“Aberdeen has a huge amount of experience that can translate to new industries such as carbon capture and hydrogen.”

Megan Hine (34) is from Yorkshire but lives in Aberdeen. Her work as an Account Manager at Dräger Marine & Offshore focuses on advising companies on gas safety across their offshore operations. She has a particular interest in new, sustainable energy forms and the gas safety implications around new fuels such as hydrogen.

Growing up, I loved the outdoors and sports – from cycling to skiing, horse-riding and hockey. I still love the outdoors and my husband and I try to take full advantage of being based in such a beautiful part of the UK. We recently did a tour of the North Coast 500 in classic sportscars – cars are another passion of ours and we spend a lot of our spare time lovingly restoring our small collection of classic vehicles.

I have always worked in some form of sales, but I’ve particularly enjoyed working in sectors with a strong technical element. Even when I worked in retail selling ski and mountaineering equipment, I was fascinated by the technology that went into the products. My interest in technology made the transition into the oil and gas industry a real pleasure. I find it fascinating – the depth of knowledge and expertise in Dräger’s worldwide team is incredible.

Working in gas monitoring and detection involves an even greater focus on science and technology than any of my previous roles. The level of knowledge required is greater than I’ve had to achieve previously – physics, chemistry and biology all come into play. And then you add the engineering and communications on top of that!

It's an interesting time to be working in oil and gas as the energy landscape is becoming increasingly complex. There is a potential to decentralise, especially around electricity production, with micro production on a domestic level playing a bigger role than before. Nonetheless, our energy needs are likely to continue to increase, so the transformation is still going to require a huge, centralised industry to produce vast amounts of power. The transition to cleaner energy forms is just that, a transition. The current energy industry will need to continue to allow us to transition in a way that maintains economic stability.

Scotland, and Aberdeen in particular, is very well positioned to play a key role in this transition. The region has a huge body of relevant experience and expertise that translates to new industries such as carbon capture and hydrogen. Dräger is currently working with the University of Aberdeen’s School of Engineering to support the development of its new hydrogen laboratory and provide safety input on several research projects. This will look at the functionality and practicalities of hydrogen as an energy source. It’s a project that I’m heavily involved in, and it’s exciting to be working alongside those at the cutting edge of the development of more sustainable energy sources.

Now is the time that we all must pull together and drive the change that is required within the energy industry. Humanity has adapted its approach to energy and technology many times. This will be another period of transformational change. We need people filled with hope and optimism to be making these changes because time is of the essence. There’s exceptional talent out there ready to support the sector navigate these transformational changes.