Nadja is a PhD student in Systems Engineering at the University of Oxford. She previously studied Chemical Engineering at the Technical University of Munich, in Germany. She is also the newly elected President of the European Young Engineers (EYE), the largest young engineering association in Europe, representing about half a million young engineers across Europe. In this interview, she discusses her passion for sustainability, technology and young people becoming part of important discussions that shape our future.
What sparked your interest in STEM?
It probably started as a result of my curiosity. I'm really curious about a lot of things and STEM helps you understand the world better, and what holds it together! It’s for this reason I enjoyed studying chemistry as well as biology and physics. These subjects gave me the ability to understand things on a molecular level.
Engineering stood out because of its many real world applications, from being able to solve problems, to creating new technologies and so on! My decision to study chemical engineering was sealed after I graduated from High School. I attended an exhibition which showcased innovative ideas on what cities should look like. Super trees in Singapore and aquaponic facilities were some of the examples used to illustrate how sustainability could be adopted in a city and I found this very fascinating! I felt chemical engineering would help me to gain the technical knowledge and expertise required to foster my interest in sustainability. I did also love the diversity that chemical engineering could offer with being able to work in a range of sectors.
You are studying a PhD in Systems Engineering at Oxford University, what does this entail, for those who might not know?
Yes! I think for those who even think that they know what it is, it can sometimes be a bit ambiguous because systems engineering can be associated with computer engineering, which is not my discipline. My specialty is in environmental systems engineering. I am currently looking at the biological urban resource flows, and by urban I mean within cities. My studies require me to look at material flow analyses, life cycle assessments, etc, to see how materials and especially biological materials are flowing within the city, and how synergies can happen, or trade-offs can be avoided.
I’m personally also very much an advocate of new kinds of economic systems, like the circular economy or bio-economy principles. Even though these are buzzwords, I think they enable people to grasp what the idea is, like the systemic shift of the linear consumption pattern and production pattern towards thinking how you can really adapt it to an ecosystem, how you can learn from nature, and create a biological cycle, but also technical cycle.
In short, I see myself as a systems engineer facilitating the systemic shift or even a paradigm shift from linear to circular, for example, from fossil to bio.
"In short, I see myself as a systems engineer facilitating the systemic shift or even a paradigm shift from linear to circular, for example, from fossil to bio"
That sounds interesting! Could you share some examples of the biological materials you study?
A big chunk of the bio-economy is the food system. Nowadays, one third of the food generated throughout the world goes to waste. This is a lot of emissions, and a lot of valuable goods that do not get used.
A large proportion of food waste is at best anaerobically digested to produce energy. But there is a new generation of technologies which process biological waste, and sometimes, the quality of food is so good such that you can produce other kinds of food from it. There are also other ways along the waste pyramid to valorise food, such as producing biomaterials, bioplastics, biopharmaceuticals etc. Whilst these advances are positive, there is still a need for more work to look at the optimum ways to recycle waste.
How do you reconcile the large proportion of waste produced from food with the reality of many who don’t have access to it?
It's a paradox, right? However, my perspective is that this is a distribution issue. There are studies which have reported that there is enough food in the world but it is just not well distributed so far. Secondly, I feel appreciation plays a key role. These days, our lives are not as restricted to food availability as in the olden days. We also spend a small fraction of our income on it than before, therefore we place less value on it. Typically the more abundant a resource is, the less valuable it is perceived, so a large part of this issue is down to our mindsets.
"From around 2019, we have started to become more active in being the voice of young people in Europe as we have identified the need for the voices of young engineers to be represented in debates, policy decisions etc."
You are newly elected President of the European Young Engineers (EYE), can you tell us more about this organisation?
The European Young Engineers is an international NGO, prior to this it was established as a network in 1994 with a few countries as members. Currently, it is represented in more than 20 countries with more than 30 member organisations. Our members are usually national engineering organisations totalling up to 500,000 young engineers from multiple disciplines.
When it started out as a network, members would meet up for conferences and for cultural exchanges, this dates back to more than 20 years. From around 2019, we have started to become more active in being the voice of young people in Europe as we have identified the need for the voices of young engineers to be represented in debates, policy decisions etc. We don't only include EU members, but in general, countries which are represented in the European Higher Education Area. Some examples include the UK, France, Germany, Luxembourg, also Switzerland, which is not an EU member. Some parts of the Eastern bloc are involved, like Croatia, North Macedonia, Cyprus etc. We really try to spread as widely as we can, and our goal is to be represented in every European country that has young engineering associations.
Any young person who wants to foster the European Engineers’ voice and is interested in engineering and technology is welcome to join EYE. It’s not a hard criterion that you have to have studied engineering or that you are a European citizen, but it’s more about your heart and what you want to impact.
How can people get involved with EYE?
There are different ways. One of the most intuitive ways I would recommend is to become part of the management team. These are basically the active volunteers of the European Young Engineers who are working on the active projects. For people who aren’t able to take on such responsibilities, there are also opportunities to attend conferences, webinars and join our discussion communities on Clubhouse, WhatsApp and LinkedIn to share and exchange ideas on technology related topics.
We are also working towards expanding our horizons. Until a few years ago, the EYE was mostly about networking, getting to know each other, and upskilling, which are still very important pillars. But we have identified that there are a lot of policies, a lot of crises, a lot of challenges in the future that are very related and dependent on technologies. We would like to engage with the decision makers in society so that technologies are used in a more efficient way especially given the fact that not many decision makers in politics or the public service have the relevant technical expertise.
We are also seeing interest from people high up in the industry. For example, we recently interviewed the CEO of Linde Engineering and the Global Chairman of the Boston Consulting Group. We’ve also had webinar guests including the European Commissioner for the Environment, Oceans and Fisheries - it’s great to see such people interested in what young people have to say.
We have a recruitment campaign starting from this month so a great time for anyone interested to find out about available opportunities. There are many different roles so anybody who wants to foster the voice of young engineers in Europe should be able to find exciting tasks! We will also offer the chance to meet our management team and learn about diverse career perspectives after graduating as an engineer during our Get-To-Know EYE event on 24 May, 5 pm (BST).
How has being involved with EYE benefited you?
It’s been a great way for me to meet other people who share a passion for technology and engineering and to foster my ideas. I was previously the Vice President of Public Policy and before my tenure there was only one working group, and even then, it was not very active. But now we have five working groups working on really cool and interesting topics such as the future of work, energy and environment, water reuse in a circular economy, politics, etc. I believe anyone can make what they want of it!
To round up, how do you see STEM roles evolving given the significant changes we are seeing in the way we live?
STEM can be helpful for a lot of different sectors. If you just look at the new UNESCO report on engineering, you can see that for every SDG, engineers have the ability to contribute and make a big difference. I think for people coming into STEM, they should think of where they want to make an impact but should have an openness to working with people from other sectors as there are many opportunities for collaboration. However, there are also issues and challenges that need to be tackled within STEM, such as the diversity question. Nowadays, there is a big focus on gender balance but in the longer run, there is also a need to tackle other issues such as inequalities in the ethnicities represented.
Another aspect is the lack of representation of STEM in sectors such as politics and public service which I noted earlier. At EYE, we have identified that young people have limited visibility of roles that they could contribute to in these areas, and you will notice going forward that our events, workshops etc will raise the profile of these sectors so that young people can expand their horizons beyond the typical traditional STEM roles.
If you have enjoyed this interview and have any questions for Nadja, please contact her via LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
To become a part of the European Young Engineers Team, click here to find out about their open positions. You can also keep to date with them on LinkedIn, Twitter , Instagram, Facebook and YouTube.
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