Mid-Life-Career Crisis? Strategies For Growth

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WIA-Europe Symposium 2024 Event

Exploring the mid-career landscape: strategies for addressing skills gap, sector mobility, “career breaks/sabbatical” and continuous learning and development. The aim of the session is to address the mid-career skills gap with a focus on the aerospace industry, in order to foster continuous education and skills development. Fostering dialogue amongst current professionals, academics and policymakers will bring forth specific concerns and valuable inputs on strategies for upskilling, reskilling, and cross-skilling strategies from their own experiences. This session is a must-attend for professionals eager to navigate the challenges of the mid-career skill gap and seize growth opportunities. Whether you are looking to advance your career, pivot to new roles, or enhance your technical expertise, this session will offer valuable insight into continuous learning through engagement and exchange of knowledge.

Event Speakers:

Sahana Shastry

Sahana Shastry is a Systems Engineer at DSI Aerospace GmbH, working on the Copernicus Earth Observation Satellites. She is the lead of the Skills Gap Working Group of Women in Aerospace Europe (WIA-Europe), advocating for gender equality and bridging skills gap in the Aerospace sector. She is also on the Executive board of ASTRA e.V, as an advisor to the student organisation building a rocket to reach the Karman line.

Dr. Christie Maddock

Dr Maddock is an Associate Professor in the Aerospace Centre of Excellence at the University of Strathclyde. Her expertise is in numerical modelling and system design optimisation for transatmospheric flight vehicles, including autonomous drones and spaceplane-based launch systems. Her doctoral research was conducted at the University of Glasgow on the dynamics, navigation and control of a spacecraft formation of solar concentrators in the proximity of an asteroid. Prior to obtaining her PhD, Dr Maddock worked for the Canadian Spectrum Engineering Division analysing and designing future communications satellites, and sitting on a number of working parties within the Radiocommunications bureau of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU).

Susanne Svensdotter

Dr Svensdotter has 25+ years of experience in turbomachinery R&D. After her PhD at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, she was a Post-Doc at Imperial College,
London. She then worked for Rolls-Royce Defence Aerospace in Bristol before moving to GE/Baker Hughes in France. She is currently in the process of creating a new enterprise to develop a biofuel turbogenerator for light hybrid aircrafts and eVTOLs. She is a member of the WIA-E since 2021 and has been volunteering in the Skills Gap group since its creation and was part of writing the white paper on Skills Gap. She participates in the activities of the Paris group. She is a long-time member of the Royal Aeronautical Society, where she is a member of the Council, the Women in Aerospace, Aviation and Space Committee, as well as the Nominations Committee. She belongs to the Paris Branch and is responsible for their EDI work. She is also a volunteer advisory board member for Be the Business, supporting startups, and a Trustee for Teach a Child Africa, funding schooling for gifted, underprivileged children in Kenya.

Kathie Bowden

Skills Manager at Satellite Applications Catapult

Coraline Dalibot

RAL Space Senior Thermal Engineer

Zoom links to the events will be provided to all registered participants.