On Wednesday 16th October 2024, Dr Jae-Hwan Park launched the Industry Professional Talk Series in Engineering Management. The first speaker, Shaharyar Jawaid, a distinguished Global Digital Development Thought Leader and Policy Advisor from the Islamic Development Bank, was invited to speak to MSc Engineering Management students and MSc students from all disciplines within the School of Engineering and Materials Science.

With a talk titled Navigating the Digital Horizon: Global Trends, Opportunities, and Challenges in the Era of Digitalisation, Mr Jawaid shared his insights and experiences on the transformative impact of digitalisation. As a Queen Mary alumnus who studied MSc Electrical Engineering, he offered valuable advice to our students on pursuing careers in international organisations.

The students gave positive feedback:

• "I'm so grateful to have been invited and look forward to meeting and learning from more industry professionals in the future! Thank you again – I really appreciate you organising this event."
• "Thank you for organising such a fruitful event. It was great to gain insight into what is happening within the AI market from such an experienced individual like Mr Jawaid. It was both educational and informative. Please do not let it end here – kindly continue arranging more industry talks."
• "I really enjoyed today’s talk. I found this topic much more interesting compared to others from previous talks. It was extremely beneficial, in my opinion. Thank you for your efforts and for providing us with these opportunities."
• "I really appreciated the content in Syed's speech, particularly his discussion about overcoming barriers to internet access to provide more resources for people in remote areas. I believe the virtual world built by the internet could be the 'living' space of the future, as depicted in the movie Ready Player One. Therefore, cybersecurity is a crucial topic for all internet users."

We look forward to hosting more thought-provoking talks in this series and welcoming further opportunities for students to engage with industry leaders.