Karoline Lende

"My personality types were Explorer, Manager and Quality Controller, and I felt that many of the qualities listed in these match with my actual personality. In particular, I enjoy researching and learning more about new subject areas. I am comfortable working on my own and doing my own reading to better understand processes and systems. I am a good listener and prefer to take a step back in discussions, hearing everyone's opinion before reaching a conclusion. I'm also very organised and pay a lot of attention to detail! My personality types match many of the qualities required to do my job. Solving problems is a key part of my day-to-day role, as is being curious, motivated, and proactive. I often immerse myself in technical problems that require analytical skills and attention to detail, but also a holistic understanding of underlying principles. However, working in teams is always important as an engineer, which is why being adaptable, fair and open-minded also is important for my role. "

"I work in a non-traditional engineering role which can't easily be summarised in a sentence, rather each project I work on is different (which I love!). I sit within Arup's Advanced Digital Engineering group, which combines advanced analysis techniques with emerging technologies to solve complex challenge. For me, in practice, that can mean anything from analysing the wave forces on an offshore structure, to analysing climate projections data, from designing a concrete wave energy converter, to using machine learning techniques to mitigate flood risk. Primarily I focus on environmental physics (wind, waves, climate) and offshore structures (wind turbines, wave energy converters, oil platforms). What I enjoy the most about my job is the fact that I get to use my engineering skills to solve such a wide range of problems, and I can see the tangible outcomes of the work I do. For example, I have analysed monitored data from an offshore wind farm to justify extending the operating life of the turbines. This means we can extract more energy from a renewable energy source which has an immediate positive effect on the environment! I have also researched whether we can use concrete to make wave energy converters cheaper, with the aim to demonstrate that other renewable energy sources are also commercially viable. Seeing how my skills can be applied to such a wide range of problems really motivates me, and demonstrates how every day in my job I can learn something new and become even better at solving problems. "

"I am originally from Norway and completed my 13 years of school in Oslo. I wanted to go abroad for my studies, and decided to move to London to study Civil Engineering at Imperial College. In school I enjoyed maths and physics, and I wanted to pursue an area of study where I could use these subject areas to do something practical, so engineering seemed like a good fit. I knew very little about the different types of engineering, and decided to go for the one which seemed most interesting from the Imperial prospectus brochure - this is how I ended up studying Civil Engineering. In hindsight, I probably would have been happy doing any engineering degree - there is a lot of overlap between e.g. mechanical, electrical and civil engineering. Mechanical and civil are the broadest fields of engineering, so those can be good choices if you want to keep your options open. There are so many different jobs you can do with a Civil Engineering degree, so you can take your time at university to consider which parts of your degree you enjoy the most. Throughout my 4-year degree, I decided I was most interested in the fluid dynamics subjects rather than structural, geotechnical and environmental engineering, and I completed my dissertation on floating wind turbines. From there I landed my current job at Arup in a civil/mechanical role requiring both some hydrodynamics and structural engineering skills. I have been in my current job for 4 years now and I really enjoy it - especially the fact that I am still learning new things every single day. "

"Throughout school and university I was a keen dancer and participated in numerous shows and competitions. In particular I enjoyed hip-hop and commercial styles as well as jazz and contemporary. I even managed continue going to drop-in classes at various studios across London now and then after work, although I haven't managed to go since lockdown ended!Other than dancing, I really enjoy the outdoors - cycling, running, hiking, skiing. And when I say skiing, I mean proper cross-country Nordic skiing (although I do love downhill skiing too!). Conveniently many of my colleagues are outdoorsy as well, and our team organises an annual weekend away in the Lake District which is a great way to get to know your colleagues outside of a professional setting. I also enjoy reading, mostly fictional books as otherwise it can feel a bit too much like studying. "

"Most of my work is desk/computer-based - running simulations, processing data, writing reports and responding to emails. However I also have a few meetings in a week, mostly progress meetings with my project teams to discuss how the work is going. This can be anything from resolving problems related to engineering theory, to planning out the next stages of work, to presenting my work both to more senior colleagues and external clients. As I work in a team involved with such a diverse range of projects, we also have regular knowledge sharing sessions with the wider team where we can present our projects and get a better understanding of all the different work that goes on across the team. Currently I'm working on two projects. One is quite a technical project, where I am carrying out the majority of analysis work and reporting back to senior colleagues. This is related to the refurbishment of a bridge in the Netherlands, where the whole bridge deck will be lifted off its supports and towed away on the river to the \"bridge hospital\" where it will be strengthened. I am analysing the forces in the bridge during towing, which requires me to take into account the wind and wave forces acting on the bridge at any time. I send the results of my analyses back to the bridge engineers who further incorporate these results in their models. On the second project, I have more of a managerial type role. In this project I am looking at the use of concrete to reduce the cost of wave energy converters, which requires me to think of both design, construction, installation and costing. I have been involved with this project for a few years, so I now have a good knowledge base in the subject area. This means I can take more of a leading role. Currently I am overseeing the work of a team of software developers who are putting together a web-based tool to allow anyone to calculate whether concrete can be used in their wave energy converter design. This requires me to be able to explain the technical background to a non-engineering audience, manage the programme of work and budget, and also update the client on progress and manage expectations. That requires a lot more than just knowledge of engineering theory - but is very enjoyable!"

"I have a 4-year MEng (Hons) degree in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Imperial College London. Before my current role I did a summer internship at BuroHappold. "