1. ENGINEERSAUSTRALIA.ORG.AU70
PEOPLE
Earlier this year, civil/environmental
engineer Kate Francis from Hyder
Consulting (now Arcadis) won the
Rising Star Award at the Women in
Industry Awards. The award is for
women in their first five years in the
industry and recognised both her work
and her extra-curricular contributions.
She spoke with Christopher Connolly.
Risingstar
Francis
Kate
Q. Congratulations on the award.
Can you tell us a bit about the
extra-curricular activities you
were nominated for?
I tutor a second-year environmental engineering subject,
and a first-year introduction to civil engineering subject
at QUT. I’m involved in the course and lesson planning,
with both of those. I’ve previously, in other semesters,
provided one-on-one learning support to Indigenous
students studying engineering, helping them on a week-
to-week basis and with their exam preparation.
I really enjoy it, and I think it’s a good opportunity to
tell students how the things that they’re learning will
actually relate to the work that they’ll do in a practical
sense. I know I’m one of many different roles that a civil
engineer could do. I like to think that I provide some
sort of relationship between the assignments and what
they’re studying, and how they’ll actually apply this
information in industry. They can see that it’s beneficial
and worthwhile.
I sit on two Women in Engineering committees, one
through QUT alumni, and one through the Engineers
Australia group. One of the women in that suggested I
nominate for the Rising Star Award to reflect the work
that I do with these groups, as well as the tutoring work
I do at QUT. I had a chat about it with a manager at
Get involved! As
well as working
full time as an
engineer, Kate
Francis tutors
students at QUT.

2. ENGINEERS AUSTRALIA | DECEMBER 2015 71
I chose the civil and
environmental side because
I was interested in the
large-scale infrastructure
type projects and also
environmental management.
work who also thought it was a good idea, so I put an
application together, and I ended up winning it, which
was a nice surprise.
Q. You did a double major in civil and
environmental engineering. What
inspired you to go down that path?
I guess I chose engineering because I enjoyed the maths
and science-type subjects at school, but I wasn’t exactly
sure what I wanted to do. I remember going to a QUT
careers fair and the way they marketed engineering, it
seemed to provide a lot of options as to the type of job
that you could have after graduation.
That’s why I chose engineering in general. I chose the
civil and environmental side because I was interested
in the large-scale infrastructure-type projects and also
environmental management.
I really enjoyed it throughout uni, and in a work
sense it’s really good to know that things that I’ve
helped design and be a part of are now used every
day by people.
Q. Are there any projects you’re
particularly proud of?
I was quite involved in the approval and stakeholder
consultation phase for a high-rise in Fortitude Valley,
which is still in construction. Knowing that I was a part
of actually getting this up and running has been good.
The other project that I’ve been heavily involved in
quite recently, is a small-scale residential subdivision
in Brisbane. It’s a smaller job. I’ve been given a lot more
responsibility in organising the contractors, organising
the civil design, getting everything approved through
council. We’ve just finished construction, and the site
looks really good. It’s nice to know families will be able
to build their houses on it, and have a place to live.
Q. Was Hyder the first place you
worked for out of university?
Yes, I’ve been with the company for almost three years
now. It was my first full-time role out of uni. I worked
with a few other companies during my degree to get
undergraduate experience and, I suppose, a feel for what
direction I wanted to take my career in after graduation.
I originally started out in the transport team here doing
projects for the Department of Transport & Main Roads,
bidding and tendering. I was there for a few months, and
then switched over to urban development.
Q. Can you describe your role there?
It starts with working with the client to get their concept:
civil engineering designs, earthworks, road works,
stormwater, erosion sediment control. We then take that
through to detailed design. I also have time out on-site,
doing construction administration and supervision,
liaising with the contractors who are actually
undertaking the works. Every day, I communicate with
developers, contractors, government authorities, and
service providers. It is quite a wide variety of things that I
do in this role, and I’m very lucky working in a really great
team which is very supportive.
Q. Looking further off into the future,
do you have any particular goals
for your career?
My main goal at the moment is just to keep learning
and developing my technical skills, which will help
me work toward achieving chartered status. That’s
something I’d like to do in the next couple of years. I
really enjoy working in property development. It’s quite
a fast-paced and challenging industry. I’d like to stick
within this area, but ultimately, many years down the
track, working towards a management-type position
within the company would be good.
Q. What’s appealing to you about the
chartered status?
It’s just being recognised by the industry as being a
proficient and capable engineer. I think it’s something
that companies really value, and I think it’s important to
certify that you’re a competent engineer.
It’s one of those things that you wouldn’t want to do
before you’re 100% ready. It’s a lot of responsibility. I’d
hope within the next five years, that I would be ready to
be chartered.
Q. Do you have any particular advice
you would give to somebody starting
their first job as an engineer?
Based on my experience, I’d tell any graduate that it
would be beneficial for them to get involved in your work,
and in the industry as much as possible. Putting your
hand up for a variety of projects at work really expands
your technical knowledge early on and allows you to see
how all the different disciplines function together to
deliver the projects that we work on.