Launched in 2010, Girls in Energy is a one-year engineering course open to 14 to 17-year-old secondary school students, encouraging young women to engage with key STEM subjects and consider a career in the global energy sector.
On 29 November, they celebrated the annual Girls in Energy conference with a record-breaking 240 students from 17 schools across Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire. The exciting one-day event, powered by 50 hardworking volunteers from Shell and partner organisations, empowered these young women to embrace their curiosity and critical thinking through a concentrated version of the Shell NXplorers programme.
Throughout the day, Astrid Hoetmer, GM Health, Safety, Security and Environment at Shell UK, Audrey Nicoll, Member of the Scottish Parliament for Aberdeen South and North Kincardine, Caroline Laurenson, Managing Director of TL Tech and North East Scotland College Regional Board Member and Lisa Mowat, Senior Integrity Engineering Assistant at Aker Solutions shared their inspirational words. The young women then formed 46 teams to use their creativity and problem-solving skills to develop creative solutions for urgent local issues. Five standout teams were selected to present their ideas to a panel of judges, including Audrey Nicoll MSP, Caroline Laurenson and Astrid Hoetmer.
Mairi McKay from Shell UK praised the Girls in Energy participants for their ‘dedication, tenacity and ingenuity’, while Shell UK’s Simon Roddy highlighted the importance of Girls in Energy to help close the skills gap and ‘encourage more young women to choose this exciting career path’.
“We are extremely proud of the Girls in Energy initiative and its growing impact, underpinned by our partnership with Shell UK to develop the knowledge and skills which will help solve our future energy challenges.” - Duncan Abernethy, NESCol’s director of business development
The winning team, Girls for Change, presented an ingenious solution to tackle fuel poverty by converting steps to power energy packs.
The programme contributes to Shell UK’s ambition to support 15,000 people into jobs by 2035, focusing on the energy transition and leveraging the expertise of Fife and Aberdeen Energy Transition Skills Hubs. Girls in Energy is helping to inspire and empower young women to help create a brighter, more sustainable future.
