IGEM NEWS | Young Persons Paper Competition 2015 final

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Reigning victoriousSGN’s Richard Mason scoops the winner’s trophy at the YPPC 2015 grand final

Already winners of their regional heats, the pressure was on to see which of this year’s finalists would impress

our judges and win an iPad mini plus a ticket to LNG18, the 18th International Conference & Exhibition on Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) taking place in Perth, Australia next April.

IGEM President Elect Andy Cummings offered a warm welcome to all and thanked Rhead Group for their generosity in sponsoring this year’s final before introducing Richard Mason, Innovation Project Manager at SGN, to deliver the first presentation of the afternoon entitled ‘Opening up the gas market’.

Richard was followed by: • Harry Whitaker, Lead Analyst in

Policy and Corporate Affairs, BG Group - Recent trends in wholesale gas price formation

• Gloriane Kam, Network Development Engineer, The Hong Kong and China Gas Co. Ltd - Simple bolts are not simple

• Katie Boxall, Energy Forecaster, National Grid - Improving short term demand forecasting in today’s commercially focussed gas industry

• Alan Chiu, Assistant Engineer, The Hong Kong and China Gas Co. Ltd - Application of a water flow generator on a battery powered gas water heater

• Shaun Bosomworth, Project Supervisor for Major Projects, Northern Gas Networks - Overcrossings – bridging the gap to ensure integrity

• Eugene Gilmore, Engineering Officer, Phoenix Natural Gas - Alleviating the effects of subsidence within the Phoenix

Natural Gas network• Thanos Avlonitis, MSc student,

University of Salford - Use of microcontrollers in the gas industry

• Morgan James, Asset Officer, Wales & West Utilities - Below ground modules: defining maintenance and intervention

Having already submitted a 1,500 word paper about their chosen subject, each finalist presented for 15 minutes to the assembled audience of more than 60 industry representatives before taking questions from the judges.

IGEM President Chris Clarke, Director of Asset Management and HS&E for Wales and West Utilities, was joined on the judging panel by Gregg Dadson, LNG Storage Engineer at National Grid, and winner of the 2014 YPPC, Ben Clarke, Business Centre Manager at Capita, retired Northern Gas Networks Network Operations Director Chris Gorman, and Clare Morley, Chief Executive of Policy Connect. Special thanks to Clare for stepping in to judge at the last minute.

After much deliberation, the judges decided to award first prize to Richard Mason for his work on widening the Wobbe index. When asked how he felt about his win, Richard said: “It’s fantastic to have been singled out from a group of such high calibre finalists. I was very lucky to be offered the chance to work on this project. As it’s an international piece of work, the opportunity to go to Australia is a massive plus.”

“Richard was selected as the overall winner for a very good paper and

superb delivery of his presentation combined with clear knowledge of his subject area,” said judge Gregg Dadson.

“What impressed me was the potential impact of the work Richard has been involved in. It’s not just applicable to LNG but also to other types of gas and therefore could make a significant contribution to the green gas market,” added head judge Chris Clarke.

Second place was awarded to Shaun Bosomworth and third to Thanos Avlonitis for their respective work on overcrossings and microcontrollers. Both took away a Kindle Fire HD for their efforts.

“IGEM’s YPPC never fails to attract highly intelligent and talented individuals with interesting and engaging projects that make choosing the winners a tough challenge. This year was no exception,” said Chris.

His sentiments were echoed by Luke Hollis, Chair of the Young Persons Network (YPN). He said: “The exceptional standard of presentations that we’ve seen here today demonstrates why this event is so important to us.”

Looking ahead to next year’s competition finalist Katie Boxall’s advice to those considering entering was: “Just do it! Even if you don’t win, it’s worth it for the experience.” Last year’s winner Greg added: “You should definitely enter; the prizes on offer are well worth winning.

“In June, I attended the World Gas Conference in Paris which exceeded all my expectations. I had a really great time meeting lots of interesting representatives from around the industry.” ■

■ Details of how to enter next year’s competition will be released shortly. In the meantime why not take a look at Richard’s winning paper, on pages 34-36 for inspiration. All of the other finalist’s papers will be published here in Gi over the forthcoming months.

Nine of the brightest young engineers and managers from the gas industry gathered at the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) Birmingham on Thursday 25 June to compete in the final of the 14th Young Persons Paper Competition (YPPC)

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OPPORTUNITY OF A LIFETIME

Winner of the YPPC 2014 Gregg Dadson talks about his experiences at the World Gas Conference in Paris in June – his prize for taking first place in last year’s competition

“The World Gas Conference in Paris was certainly not what I was expecting. From the opening ceremony, to the farewell party, the conference served up some real ‘wow’ factors.

“Everything was on such a grand scale and was really impressive to behold. There was a Cirque du Soleil theme to the opening ceremony, which was amazing. All of the big names in the industry were there at the conference, as well as a whole host of companies that I was unaware of.

“The opening ceremony included a talk by President of the International Gas Union Jérôme Ferrier, who highlighted the importance of gas in the global energy market as we move forward, which was really enlightening.

“Over the course of the four days, I visited a number of the stands, speaking with various people about future projects and products that will shape the future of the gas and LNG markets as I try and figure out where I would like to position myself over the coming years.

“I also took in a few technical lectures, predominantly around LNG, all of which felt relevant to my current role. I even managed to ask a question or two!

“Having never been to Paris before, I used the opportunity to take my girlfriend with me and go and see some of the sights such as a city tour which was included in the conference package.

“We also did some sightseeing, the highlights being a trip up the Eiffel Tower and a day trip to Disneyland. And there was the food! I have been to France many times in the past and am a big lover of French cuisine, so having a week of that was great - not for the waistband though…

“Overall, I really enjoyed the experience and I am so glad to have been able to be a part of the whole thing. I would never have had the opportunity if it wasn’t for IGEM, so I am really grateful for the experience.” ■

The judging panel

Richard presents his winning paper

The World Gas Conference Paris

IGEM President Elect Andy Cummings (left) hosted the event

Winner Richard Mason is presented with the YPPC cup

Contestants each received a grilling from the judges

Head judge Chris Clarke with Thanos, Richard and Shaun

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