b'Education matters realised how much I didnt know Goingneed you to come to the industry andinnovation People who can maintain back into the university system was partmake these changes As a community, wethat child like eagerness of adventure of my learning journey to learn muchare changing our message; but perhapsand learning without encumbrances of more about mineral systems My currentwe should have changed our messagepre-conceived ideas or assumptions are position as Research Director, at CSIROfive or ten years ago who we needMinerals, is really about leadership It has provided an opportunity to help set theWe need these high aspirations,MP: What has changed in the recruitment direction of new exploration technologieswe need to change, and we needprocess in the last twenty years? In the to develop for the future I am quitelast ten years?passionate about that I am reallyyou to come to the industry and passionate about mineral exploration inmake these changes SO: I think the focus on diversity has driven some change The knowledge the mineral industry; I just love it that breaking down the possibilities To mitigate climate change, we actuallyof sub-conscious or implicit bias MP: From your point of view, how canneed the minerals industry, and we need we attract the best young people tothe industry that has traditionally beenin interview panels has helped our geoscience? oil and gas to focus on hydrogen Andrecruitment strategy while Ive been that is the message that we have to getat CSIRO at least Twenty years or so SO: I did not even know what geologyout But we do not want to use it as aago I sat on one interview panel that was when I signed up for it For me,greenwashing message We actuallyquestioned a womans ability (who it was a lucky accident, really, gettingneed to illustrate what we are doingwas younger than I am now) to do the into geology Recently, I have metIt is what we are trying to do at CSIROjob because of the assumption that other people who did the same TheyThere has been a major pivot, workingshe might have elderly parents to look fell into it in a similar way They wereon technologies and methodologiesafter Needless to say I flipped my lid at uni, had to pick up an extra course,to enable a Clean Energy transition,The men on the panel had never met and they did geology and stayed in itand many companies are doing this asher, did not know herbut they made One of the difficulties now, of course, iswell Of course, we can also help withassumptions about her Of course, that we dont always have face-to-facemineral carbonation - locking carbonthis is probably still happening now, interaction with someone when we enrolin rock, rather than releasing it into thebut I hope its not as prevalent I often Our kids hardly have this face-to-faceatmosphere wonder what assumptions people interaction with anybody My eldestmade about me when I walked out of son recently applied to go to universityMP: My next question is what doan interviewonline There was no one for him to speakgovernment organisations like CSIRO to and I think that is killing courses It isexpect from tertiary education in todaysIn the last ten years? Im not sure on this the major barrier for us in geoscience Itrapidly changing mineral resources andI think that we might have been more was never the most popular course Weenergy landscape? focussed on getting the best/most are not even exposing people to it, evenaccomplished person into a position, at that enrolment stage We blame otherSO: I cant speak for everyone But Iwithout focussing as much on how they factors, but that point of enrolment isexpect to see graduates who are willingmight gel in a team etca really important moment I think it isto continue their learning journey with one of the barriers I was not exposed tousin CSIRO We increasingly look forMP: Should we expect evolution or geoscience at school I was brought uppeople with multidisciplinary skills whorevolution in tertiary education to ensure on a farm, so I had geology around meare willing to work on problems wea smooth and efficient transition to clean I did geography in high school, and thatface in geoscience Its no good havingenergy?was as close as I got to geology We dothe best geophysicist in the countrySO: Mmmit should simply be an talk about exposing kids to geoscience atworking with you if they are unableevolution However, I imagine in some school, which I think is important, but ifor unwilling to focus on the problemsquarters asking universities to change we think about when we were at school,at hand People who understandtheir content to support educating not all of us did geoscience that there is a whole lot out there tostudents so they are ready to enable learn, understand that their skills canthe energy transition might be difficult The issue for people now, for kids now,continually be refreshed It can be afor a number of reasons, including the and for the general population now, isbit frightening for some, but what I amnature and structure of tenured staffing the exposure that they get to industryseeing is an eagerness to be agile and toarrangements at universitiesconnected to geoscience is mostlyflex a little when required I also expect negative People might not be attractedgraduates to be able to work as partMP: What role does digitalisation play in to the fly-in-fly-out lifestyle in theof a team, to encourage those aroundthe clean energy transition?minerals and the oil and gas industries Itthem, but to be brave enough to call does not matter if you say to kids that wesomething out when it doesnt sit right SO: Digitisation enables decision still need gas, that we are still driving oursupport tools to help guide exploration cars Many people do not want to join thisWe increasingly look for peopleand mining processes It will play an industry because they simply dont wantwith multidisciplinary skills enormous role in the clean energy to become polluters Children often havetransition I would say that we better higher aspirations, and we should not beMP: How do you see your fresh blood,need easy to access, downloadable data trying to push back on them We shouldnew recruits? and content from government servers/encourage them, and instead should bewebsites as a starter, so that they can be confirming that: We need these highSO: Were all about building diverse andused without good internet connectivity aspirations, we need to change, and weinclusive teams to drive invention andOther support tools, like ones that aid OCTOBER 2022 PREVIEW 28'