Seequent has proudly signed on as the first Global Visibility Partner for Women in Geothermal (WING) to help raise the visibility of women in the industry and to inspire others.
The announcement was made at IGC 2018, the 4th Iceland Geothermal Conference in Reykjavík, at an event co-hosted by Iceland’s Women in Energy (KíO) and WING, a global network that aims to promote the education, professional development, and advancement of women in the geothermal community.
The WING/ Seequent Visibility Scholarship was also launched at the event which will fund one WING member each year to attend a global geothermal conference and present a research paper.
Graham Grant, Seequent’s Chief Operating Officer, says: “We’ve been long-time supporters of WING and their mission to support women in the geothermal industry to reach their potential. Visibility has an important role to play in helping achieve this. We saw this partnership as a fantastic opportunity to work with WING to support a number of global visibility initiatives, the first of which is the scholarship.”
Andrea (Andy) Blair, Global Chairman of WING, says: “We’re delighted to have Seequent step up and support WING as our Global Visibility Partner. Women need to be visible, in positions of influence, making decisions and leading, and serving as role models for those wanting to step into these roles too. We thought it was a really good fit to have Seequent as our partner in this area given their Leapfrog Energy software, used by many in the industry, provides the tools to enable visualisation and provide clarity.”
Founded in 2013, there are now around 1,000 WING members in 48 country teams in geothermal hotspots around the world from New Zealand to El Salvador to Denmark.
Open to all WING women, this year’s Visibility Scholarship will support speaking at the New Zealand Geothermal Conference in November. Seequent will provide flights, accommodation and conference registration for the successful applicant, chosen from conference abstracts screened by WING and Seequent.
Grant says, “The scholarship is a really practical way for Seequent to provide visibility for a WING member, to educate and inspire others, as well as, to help build networks and profile that will assist with career development.”
Blair says Seequent’s efforts play an important part in their wider action plan around the key themes of visibility, connect, inform and advance. In 2015 WING set an ambitious 5 year plan ‘Roadmap to Iceland 2020’, which is the next World Geothermal Congress, to actively pursue gender equality in the geothermal industry. She says, “Our goal to engage with all those that enable and drive geothermal initiatives across the world, and we’re making great progress.”
WING Members are encouraged to engage with role models; to share experiences, insight and to create a support network.
Blair says it’s also important to have a meaningful proportion of WINGmen as members as they make up 84% of the geothermal industry, and hold the vast majority of leadership positions. “Without the support of men, its unlikely meaningful change will occur.”
Jeremy O’Brien, Seequent’s Geothermal Business Manager, is one of the founding WINGmen. “I’ve been involved with Andy and the WING team from the start, along with other colleagues at Seequent. It’s been really inspirational to be part of the network as they work to break down barriers for women in the industry. The tools and initiatives to support women in the workplace, also support men, whether its workshops or the work they’re doing on maternity and paternity models.
“WING has been a very valuable network for sharing industry knowledge. We’ve learned a great deal working with not just the New Zealand geothermal market, but also with our customers globally which we’ve been able to share. We’ve also benefited from the knowledge and experiences of others.”
Seequent first introduced its Leapfrog 3D geological modelling software to the geothermal industry over 7 years ago. Its global customer base for Leapfrog Energy now represents 40% of the world’s installed geothermal capacity.