Bruna Tavares, a researcher at INESC TEC, was one of the guest speakers at the session Women in Engineering: Percurso Académico e Carreira Profissional, organised by the Power and Energy Society (PES) and Vehicular Technology Society (VTS) chapters of IEEE Portugal. Alongside Beatriz Simões, an engineer at EDP Renováveis, Bruna shared her academic and research journey in the field of power & energy systems.
She had long known that her future would be in the energy sector, particularly in renewable energy; she just hadn’t realised it would begin at INESC TEC. Bruna Tavares, a researcher in Power & Energy Systems, recalled her path – starting from when she began her master’s in Electrical and Computer Engineering at the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto (FEUP), in 2011.
At INESC TEC, she developed her master’s thesis, “Sensory fusion applied to power system state estimation considering information theory concepts”, supervised by Vladimiro Miranda, the Institute’s director – a work that went on to win the REN Award in 2017. What is certain is that Bruna found INESC TEC to be a “space of freedom”, which allowed her to carry out research in different areas, like power grid planning, flexibility services, integration of distributed energy resources, and multi-energy systems. More recently, she completed her PhD in sustainable energy systems.
In addition to her journey, the researcher also spoke about her day-to-day life and a routine that is never quite the same, with her time divided between writing papers, reports, and project proposals; developing code in different programming languages – “which can be either a relaxing moment or a real headache when unknown bugs appear”; and disseminating her work, by participating in conferences, project consortium meetings, or networking events.
Bruna Tavares also shared her experience of being involved in the Women in Energy initiative – a network aimed at promoting networking and empowering women, encouraging them to be more active in the field.
The session, which aimed to showcase careers in engineering and power & energy, while promoting discussions around women’s experiences in the engineering world, also featured Beatriz Simões (currently working at the Centro de Despacho do Porto – EDP Renováveis). With a master’s degree in Industrial Electronics and Computer Engineering from the University of Minho, Beatriz shared that she was awarded a merit grant from E-REDES, a milestone in her journey, which ultimately intersected with EDP Renováveis. “The most important thing is to give our best and be professional above all,” she explained.
In addition to these two great examples of academic and professional paths, the session also included a debate about the presence of women in engineering, particularly in energy-related fields. It is widely acknowledged that more women are entering these careers, but there is still a lot to be made. Events like the one promoted by the PES and VTS chapters of IEEE Portugal are important initiatives that help to increase representation and encourage more people to pursue a career in engineering.
The Women in Engineering: Percurso Académico e Carreira Profissional event took place on July 16.
The researcher mentioned in this news piece is associated with INESC TEC.
News, current topics, curiosities and so much more about INESC TEC and its community!
