Federico Consonni

After graduating from my M.Sc. in Chemical Engineering, I started working as Process Engineer in an EPC contractor in Italy. Although I was excited to participate in real-word engineering projects, I realized I’d rather be involved in endeavours where innovative thinking and non-conventional approaches would be regarded as valuable assets, with a focus on sustainable processes and technologies.
Driven by this motivation, I looked for an advanced educational programme with an industry-oriented focus and I identified the EngD Traineeship in Process & Equipment Design as the type of experience I was looking for.

After having completed the programme, I can confirm this was indeed an excellent choice. The EngD allowed me to deepen my expertise in chemical process design, broaden my knowledge in other topics (e.g., economics, policymaking), and cultivate multiple soft skills such as stakeholder management, project management and technical writing. 

I constantly applied these skills to real-world innovative projects and I could see the impact of my results. For example, in my Individual Design Project at Shell I designed novel process concepts for Blue Hydrogen production, and I could see how my results influenced the technology maturation strategy.

Thanks to my EngD experience, I was soon able to find a job in R&D right after finishing the programme. I am currently working as Process Development Engineer at Shell, and during my daily work I constantly recognize how instrumental the learnings gained during my EngD are: from dealing with uncertainties, to screening multiple process concepts - this program really provides the perfect background to boost a career in R&D in the chemical or energy industries.

Last but not least, the programme allowed me to meet amazing people from every corner of the world: EngD colleagues soon turned into close friends, giving me a true family feeling. They helped me feeling home in The Netherlands and are still some of my closest friends nowadays.