Future Concrete Leaders: The Networking Event Connecting HDR Students with Industry

Every graduate knows the frustrations of applying for jobs—including our higher degree by research students in concrete.

There’s the part where you send out applications and hear nothing but crickets. The expectation that you already have experience even though no one’s willing to give you that first chance. And then there’s the networking. (Oh god, the networking.)

So what’s a masters or PhD graduate to do if they want to take the step from academia to industry?

To unpack this issue, our Education Manager Estelle Clapham brought together our Sydney-based students to hear from industry leaders who’ve successfully crossed the divide between research and professional careers.

Industry leaders shared their experiences making the transition, the challenges they faced and how they overcame them.

A warm welcome from GHD

The event was graciously hosted by GHD at their headquarters in Sydney last week where materials team lead Dr Shamila Salek greeted attendees.

In just a short opening address, Shamila spoke inspiring words for our students.

She pointed to the demand for research degree graduates as companies work towards their sustainability goals. A case in point, 3 out of 7 of Shamila’s materials team have PhDs!

Our students needn’t be surprised that companies like GHD are passionate about nabbing up-and-coming research talent.

Farzad’s Keynote

Students and supervisors gathered were treated to a frank, eye-opening—and straight-up hilarious—keynote from Dr Farzad Moghaddam.

Farzad told us about his own journey from researcher to senior engineer in materials & civil at Sydney Water.

With so many relatable experiences to share a laugh over, Farzad captivated the audience as he described the roles that led to his dream job today—from site engineer to fly ash researcher.

All of this was coloured by Farzad’s move to Australia, which added the challenge of navigating job applications in a new culture.

We truly appreciated Farzad’s lessons on how students can gain the communication skills, the networking know-how and the all-important hands-on experiences to build their careers.

Industry voices

MCed by Estelle, a panel introduced more perspectives to the chat about research students and the industry roles they aspire to.

We heard from Peter Valanidas who had his first taste of working in construction when his dad put him to work at just 14.

Realising pretty quickly that physical labour wasn’t for him, Peter pursued civil engineering at university and never looked back.

He’s since grown his business Structum for over 20 years and had plenty to say from a contractor’s perspective.

Dr Tahira Noei Aghaei of Sydney Water spoke of her enthusiasm for attending the event to share her experience around having once been in the same position as many in the audience.

Tahira described her prized role delivering research and innovation for Sydney Water—just the sort of job our students want for applying their skills and knowledge to real world situations.

We appreciated Tahira’s message about the value of having researchers working in industry: academia excels in providing knowledge, industry provides a way to test that knowledge.

From students and masters

An unforgettable part of the panel discussion was the wisdom offered by legendary PhD supervisor Dr Bijan Samali  of Western Sydney University.

His sage advice for guiding students towards industry careers is not to pursue a PhD for the wrong reasons—just as important as choosing a topic you’re passionate about is choosing one that industry is interested in.

And essential to getting the right experience is getting your hands dirty—and being rewarded with that fresh smell of concrete. Ahhh!

To balance out the conversation, we heard from model PhD candidate Kaveh Ghouchani of Macquarie University.

Like many of our research students, Kaveh already has experience working in industry as a civil engineer and technical consultant.

His research on modelling crack propagation in concrete pavements specifically addresses a major area of interest for industry right now as asset owners look to improve performance and durability of infrastructure.

Kaveh talked us through the ways he is leveraging his achievements as a professional and a researcher to advance his career.

Networking made easy

While closing out the session with networking drinks and nibbles, our students reported getting plenty of insights out of this event.

But perhaps the main thing we want our students to take away is their starring role in the concrete industry’s future.

With innovation essential to addressing our environmental and sustainability challenges, there’s never been a better time for higher degree by research students to secure those industry roles and make a difference.

We’ll be taking Future Concrete Leaders across the country, so follow us on LinkedIn and subscribe to our newsletter below to get the updates.