b'24 Member News March 2020VolunteersVolunteering without limits:Young Professional Ozaks journey from PhD student to IET Council and Board memberAt just 28 years old, Dr Ozak Obazi-Esu MIET has certainlyThe Volunteer made her mark on the industry, both for her engineeringEngagement Board (VEB)prowess and her strong commitment to volunteering. supporting IET volunteersThe VEB was established in October 2016 as part of the changes in the IETs governance. It is responsible for the planning and implementation of the IETs volunteer engagement strategy. As part of the delivery of the strategy, the VEB ensures there is an effective and efficient plan that is underpinned by one-team working between staff and volunteers.As a member of Council, Ozak was also required to sit on one of the IETs three Main Boards: Knowledge Services and Solutions; Membership and Professional Development; or Volunteer Engagement. Now a member of the IET Volunteer Engagement Board (VEB), Ozak is confident that she will be able to make a valuable contribution: The VEB is all about volunteer support strategy and governanceand based on the experiences of my friends within the industry, I know that a lot still needs to be done, to make the Born in Nigeria, Ozak came to the UK inof volunteering across 12 months for theengineering profession an equal place for 2008 to do a three-year degree in ElectronicIET, including helping out at IET events andwomen and ethnic minorities.and Electrical Engineering at Loughboroughjudging IET competitions.At her first VEB meeting, conversationUniversity. She was quick to join the IET andShe also accepted an invitation to joinflowed easily. Ozak said:get involved in volunteering. the IET Horizons Bursary Committee in In 2011 she was awarded a three-yearSeptember 2018; an enlightening experience scholarship to study for a PhD in Wind Energythat revealed the personal challenges thatEveryone was encouraged to give input. and Advanced Signal Processing. At thissome aspiring engineers had faced in theI met some very senior women engineers point she consciously ramped up her IETpursuit of their career ambitions. there. As a Young Professional, that was volunteering activities, including supportingvery inspiring. Every person at the table the childrens FIRST LEGO League for threeGoing from strength to strength, in Novembermattered and their opinion mattered: they seasons. Then in 2014, Ozak took up a full- 2018 Ozak was nominated by the IET Board ofgot their point across, everybody listened time Graduate Engineer position at Cundall.Trustees to stand for election to Council. As aand then discussed it together.Studying in her own time, she succeeded inYoung Professional it certainly hadnt been on my completing her PhD two years later.radar because I thought that Council membership was only for people who had accomplished a lot After winning the IETs coveted Youngand were in the advanced stage of their career,The meeting was well chairedif the rest of Woman Engineer of the Year Award in 2017,she says. I was chuffed to be nominated andthe meetings are like that first one, Im sure Ozak completed an astonishing 350 hoursthen very, very chuffed to be elected. Im going to have a cracking time!Interested in becoming a volunteer? Find out more at: theiet.org/volunteer-roles'