A few years ago, the AAPG Middle East Region’s Council (AAPG-MER) – realizing the growing importance and numbers of Young Professionals’ (YPs) involvement in the Region’s activities – established the Young Professionals and Student Support team (YPSS) to oversee the Region’s YP and student activities.
The YPSS’ role is to strengthen the links among YPs, students and the AAPG-MER Council by promoting the Council’s vision of an integrated communication network.
Through the YPSS chairperson, the Council ensures that YPs and students receive the benefits and opportunities afforded by AAPG, companies and educational institutes.
The YPSS team, under the supervision and guidance of the AAPG-MER, manages many Regional activities, including the Imperial Barrel Award Competition, YP Meet-N-Greets, short courses and workshops, the Student Chapter liaisons and the YP and Student Conference.
The YPSS team has successfully established new Student Chapters and reactivated existing chapters by organizing university visits to encourage students to apply for membership and take advantage of the services provided by AAPG. These efforts resulted in a significant increase in student membership and a greater number of Student Chapters organizing social activities, field trips and fundraising events for their respective universities.
In addition, the YPSS has organized and coordinated three successful Imperial Barrel Award Regional Competitions.
Since 2010, the Imperial Barrel Award – Middle East Region Competition has become an important annual event in the Region – two MER teams received third place awards in the IBA finals competition held during the 2010 and 2011 AAPG Annual Convention and Exhibition.
Following these successes, the number of universities participating in the IBA competition has doubled from three teams in 2010 and 2011 to six teams in 2012. These teams are often aided by YPs who participated in the IBA as students.
The YPSS team activities, including the IBA-MER Competition, were recently showcased at the tenth Middle East Geosciences Conference and Exhibition (GEO 2012-Bahrain). The YPSS produced an exciting program that included:
♦ The third Imperial Barrel Award – Middle East Region Competition.
♦ Short Courses, which included:
- Fundamentals of Oil and Gas.
- The Petroleum Industry in the Next Decade: An Overview to the Science, Technology and AAPG.
♦ Meet-N-Greet events.
♦ Soft skills workshops, which included:
- Presentation Skills.
- Business Writing.
- C.V. Writing.
Since joining the AAPG-MER Council, the YPSS team has been able to continue playing a vital role in establishing links and strengthening relationships among YPs and students, companies, universities and the AAPG.
Through its networking events, technical short courses, workshops and leadership opportunities, the YPSS team has demonstrated that continued participation from students and YPs is a bridge to a brighter future and a proven strategy for success.