The CDT reconvened at Heriot-Watt University (HWU) for their latest Training Academy courses, the first of which was held in the city, the second in the Edinburgh Business School on HWU’s Riccarton Campus.

The CDT students travelled to Edinburgh on Thursday 12 March to attend Alison Goligher’s Scottish Oil Club presentation. The following day, Alison and her Shell colleague, Graham Blair, introduced attendees to the vagaries and challenges of Unconventional Exploration.

In the afternoon, they outlined their career pathways, something that was appreciated by both the CDT students and their mentors alike. The mentors are all Young Professionals (YPs) and members of the Petroleum Exploration Society of Great Britain (PESGB) or the American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG), who have given of their time to share their practical and real-life experiences with the CDT students.

For further insight into this valuable opportunity, please see Maxim Kotenev’s (Europe Region Young Professional) report on meeting the CDT students in Edinburgh.

The following week, a second module was led by Andy Bell and Erdem Idiz, industry experts from Shell, who delivered an excellent course entitled ‘Petroleum Systems Analysis and Basin Modelling’. The week-long course comprised lectures and group exercises, a format that was extremely well received by the students.