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Engineering School of Civil and Environmental Engineering

Industry

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At UNSW School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, we currently work with more than 100 industry and government organisations each year on specific industry-related projects. In addition, we’ve won millions of dollars in federal funds to investigate issues of national importance. 

We also have a vibrant Industry Partners Program. This furthers our strong links with industry, raising the profile of the profession among students and the community as a whole. 

Industry advisory committee

Our Industry Advisory Committee (IAC) meet four times each year. Its composition is reviewed from time to time and currently comprises up to 18 members. They represent a number of distinguished employer groups, a range of professional disciplines, graduates and UNSW Engineering staff.  

The IAC’s role is to advise the Head of UNSW School of Civil and Environmental Engineering on industry views of undergraduate and graduate programs, as well as research directions. Particular briefs may also be provided to the IAC at various times to address specific issues. Finally, the committee may raise issues they would like to see investigated, providing advice on these to the Head of School.

IAC committee members

  • Athena is the Managing Director of Keller Australia, a leading ground engineering contractor. She is a civil engineer with over 25 years of experience in developing, designing and delivering numerous complex infrastructure projects, working both for government and in the private sector.

  • With a background in the Australian Army, Greg specialises in managing consulting projects in the transport, energy and resources, water and property markets. He is passionate about creating leadership opportunities for junior engineers.

  • Lucas has 15 years’ experience in the development, procurement and delivery of major infrastructure and building projects, covering both the private and public sectors. Having held key delivery roles during his time at the Sydney Ports Corporation and Evans & Peck, Lucas now specialises in commercial advisory services for major project delivery and in contractual disputes.

  • A consultant for more than three decades, Ian has advised on a wide range of infrastructure, building and systems integration projects throughout Australia and Asia. He has considerable experience in analysis of the reasons for project delivery problems.

  • Scott is Aurecon’s Managing Director, Operations and is responsible for the performance and operational efficiency of the business. With 25 years consulting experience, including ten years in business leadership roles, he has been involved in delivering many major infrastructure projects across several industries.

  • Jessica is the past President of Engineers Australia Sydney Division and an infrastructure advisor.  Jessica works across the full lifecycle of infrastructure projects, focusing on transport, development and social infrastructure sectors.

  • Des Sinovich, a Careers Counsellor, has worked in several education sectors in Australia and abroad in various roles including teaching, development and leadership. He has a particular interest in curriculum relevance.

  • Moving from academia to industry, Gareth’s expertise centres on tailings dam design and operation, assessment and management of mine subsidence impacts and numerical analysis. He is currently a Visiting Fellow with the UNSW Water Research Laboratory.

  • Craig is the Managing Director of SDG, a Land Title and Survey Consultancy based in Sydney.  He is a Registered Land Surveyor with over 30 years’ experience in Industry and is the current President of Consulting Surveyors National.

  • Nicole is a Technical Leader at Laing O’Rourke working on Sydney Metro project delivery for the last 7 years. She brings more than 20 years of experience in delivering complex multidisciplinary infrastructure engineering projects across Australia, Europe, the Middle East and Asia in a range of sectors including rail, commercial, cultural and civic, sports, and the water and wastewater industries.

Our outreach programs

Primary School Prize in Mathematics

We encourage lifelong interest in mathematics, as one of the key requirements for a rewarding, fulfilling and socially useful engineering career. The UNSW Civil and Environmental Engineering Primary School Prize in Mathematics is to the value of $100.  

The prize is an initiative of the IAC, developed and managed by the External Relations Committee. It helps address the problem of falling numbers and interest in maths and science in the early high school years. We wanted to communicate the practical value of maths and science to students prior to that period. 

Every year, more than 80 NSW schools participate in our Maths Prize, and we give prizes to more than 250 students. Selection criteria emphasise applications and creativity as well as class projects and test results. 

Staff or alumni hand over the Prize at our end-of-year presentation. It gives students and parents a chance to meet a real-life engineer and talk to them about the field’s opportunities and rewards. 

If your school wishes to take part, please contact us

High school work experience program

In partnership with the IAC, we run an annual work experience program to promote engineering career options to high school students. The program is for Year 10 students across NSW and runs for five days. 

Our Year 10 Work Experience programme only runs during a specific week of the year and this has now passed for 2023. Please keep in touch for 2024 program.

You can gain first-hand experience with engineering projects across six areas of the civil and environmental engineering fields: 

  • coastal and port infrastructure 
  • structures and design 
  • construction and project management 
  • water, wastewater and environment 
  • road, transport and underground 
  • surveying and geospatial engineering. 

Daily field trips are led by UNSW staff, supported by engineering professionals. We visit a range of engineering sites across Sydney, followed by an afternoon debrief and short report writing session at the UNSW Kensington campus. Students selected for the program will be required to meet daily at 8.50am, at Central Station, with each day of the program finishing around 4pm at UNSW. Students MUST attend the full five days. 

Please note that students must be confident in using public transport and bring suitable clothing for outdoors and appropriate to weather condition. Enclosed footwear will also be a requirement. 

How to apply

We’re interested in receiving applications from Careers Advisers for students who are self-motivated, reliable, punctual and have strong mathematical ability. Importantly, students must have an interest in pursuing a career in engineering. We offer a wide choice of combined degrees such as Engineering/Commerce and Engineering/Arts as well as single degrees in Civil Engineering, Environmental Engineering and Civil with Architecture. 

Selected students and their Careers Advisers/Teachers receive email confirmation with full details and are required to sign the current version in the Employer section of the Student Placement Record.  

For more information, please contact Tricia Tesoriero.