Energising Futures: Bioenergy careers and collaboration

Our joint event ‘Energising Futures: Bioenergy careers and collaboration’ organised with Future Biogas took place on 18 June at Moor Bioenergy, the UK’s first unsubsidised biomethane facility.

This unique event brought together the next generation of researchers from across the bioenergy space to hear from industry colleagues about the skills needed to make the transition from academia to industry. Michael Short, Co-Director of the Hub opened the event together with Dr Becky Wheeler, Business Development Director at Future Biogas. Becky shared her personal career journey as part of the morning skills focused session. This was followed by a workshop led by Jenny Bannerman, HR Director of Future Biogas and key industry colleagues from AlpsEcosience, Cultivate, the REA and Progressive Energy, sharing their experiences in a panel discussion, exploring the skills and tips necessary for a career in industry. The morning wrapped up with a session on policy engagement by Freya Horsfield, Policy Fellow of the Hub.

During lunch, colleagues from Future Biogas and companies from across the energy space were on hand at the careers station with information and opportunities.
In the afternoon, David Christopherson from Future Biogas gave an insight into the lifecycle analysis of the Moor Bioenergy facility, which was followed by a series of site tours.

Connecting and collaboration across the sectors was at the heart of the afternoon session as Patricia Thornley, Hub Director shared information about our new Supergen Business Interaction Vouchers to fund up to £15,000 for new collaborations between academia and industry Hub partners (Call open soon).

The event provided lots of opportunities to connect and ended with a speed networking session for industry and researchers to share their current challenges, needs and areas of interest to get the conversation flowing.