Education and Training for the Oil and Gas Industry: Building A Technically Competent Workforce

Most of Phil's career has been as an entrepreneur connected to education and training in the upstream oil and gas business. Having graduated from Nottingham University with a degree in politics he was made an Honorary Life Member of the University Union. In 2003, after some travel and a short period working in conferences and publishing, Phil became half of the partnership that founded Getenergy in Aberdeen. He has since been awarded the Livewire Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award in London and was runner-up in the UK-wide competition. Under Phil's leadership, Getenergy's brand has achieved widespread recognition in the oil and gas and education sectors and more than 40 countries are regularly involved in its meetings, networks and publications. Phil is often asked to speak at international events and is an influential and well-respected international figure in the oil and gas industry who has visited more than 45 countries in support of Getenergy's activities including Iraq, Libya and Equatorial Guinea. His opinion is increasingly sought by Ministers and their governments in matters connected to developing sustainable economic value through training and education funded by oil and gas activities. Jim is a consultant, researcher and writer working in the field of education and skills development. He is Founder and Managing Director of the London-based education consultancy White Loop. Jim's work over the last 10 years has focussed on understanding the dynamic between education and employment, exploring the challenges of how we prepare young people for the twenty-first century and developing new thinking around how education can have real impact on wellbeing and quality of life. Jim's work is built around a deep understanding of how people learn allied to an ability to engage, analyse and interpret evidence and opinion and produce outputs that are compelling and accessible. He has worked with partners and collaborators in more than 20 countries around the world and is increasingly focussed on exploring the potential for education as a means of promoting development objectives in Africa. In 2011, he was approached by Getenergy Events to become involved in developing their research and intelligence function. In 2014, Jim was part of the team that established Getenergy Intelligence and assumed the role of Managing Director, a position that will see him lead on the authoring of all four of the Getenergy Guides volumes.