Institution news
Christopher Dawson CEng MIMechE, a construction engineer with Wates, has always wanted to improve the world through engineering but was wary of disrupting his career. Now, as a member of RedR UK, an international humanitarian charity, he says the credibility and structure associated with RedR UK will help him balance his engineering career in the UK with the opportunity to carry out humanitarian work across the world. Collaborating with RedR is, he says, a win-win for engineers and their employers.
Why did you want to become a member of RedR?
I travelled a lot during my upbringing. I want to apply my skills as a construction engineer and problem-solver to directly help communities in the developing world. With overseas and humanitarian work, every day brings a different variety of challenges that most of us don’t really get in our daily lives.
I first heard about RedR early in my career. I didn’t have the two years of overseas work experience required to apply for membership and I couldn’t just up-sticks and go. However, the charity was on my radar and over the years, as I gained this experience, I realised I could become eligible.
How does your membership of RedR support your engineering career development?
Having membership of RedR means I don’t have to choose to be 100% a humanitarian or only 1% a humanitarian – I can actually be both things, the two strands are mutually beneficial. And I believe it’s a structure that has credibility with employers.
In my career I’d like to continue to develop my skills in the construction sector. Everything I have learned overseas improves my resourcefulness and initiative, develops my cultural sensitivity and my adaptability. It has helped develop me, as well as helping wider society.
What led to you joining the Institution of Mechanical Engineers?
I became a chartered engineer in 2007. I was supported by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers all the way through university, so it was a ‘home’ for me. I appreciate the Institution for the training and the lectures that I can access. It also keeps me abreast of government policy towards engineering, industry updates and new technologies.
How did you qualify to become a member of RedR?
The main thing was accruing overseas work experience. I went to Kazakhstan for six months after I graduated, working in an English library and with schools and orphanages, as well as carrying out practical jobs and building maintenance. When working for Mott McDonald, I was seconded to Dubai for three months. This was at an industrial complex, pre-construction, and I was addressing the infrastructure work, designing, testing and installing cooling systems and services – and there. Something that required was a lot of cultural negotiation involved.
Most recently I worked in Malawi for a year, for a charity called Beehive Social Enterprise. I was running a construction division, building a photovoltaic array and maintaining a children’s centre. We also built a football pitch and netball court. Logistically, it was a massive challenge. As both the pitches were built into the side of a mountain we put in a drainage system and left the pipe open-ended. The local chief said that of all the things we had done, giving people free access to this rock-filtered water had the most impact.
Having gained field experience, what was involved in the application process?
I had an interview over Skype conducted by RedR members and I attended two RedR courses: 'Essentials of Humanitarian Practice' and 'Personal Security for Humanitarians'. A lot of the training is about how to prepare yourself. This can make situations less daunting and help you find solutions in tough scenarios.
What do you consider the attributes of an engineer, who could contribute to humanitarian/disaster relief projects?
The skills that I learned – and would say are characteristic to engineers and engineering – are that you have to have an understanding of what you want to achieve, but be flexible in how best to achieve it. When you encounter constraints, you have to fit your project into those them. You are limited by so many things – costs, skillsets, space, budgets. In Malawi, for example, physical labour, which we wouldn’t often consider an option in the UK, turned out to be the most effective solution when we had to rethink a design. We turned to the guys and asked them, how can we do this most effectively?
Why would you encourage other IMechE members to look into joining RedR?
It's an opportunity to challenge and improve yourself as a person and as an engineer, as well as helping communities across the world. Employers who embrace this kind of endeavour will retain employees who want to develop a range of skills, which in turn will benefit their employers.
If you would like to learn more about RedR UK and how you or your company can get involved, please contact Margherita on 020 7840 6006, or at margherita.billotto@redr.org.uk.