Overview

Like rivers carving their own paths, careers often take unexpected turns. Career Currents brings together experienced professionals who have navigated diverse paths after their academic studies some within universities, others across industry, policy, and more. Whether you're a current PhD student, a recent MSc or BSc graduate, or early in your career journey, this event offers insights to help you explore your own direction.

Through their stories, the event will explore the realities of career development beyond graduation, covering transitions between academia and other sectors, the cultivation of transferable skills for diverse environments, and the search for fulfilling roles outside traditional academic tracks. It will address how to cope with uncertainty and make informed decisions at key career junctions, while offering guidance on identifying and evaluating opportunities both within and outside one’s discipline.

Participants will gain insight into strategies for moving between academia and other fields, the influence of skills, networks, and personal values on career choices, and ways professionals manage setbacks or changes in direction. The discussions will also consider broader issues such as balancing passion with stability, confronting doubts about leaving academia, and recognising the hidden skills that academic training provides. Alongside these reflections, the event will present practical tips for navigating career uncertainty, highlight examples of the many career trajectories pursued by graduates, and inspire participants to imagine new possibilities for their own future pathways.

Who is this event for?

This event will be of particular interest to PhD students, early-career academics, MSC and BSc graduates.

Speaker

Dr Federico Perrotta - Principal Consultant, AECOM

Federico is a Principal Consultant, part of the Strategic Consultancy team, at AECOM. He is a Chartered Engineer with over 10 years of experience in the space of road asset management, road surface characteristics, deterioration modelling and pavement LCA.

Currently Vice-chair of CIHT East Midlands Committee, Federico is also CIHT Technical Champion on Climate Resilience, he sits on BSI standards committee B/510/5 on Road Surface Characteristics and is member of PIARC World Road Association TC 2.4 on Road Network Operations and ITS for Sustainability.
Passionate about his job, Federico makes use of his background in research, computer programming and Big Data analytics to model complex physical problems, automate processes and reduce inefficiencies through innovation.

Dr Nandini Chakravorti - Head of Digital Engineering, Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC)

Nandini is the Head of the Digital Engineering group at the Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC), responsible for MTC's Digital Engineering strategy and for helping accelerate the adoption of innovative digital technologies within manufacturing and supply chains. She is a Chartered Engineer with over 20 years of experience with digital technologies within multiple industries.

Nandini leads a group of 90 engineers, spread across verticals such as Manufacturing Informatics (AI, Data Sciences, ICT Systems), Modelling & Simulation and Digital Inspection (using Metrology & Non-Destructive Testing). She is involved in strategy development, recruitment, business development and providing manufacturing system solutions for customers across diverse sectors such as aerospace, rail, food & drink, construction, infrastructure and defence.

Take action: Record your CPD

CPD is defined as any activity that provides new knowledge or skills that help you to achieve your professional development goals or has otherwise helped you to develop as a highways and transportation professional

Plan, record and manage your CPD for free at CIHT Learn.

Need help with getting the most out of your CPD access CIHT’s CPD Guidance here.

Accessibility and Inclusion, Help & Support

We are working to ensure that the event is as comfortable and inclusive as possible.

You can contact us in confidence to ask questions and/or to let us know of any accessibility requirements or adjustments that you may have: regions@ciht.org.uk