​On 28 November, the LIP organised a forum focused on Sustainability and Renewable Energy, bringing together both current participants and alumni. The event showcased insightful presentations by guest speakers Ty Christopher, Director of Energy Futures Network at UOW, and Dr Clayton McDowell, UOW’s Associate Director of Sustainability.
 
The presentations delved into UOW’s various sustainability initiatives, assessing their performance against targets, and emphasised their commitment to achieving carbon neutrality by 2030. Ty Christopher provided a comprehensive overview in his presentation, "Energy Grids 101," covering the evolution from traditional one-way electricity generation to the complexities of the modern electricity grid with multi-way power flows. This breakdown made the intricate subject accessible to the entire audience. Ty also explained the relative efficiency, advantages, and disadvantages of solar, offshore wind, onshore wind, hydrogen, and nuclear energy in both the Illawarra and Australian contexts, providing expert insights into a topic that has been very popular in the Illawarra in recent months.
 
Following the presentations, a panel discussion was held with the presenters and LIP participants Dr Leela Kempton and Isabelle Ghetti. Facilitated by Debra Murphy, the discussion allowed for a deeper exploration of the LIP’s key questions and provided valuable insights into the role individuals can play in championing sustainability in their workplaces and homes.
 
Dr Leela Kempton further enriched the experience by leading a tour of UOW’s Sustainable Buildings Research Centre (SBRC), an award-winning ultra-low energy building internationally acclaimed for its efficiency and restoration efforts. The SBRC aims to lead in generating ideas and solutions to address the challenge of transforming buildings to be sustainable, resilient, and effective.
 
Our sincere thanks go to the presenters, panel members, SBRC for hosting us, and Dr Leela Kempton for coordinating the visit. A vote of thanks was delivered by David Ferri on behalf of the LIP, expressing personal commitment to sustainability initiatives and highlighting new-found inspiration and actionable steps that can be taken in our workplaces and communities. The event served as a valuable opportunity for all attendees to deepen their understanding of sustainability and renewable energy while fostering connections with alumni and presenters for potential future collaborations.
 
Our presenters and RDA Illawarra have compiled a list of recommended information sources, available here.

UOW hosted the second of three Master Classes on Saturday 4 November, presented by John Hesketh on Leadership. John shared with the LIP his wealth of international leadership experience, built from his career that started in engineering and progressed to various roles as Managing Director, Principal Consultant, Project Director and now Doctoral Researcher for Sydney Business School - University of Wollongong.
 
We were given a brief history of leadership theories, highlighting the shift over time from theories focussed on individuals and their power influence to the collective leadership theories of more recent years. We then examined today’s leadership challenges, reviewed the characteristics of different leadership styles including visionary, coaching, democratic, pacesetting, commanding and affiliative.

In pairs, the LIP undertook an 'immunity to change' exercise, drilling down on a leadership goal they identified as something they would like to improve. The exercise yielded some surprising, confronting and invaluable results.

The LIP enjoyed taking a day to explore leadership theory in more depth through an academic lens, breaking down goals and deriving and assessing their assumptions through the immunity to change class exercise. The Master Class was also a great introduction to the modern leadership styles required for success in today’s environment, leading during ambiguous and uncertain times and the importance of responsible leadership.