Hi, my name is Jo Chau. I work for Parsons Brinckerhoff as part of the London transportation planning team. I am also an Ambassador for the ICE, and this is my story.

What does an ambassador do?

To put it briefly, an ambassador only has one simple task. That is to help raise the profile of civil engineers by sharing your work experience and turning it into an interesting story to tell school children.

Prior to attending any ambassador events, I had an induction and was given a CRB check. These were organised by STEMNET (Science, Technology, Engineering & Maths Network). It allows me to be familiar with the ambassador programme and to learn tips about working effectively with young children.

So far, I have attended 2 events as an ambassador: Engineering Your Future (EYF) 2008 & The Big Bang 2009. EYF is a one day career awareness event that aims to provide students and teachers with a unique experience and a better understand of the opportunities a career in engineering can offer.
Over 150 sixth form students from across London took part in EYF at the ICE headquarters in Westminster, London. 

Why did you become an ambassador?

Having benefited from the QUEST scholarship during my years at university, I always felt the urge to do something in return. This will hopefully inspire more school children to consider civil engineering as a career and make them aware of the vast amount of opportunities that the ICE provides.

Do you enjoy being an ambassador for the ICE? If your answer is yes, please explain your reason.

I thoroughly enjoy being an ambassador for the ICE. It’s great to share my experience and the benefits of QUEST with school children, making them aware of the valuable scholarship and other bursary opportunities provided by the ICE and other organisations in the industry.

Repeating to them about what my job is about for more than 10 times within a day as I spoke to different groups of school children could be very tiring. I also ended up with lots of paper cuts on my fingers after helping the school children to build a heli-pad using papers and paper fasteners! Despite the ‘minor injuries’ the time and efforts was definitely well spent.

It is also very satisfying to know that I have contributed to help advise school children and make them see civil engineering differently. In addition to this, I have made friends with other volunteers from a wide variety of engineering background and I am still in touch with them! 

Do you feel that this will help you in your career?

Certainly! It makes me understand that a real civil engineer has more to deliver than to complete projects on time and to budget. It is not just the teacher’s job to explain to school children about what civil engineering is all about, we all have a role to play in promoting the industry. Given that everything we do in our job related to civil engineering, we are the best candidates to share our experience with school children.

I am also grateful for the support given by my line manager and my company to allow me to get away from my regular day-to-day work in order to attend ambassador events during work hours. Not only have I promoted engineering to school children at the events, it has also raised my company’s profile by demonstrating that it is committed to nurture future engineers. 

The skills you have learnt to become an ambassador, do you think that these are transferable into your job?

Definitely! Being able to explain to school children about my job, my role and my tasks in projects in non-technical terms has strengthened my communications skills. More importantly, it boosts my confidence to express myself in front of a group of people.

Who do you work for and what is your role?

Since graduating from Imperial College London in 2005, I have been with Parsons Brinckerhoff (PB) for 4 years and I’m working as part of the London transportation planning team. My main responsibility as a Transportation Planner is to complete a range of exciting and challenging projects within time and on budget. As part of my role, I have to first understand existing and future transport opportunities and problems faced by developments, and consequently develop potential solutions options to tackle the problems. This involves interpreting travel data, accident records and estimating potential transport impacts on the road network as a result of any new development or changes in existing development. At the end of the project, recommendations are put forward and presented to clients for consideration.  

Why did you become a civil engineer?

Having grown up in a modern and vibrant city like Hong Kong, I have always been fascinated by the iconic structures and their stories behind. An example is Hong Kong’s Chek Lap Kok International Airport. In a city where land is scare, there was insufficient land available to construct a brand new airport to accommodate increasing population and future growth in Hong Kong. Therefore, the engineers thought of a solution by creating more land through reclamation. This has inspired me that there is no single answer to all problems, and engineers regularly use their knowledge, creativity and expertise to search for the best solution under all sorts of circumstances.