A Chemical Engineer’s Festive University Challenge

Article by Aniqah Majid

BBC/ITV Studios - Lifted Entertainment

FROM its spritely string quartet opening theme, to its programme of notoriously difficult questions, University Challenge has become its own UK institution.

The quiz show has been adorning Britain’s TV screens and bamboozling the public since the early 1960s, with higher education institutions battling it out over who knows the most about everything from 5th century European history to Europop. “It is hard,” says Yasmin Ali, an IChemE member who will appear in this year’s Christmas series.

“If you've watched bits of University Challenge, most of the questions are unanswerable.” Yasmin cycled a short distance from Pimlico to chat with me at IChemE’s satellite office in Westminster.

Sat at our small meeting table, she recalls bashfully about the show: “There were a couple of questions where I thought, if I don't get this right, I'll probably lose my job.”

The challenge

The Christmas series diverges from the traditional University Challenge set up, where instead of teams made up of current university students, quizmaster Amol Rajan tests the trivia skills of notable alumni. 

This year, 56 alumni from 14 universities, including Durham University and Worcester College, Oxford will be participating in the much-loved programme. 

Yasmin captained the University of Nottingham team. Her teammates include elephant conservation scientist Rutendo Shackleton, professor of applied criminology Lynn Saunders, and sports broadcaster Clive Tyldesley. Audiences will see the team go head-to-head with Leeds Trinity University, which was captained by BBC Radio 1 Lauren Layfield. 

Even with the “lovely” Rajan leading the jovial series, Yasmin recalls her team being nervous.

“I was trying to calm everyone down. I said to the team ‘If you know the answer, just buzz in and say it. It's all good fun’.” 

Yasmin says she cannot reveal too much about the specifics of her episode, but explains how it follows the typical University Challenge line of questioning, with each round opening with a starter question and the team that buzzes in fastest with the correct answer awarded a series of bonus questions, which can include music rounds and picture rounds. 

“I've never done a quiz show before. I have done a little bit of TV but more as an expert, talking head-type who explains how certain scientific things work, so being on a fun quiz show was very different.”

The conversation quickly turns to Yasmin’s career as a chemical engineer which has involved her working across a range of disciplines in the energy sector.

She attained a master’s degree in chemical engineering from the University of Nottingham in 2010, where she says the focus of the course has shifted recently in tow with the UK’s energy transition efforts. 

“I do feel that my course was very oil and gas heavy, we spent an enormous amount of time doing distillation column calculations.”

She adds: “Speaking to people who are studying at Nottingham now and some of the professors, the course is a lot different. 

“The design project isn't necessarily just about producing chemicals or something to do with the refining process, they have started to change and adapt it to the engineering world of today and the problems of today.”

Nottingham’s advanced MSc course for chemical engineering now offers core modules in renewable energy, computational methods, and water treatment. 

A lot of options

At university, Yasmin cast her net wide for her career prospects and what she wanted from her degree.

“I wanted something that would give me lots of options,” she says. And it was an outreach leaflet from IChemE’s Whynotchemeng campaign that turned her head. “It listed food, pharmaceuticals, water purification, all these different sectors that you can work in as an engineer.” 

Yasmin initially found herself in the traditional oil and gas sector with E.ON, first joining its graduate programme and then leading various roles in operations, exploration, and managing energy centres. 

“That was seven years into my career, and I would say throughout that the importance of the energy systems in terms of climate change was becoming clearer to me. 

“And then I saw some of my friends and colleagues start to move into wind and move into other sectors.”

A swift transition

Stepping away from oil and gas, Yasmin took some time off to re-examine her career and what she wanted to do with the skillset she had. This involved working in energy innovation funding with the now dissolved UK government Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS). 

She says it was an “incredible experience”. Working with the government allowed her to fully understand the whole UK energy system and how low-carbon technologies including hydrogen intersect with it. The experience helped Yasmin leapfrog into hydrogen project development and her current role with Germany energy company RWE. 

The need for engineers moving into clean energy is clear. The Climate Change Committee (CCC) estimates that between 135,000-725,000 net new jobs could be created in low carbon sectors by 2030. Additionally the government is making plans to support the current energy workforce, three million of which it estimates will need reskilling. 

However, having made the transition, Yasmin says the barrier of moving into clean energy was not the skills, but the recruitment process. 

“I don't think it's as big of a shift as people make it out to be,” Yasmins says. “I would say my barriers were more around the people who are hiring, who weren’t willing to give someone a chance who doesn't have, on paper, the exact skills they were looking for.

“When I left E.ON, I had been working in district heating and when I was looking for jobs during my time off, everything that was coming to me through recruiters were just other district heating jobs.”

Her advice for hiring managers is simple: engineers are professionals so give them a chance to catch up to speed, and they will “start being useful”. 

Communicating science

Chemical engineers work in such a wide range of fields it can be difficult to succinctly define the job and its importance. 

Through her science commentary, Yasmin has worked to explain the role engineers play in the energy transition and how the job goes beyond running tests in a power station. 

Earlier this year, she had her first book published. It’s called Power Up: An Engineer’s Adventures into Sustainable Energy. In the book, Yasmin takes us around the world to look at the different energy sources, including hydrogen, solar, and nuclear, that power our networks, as well as the experts who keep those networks running.  

Yasmin says: “When I go into schools and talk about what I do, it takes me out of that day job and reminds me why I do what I do, otherwise I can get a bit get caught up in the weeds and frustrated with small things.”

She adds: “I think engineering is a great career and I just want to tell people that, so they have the option.”

Her ventures outside of her day job include working with BBC Radio, the Smithsonian Channel, and even performing power station-themed standup comedy. 

As for her University Challenge appearance, Yasmin wants audiences to know one thing: “I'm not that good under pressure, I did find I was kicking myself afterwards for a few of the questions.”

Smiling, she says cautiously: “I just want people to be nice.”

The Christmas series of University Challenge has begun airing on BBC Two and is available on BBC iPlayer. Yasmin’s episode airs at 20:30 GMT on 27 December. 

Article by Aniqah Majid

Staff reporter, The Chemical Engineer

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