James Latham received a Continuing Education Award to help fund an MSc in Hydrology & Water Resources Management at Imperial College
Why did you apply for the QUEST Continuing Education Award?
I applied for a QUEST Continuing Education Award as my employer was not able to support me through this course and I was therefore self-funding. The opportunities for funding when I was applying were fairly limited and therefore the QUEST Continuing Education Award was an excellent opportunity to be able to fulfil my plans to undertake further education. I had been aware of the QUEST award programme since my university time and I was delighted to see that I would be eligible for an award.
What are you hoping to achieve through this course?
I am hoping to achieve a much deeper understanding of the complex interactions between the engineered and natural water environment. Although briefly taught about this subject during my undergraduate course, I felt it would be extremely beneficial to learn more about the theoretical background to the discipline so I can pursue a career in Hydrology. I also felt that undertaking a research dissertation project would be a fantastic opportunity to develop my research skills, as I feel that research will be important when faced with challenging and complex engineering problems.
How do you think winning this award and going back to education has helped you?
This course has given me the confidence in my academic ability, which will undoubtedly improve my personal performance in my career. I have been made aware of the importance of environmental management in developing countries, which I aim to become more involved in as my career progresses. Without this course, I feel that I would have got to a point where my appreciation for the complex hydrological interactions would have been limited. This would have prevented me from progressing as desired. I now feel that I have the correct tools to progress well within the discipline, have a greater understanding of the challenging problems that are facing our industry now and those that will become more challenging in the future.
How has the award helped you with your continued professional development?
I strongly believe that learning does not stop once you’ve finished university and start work. Making the effort to attend professional development activities is very important and the lessons learned from other peoples projects can really help to improve efficiency within the industry. This course has helped to give me a better understanding of the challenges faced in the industry. It also has bolstered my passion for the subject and made me want to continue to find out information. I feel that I would be more active now in writing technical papers and giving presentations whenever an interesting project outcome is developed.
What advice would you give to someone else who is thinking about applying for the Continuing Education Award?
I would say that the Continuing Education Award is a fantastic opportunity to go on the course that you know will really help to make you a better engineer. Courses that you may look at and think would be really beneficial but do not have the time or money to do. Being given the support by ICE to realise this is fantastic, especially in the current climate of companies and research councils limiting funding for some courses