How did Yasmin Ali build her career in energy innovation?
On the 4th March 2021 to celebrate United Nations World Engineering Day for Sustainable Development, Global Engineering Futures hosted a global event with COP26andbeyond to discuss what role engineering plays in the energy transition. The event was supported by leading organisations including European Young Engineers, E2E, and the Institution of Chemical Engineers National Early Career Committee. Yasmin Ali, a speaker at the event, sat down with Global Engineering Futures to discuss her journey from working in oil and gas to working for the UK Government’s energy department. Yasmin shares an insightful story of working in the career you love and her impassioned goal to create a positive association with engineering amongst different sectors.
Having graduated from the University of Nottingham with a Masters in Chemical Engineering, Yasmin kickstarted her career at E.ON, a utility company, on a graduate scheme and worked in coal and gas fired power stations, and oil and gas. She then worked for E.ON’s district heating business, providing sustainable heating networks for people across the UK. After seven years with E.ON, Yasmin decided she needed a change, one where she was directly contributing to the solutions for climate change. Yasmin thus left E.ON and after some time out moved to a career in government, specifically, the engineering team at the Department for Business Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS). As part of an expert team, her job focused on advising policy teams, Ministers, and people in government on technical energy issues. She then undertook another role within BEIS as an innovation project manager which is what Yasmin currently does. BEIS has funding to run energy innovation programmes, with the aim of supporting organisations developing solutions for climate change. The team design competitions to distribute the funding, run the assessment processes, and manage the selected projects.
Yasmin explains how greenhouse gas emissions, which are contributing to climate change, come from different aspects of our lives – transport, buildings, and industry, and what she currently tackles is reduction of industrial emissions.
“If you think about a skyscraper, it’s made of steel, and glass, and cement. All of those materials have to be manufactured and that manufacturing needs heat, and that heat usually comes from burning fossil fuels. I’m looking at innovative solutions to make these materials in a more sustainable way.”
For Yasmin, sustainability is found “living within the resource limitations of our planet.” She leans on Kate Raworth’s book Doughnut Economics as she explains how we are able to live within the confines of the resources we have. At a deeper level, how do we use the resources that we have in a sustainable way?
Yasmin’s expectations for the future of the energy industry rest in decentralisation. She thinks that big, centralised energy systems will transition to something more local. In her spare time, Yasmin writes for an American energy news website which reports on microgrids. Yasmin expounds that because the US electricity transmission and distribution systems are so fragmented, microgrids are a popular option. Some parts of Africa on the other hand, who do not have developed grids, have a blank slate ready to be in place.
For those starting up and hoping to get into the industry, Yasmin urges you to be open minded. At an early stage in one’s career, at a university level and much earlier, one feels an immense pressure to make a decision on a career path and stick with it. For Yasmin, she did not have any grand idea of what she wanted to pursue and realised that that was okay.
“If you don’t know what you want to do, just try different things and if you take a job that you absolutely hate, it’s not the end of the world. If you learn that sector is not for you and that job type isn’t for you, that is useful information, and you can move on and do something else.”
When Yasmin decided to leave her job at E.ON, many questioned her decisions and expressed worry. Yasmin expresses the importance of doing what aligns with your values and makes you feel good.
In the current state of a global pandemic, Yasmin’s advice is to engage in one’s hobbies and other interests. Online networking and volunteering activities are key in a time where social and in-person interactions are limited.
“Be creative in your networking.”
Outside of her current role as innovation project manager at BEIS, Yasmin is involved in numerous activities. One of those is writing, which started back at University, during a year abroad in Malaysia, when she was asked to start a blog on her time there and really enjoyed it. When she joined E.ON she continued writing. Whilst at work, she came across a British Science Association Media Fellowship programme, where scientists and engineers are placed in media organisations for a period of time to improve the reporting of science. Yasmin was placed with the BBC Science Unit and helped with developing pieces for radio and news articles. Yasmin has since written for the Huffington Post and has ambitions to write a Popular Engineering book. Yasmin is passionate about her job and wants more people to be aware of what she does. Writing has given her the platform to say “Hey, look, this is fun. You could do it too.”
Alongside writing, Yasmin has also been involved in STEM outreach activities as well as public speaking to inspire people of all educational backgrounds about the joys of engineering. Yasmin aims to create a positive association with engineering.
“I did some demos at the Science Museum a couple of years ago, where I made ice cream using liquid nitrogen, and then explained how that works. I just wanted those five-year-olds to think, and to remember ice cream and having a positive feeling, and they might remember the word engineer.”
Yasmin enjoys the ins and outs of the energy sector. Energy is something we all use and have to use. Energy is a big part of climate change, Yasmin wants to stay in a place where she will be contributing to the solution. She hopes to make an impact in the energy sector and the fight in combatting climate change. Her current contribution lies in enabling others to make new technologies and bringing people to the forefront of the industry.
Yasmin is currently working on the Government’s Net Zero Innovation Portfolio, a new tranche of innovation funding. On the communication side of things, Yasmin continues to write, and was recently involved as an engineering expert in a television documentary on food factories.
Website: http://www.engineeryasmin.com/
