In this #PeopleFirst we speak to Rosangela Condori, a second-year student at Technological University of the Shannon (TUS). Rosangela was one of four students chosen for Kirby’s bursary scheme, which was developed to promote women in engineering and launched in 2022.

Rosangela has a passion for people, the environment and the impact engineering can have, both in terms of society, but also on providing equality across the global community. Growing up in Lima, Peru, Rosangela has first-hand experience of the socio-economic benefits that access to infrastructure can have on communities. A reality that was thrown into the spotlight during the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly in her home country, where only about 71.8 percent of the Peruvian population accessed the internet in 2021, with rural communities lagging further behind in terms of access to vital infrastructure.

“This had a huge impact on the home learning of thousands of young people and children, but internet access is only part of the picture. With a total population of 32 million, about 2 million people in Peru lack access to an improved water source, and 4 million lack access to improved sanitation.

“As a country and a people, we are deeply connected with nature and the environment. The Amazon rainforest is a vital resource that needs to be protected as we strive to ensure communities thrive, alongside nature. This is something I am passionate about. “My experiences growing up in Peru give me a unique perspective of the engineering challenges we face across the globe, and as a student of electrical and renewable energy I saw the work Kirby carries out in Power Transmission and Distribution (T&D) – as well as its work in data centres, connecting communities across the globe – and felt we had a shared vision.” says 19-year-old Rosangela.

“For as long as I can remember I have had a strong passion for helping others, whether they were people, animals, or even the environment. These are the strong ethical values that made me who I am, which I later discovered were the essence of engineering,” she adds.

Rosangela is a student ambassador at TUS and hopes to gain more experience after her four-year degree, becoming part of the solution to the engineering challenges that face the planet as we race to net carbon zero.

“By encouraging women to get more involved in engineering/STEM, we are not only diversifying the representation in the industry, but also the way we think about things and come up with solutions. As we face the biggest challenges of our lifetime, more people coming together and working towards solutions can only be a good thing. I am proud to say that this scholarship enables me to support these aims; it is an incredible honour to be part of it and have Kirby’s support.”

Kirby Group Engineering announced in 2022 that it had awarded bursaries to four female students at third level institutions across Ireland. The scheme forms part of our ongoing effort to promote gender diversity in the evolving worlds of engineering and construction. Rosangela Condori was one of those students.

The bursary scheme opened for applications from women studying Electrical, Mechanical or Building Services Engineering in August 2022. Kirby’s Senior Management Team finalised the list of winners following a selection process involving two rounds of interviews scored against specific criteria and competencies.

The current bursary recipients, including Rosangela, are benefitting from:

• Full scholarship to cover the academic year 2022/23
• Paid professional placements on some of Kirby’s leading-edge engineering projects
• Professional mentorship with experienced senior engineers
• The opportunity to become Kirby’s ambassador at their third level institution

To find out more about more about opportunities at Kirby go to: careers.kirbygroup.com.