Sustainability focus of engineering conference

USQ Engineering Lecturer Dr Steven Goh joined industry leaders, academics and government representatives from across Australia to discuss sustainability in the engineering industry at a forum in Perth recently.

Dr Goh was one of more than 400 people to attend the bi-annual Engineering Leadership Conference last month and also presented a paper at the forum, which addressed the future of engineering education.

'I delivered a paper that called for reform in engineering education, which was received well by the mostly corporate audience,' Dr Goh said.

'The overwhelming collective voice at the conference was saying that sustainability will be the biggest challenge and opportunity to a prosperous future in Australia; that is sustainability in energy and infrastructure provision and utilisation.

'These are challenges not just facing Australia but also the world in terms of energy and infrastructure.

'This was reflected by the fact that a lot of the company representatives at the conference were from the mining and petroleum industries.'

While there were some issues at hand for the industry, there were also avenues for growth for engineering, particularly with USQ and the Surat Energy Provence in South West Queensland.

'As a member of the Sustainable Energy Research Group within USQ's Faculty of Engineering and Surveying I see great opportunities for the Faculty to increase its applied research linkage with surrounding energy-based industries, especially around the Surat Basin,' Dr Goh said.

'I have already been liaising with the local Queensland State Development office, and things are moving very quickly to consolidate and get these engineering projects up and running at the Surat Basin.

'I also see a great opportunity to provide customised programs to train and deliver high-quality graduates to services this industry sector and that USQ has the potential to be a leader in innovative solutions to support this sustainability drive.'

With the next conference set to be held in Brisbane in 2010, Dr Goh has already put his hand up to be a part of the event.

'This was a great experience and allowed me to speak to people such as the Tim Costello and Ziggy Switkowski, who I would not normally get the chance to talk to and rub shoulders with the who is who of the engineering industry.'

Media Contact: Josh Ada, USQ Media, +61 7 4631 2559