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Career Launcher program attracts forward thinking students and businesses

As part of our commitment to championing gender diversity in the renewable energy industry, the Clean Energy Council’s Women in Renewables program is proud to present the Career Launcher Ticket. The opportunity offers Clean Energy Council member companies to sponsor a student or recent graduate (not currently employed in the renewable energy industry) who identifies as a woman to attend one of our major conferences.

Earlier this month, another incredible cohort of both students and sponsoring companies took part in the program at the Energy Storage Forum (ESF) held in Adelaide.

Included in the ESF Career Launcher group was Freya Allen, a student at the University of Queensland and sponsoring company, CD Power. Here, we invite Freya and Jeremy Whaley, of CD Power, to share their experience at ESF earlier in the month.

Freya, who is studying a Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) /Master of Engineering, majoring in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Queensland told us more about discovering the opportunity:

Was this your first experience as a Career Launcher student?

My first experience as a Career Launcher Student was early this year at the Wind Energy Forum in Melbourne. I really enjoyed being able to network with companies from within the industry and to hear people speak on what the pressing opportunities and challenges were on the horizon for wind energy. I wanted to further expand my exposure to the clean energy industry so when the opportunity to attend the Energy Storage Forum arose, I couldn’t turn it down.

What would you say to anyone considering applying to be a sponsored student for upcoming Clean Energy Council events?

I would say to any student considering applying for a sponsored to Career Launcher ticket to apply whether they think they would get it or not! I never thought I would have the opportunity to attend one, let alone two and the networking opportunity itself is priceless. The other Career Launcher students and I were in agreeance that this kind of exposure to industry is almost impossible to come by, so many thanks to the Clean Energy Council and the sponsors for helping make it happen. I greatly appreciate Jeremy Whaley and the rest of the CD Power team for having me and sponsoring my ticket.

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Student, Freya Allen with Jeremy Whaley from sponsoring company, CD Power

Freya’s sponsoring company, CD Power not only afforded her the chance to attend the industry event, but also invited her to visit to the CD Power facility. She was given a tour of the manufacturing floor and shown the various models and refinements of hybrid remote power, as well as the engineering design issues that needed to be overcome.

Here, CD Power’s Jeremy Whaley tells us about their motivation to take part in the Career Launcher Ticket program.

“Having served in the industry for many years, I have been aware of Clean Energy Council initiatives over the years to support Women in Renewables, so CD Power was pleased to be able to sponsor a place at the Energy Storage forum in Adelaide.

We want to encourage women to take up roles in engineering as we need their unique talent and insight, and they can help us build better teams. Sometimes it can be hard to see how what you are learning at university can be applied in engineering, so it was a good opportunity to invite Freya to visit our facility and see both how we design and manufacture our products.

One of the most enjoyable aspects was listening to Freya and one of our student engineers Liam discuss how what they were learning directly applied to the current products being designed. It was also a chance to show her the opportunities that exist in Australian Renewable manufacturing.”

To learn more about Career Launcher Ticket opportunities and the benefits to both students and businesses, head to our dedicated page, here.