers Australia; and Kevin Earle, President Engineers Australia Canberra.

Kelly Power, who works closely with member and industry discussed the benefits of membership and leveraging EA’s broad network, “It’s great to see local graduates from a variety of university’s and organisations come together to network and create valuable connections outside their own “network bubble”.

Kiri Robbie, spoke to the importance of Division’s and how they can support graduates locally, “Divisions are much more than a generator of events.  We deliver our strategic goals of; being the trusted voice of the profession; providing a professional home for life; upholding professional standards; creating tomorrow’s engineers; and operating sustainably, to ensure we advance the science and practice of engineering for the benefit of the community”.

Kevin Earle provided insights from his own journey since graduating from university to his current position as GHD Associate, Technical Director.    

“We are now in a disruptive engineering environment and your ability to influence change will be defined by the strength of your professional networks.

The engineering environment has changed substantially since I began as an engineer, most of you will work beyond age 70 and you now have the ability to adapt and influence the shape of our world as the rate of change increases.

Lead pencils, calculators, and fax machines were common when I started as an engineer.  Civil, Mechanical and Electrical engineering were the three acceptable disciplines.  We now have more than a dozen engineering disciplines and there are more to come.  Boundaries between disciplines are merging and blurring; you will be involved and lead these coming changes.  You have an important responsibility to promote engineering for the benefit of the community which starts now”.

 Image credit: Engineers Australia