Welcome to SPE Aberdeen’s June e-Newsletter
Dear SPE Aberdeen members, colleagues and friends,
As the 2018 – 2019 session draws to a close so too does my tenure as chair of the section.
It has been a considerable pleasure and privilege to serve in this role for the last 3 ½ years.
When I took up this position our industry was going through a very challenging time which was having a significant impact on the section – event attendance was declining, and our finances were a major concern.
Against this backdrop, my focus and ambition for the Section was to continue to provide opportunities for professionals to network, to share experiences and to learn from one another.
To enhance our technical programme we put out a call for volunteers to join the board and become involved in the section’s activities. We were delighted with the response and with the support and enthusiasm of the army of volunteers who stepped forward the section has continued to go from strength to strength despite the uncertainty in the industry.
This influx of new talent has ensured that our programme of events continues to be relevant, topical and well attended. As examples, both the “Seismic” and “Topsides” conferences took place last month. Both are now in their third year, and get bigger and better every year. A very active community has now been built up around ”Topsides”, which serves those with an interest in topsides, facilities and operations & maintenance.
Collaborations have always been valued by the section and we continue to organise exciting joint events with other professional societies. These include new events such as Alternatives to Welding (with IMechE), Transforming Controls Safety and Cyber Security (with InstMC) as well as our more established events such as SPE ICoTA Well Intervention and DEVEX (with AFES and PESGB).
In addition to growing our technical programme, we had to address the harsh financial realities of falling event attendance and rising costs in the downturn. The growing events programme produced some modest surpluses; we cut costs, and we ensured that the Section finances were firmly part of every Board meeting.
This focus on growing events and containing costs over the last few years means that we are now in a very healthy financial position. As a result, we have recently been able to increase our annual Student Bursary Programme to £30,000 p.a. We are able to continue the NASA in Aberdeen programme – the third visit took place in March (this is a collaboration with EI and SUT). This has been a hugely successful and inspiring programme that reached an audience of over 2000 this year, and plans for the 2020 visit are already taking place. This summer, for the second year in a row we are able to sponsor the “SPE Summer of Engineering” for primary school children at the Aberdeen Science Centre.
Effective communication is key to keeping our members and the wider community up to date about our events and general news about the section. We launched a new website a couple of years ago which I hope you find easy to navigate and informative. Over the last few years we have also increased our social media presence; you can now follow us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram, and see members talking about events, schools activities and why they support the SPE.
I would like to thank you all for all your support during my time as chair and wish my successor, Kenny McAllister of Seal-Tite Ltd all the best; I will remain as an active supporter of him and of the section, so I look forward to seeing you at a section event in the near future.
Kind regards – Ian Phillips
SPE Aberdeen Chairman