Engagement Avenues of Women Work Force in Power and Energy Sector during COVID-19

Nafisa Tasnim || Vice Chair, WIE AG Bangladesh Section

Date: May 21, 2020

Time: 7:30 pm to 8:30 pm

Total Participants: 26

WIE AG Bangladesh Section in conjunction with IEEE Bangladesh Section and IEEE Power and Energy Society (PES), Women in Power arranged a webinar titled “Engagement Avenues of Women Work Force in Power and Energy Sector during COVID-19” on May 21, 2020 from 7:30 pm to 8:30 pm, Bangladesh time. The webinar was attended by a total of 26 people including speakers from Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and India.

The invited speakers were:

i. Dr. Kumudhini Ravindra, Principal Partner for Strategic Innovation and Research with Innomantra Consulting, Bangalore, India

ii. Dr. Celia Shahnaz, Professor at department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering at BUET, Chair, IEEE Bangladesh Section, IEEE PES Women in Power R10 Representative

iii. Dr. Jeevani W. Jayasinghe, PhD, BSc Eng Hons, SMIEEE (USA), AMIESL, Senior Lecturer/ Department of Electronics, Head/ Department of Electrotechnology, Coordinator/ Proposed Faculty of Engineering Wayamba University of Sri Lanka

The session was moderated by Nafisa Tasnim, Vice Chair, WIE AG, Bangladesh Section and Senior Engineer, Energypac Engineering Ltd. The speakers discussed the future prospect: higher-study and job opportunities for students who want to build careers in PES areas in comparison to Electronics, Communication, or core Computer areas. They also gave suggestions to young students and mentioned skills they need to acquire to become competent for the PES market. They even mentioned the emerging research areas of PES and also what women can do differently in PES areas. Finally, the speakers shared their tips on how to maximize time utilization during the Corona pandemic.