Q&A
MARGUERITE SAYERS OF ESB AND ENGINEERS IRELAND WANTS YOUNG PEOPLE TO KNOW HOW THEY CAN BE PART OF THE ANSWER TO THE WORLD’S BIGGEST PROBLEMS LIKE CLIMATE CHANGE...
Inspiring the next generation of engineers
Marguerite Sayers, Executive Director ESB
M arguerite Sayers is a member of the executive director team at ESB where she manages the company’s customer solutions in such businesses as Electric Ireland, ESB eCars, ESB Energy and ESB Smart Energy Services. In addition to her busy day job, she is an active member and Past President of Engineers Ireland. In the run up to STEPS Engineers Week 2021, she explains how important it is to inspire the next generation of potential engineers and calls on Ireland’s engineering community to get involved. Did you always want to work in engineering? No, I wouldn’t be an engineer at all if it wasn’t for one of the initiatives taken by Engineers Ireland more than 30 years ago. In 1986 they were running an information evening for female STEM students in my hometown of Tralee. As a student I was searching for a career that I wanted to pursue in life, but I couldn’t figure out what it was. Listening to the talk about engineering just ticked all the boxes. For me there’s a full circle between deciding to do engineering via such an initiative and then having the opportunity
to go back to schools to promote engineering.
who will be competing for engineers in the workplace, to encourage people to take up engineering as a career and help solve their own long-term recruitment programme as well. It’s also a promotional opportunity to talk about what your company is doing in the community. Last year, between companies and individuals, there were 980 events around the country and about 92,000 participants - a phenomenal level of interest. What innovations are coming out of Ireland’s engineering community? There’s a huge amount going on. A lot of research into autonomous vehicles and a huge amount into micro-electronics. We’ve pushed the boat out on in terms of the volume of renewables that is connected in the country. It’s very high, relative to the size of electrical load we have. To have almost 40% of our electricity in the south and 47% in the north last year coming from renewables is actually world-leading. Ireland is neck- and-neck with Denmark. An awful lot of research has to happen behind that in order to keep the grids stable while the change is implemented. There is also a huge level of biomedical
The STEPS programme isn’t about converting every primary and post- primary school pupil into an engineer, rather it’s about raising the profile and demystifying what engineering is. There’s a lot confusion about what an engineer is and does. Why should engineers and companies get involved with the programme? There are many benefits for those who get involved with Engineers Week. You see the excitement and wonder on the faces, particularly of primary children and the genuine careers interest at post-primary, when students are trying to figure out what they want to do. Also, when you’re explaining to somebody why you chose engineering it reinvigorates that joy and interest in your own field of expertise. From a company point of view, there’s been a 10-11% growth demand for engineers year-on-year over the last number of years. There is an international shortage of engineers who are needed to solve a lot of big problems - including climate change. For that reason, it’s great for companies,
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