Here’s what happens when you put an engineering graduate in charge

Alice Parish-Matheson is used to dealing with big projects. As a process engineer on engineering consultancy KBR’s graduate scheme, her job involves trying to improve the design of large facilities such as oil refineries all over the world.

So it doesn’t seem that surprising that Alice was able to transfer her problem-solving skills to the discipline of project management and help propel her company to victory in a national competition.

The ACTIVE Cup is a chance for all kinds of professionals in the construction industry to learn and test project management techniques. Teams have just two days to run a simulated project, such as the design and building of an environmental plant, in which every hour that passes equals a week in the contest.

In that time they have to organise contracts, manage workflows and deal with unexpected events such as workers’ strikes in an attempt to hit their profit targets – and somehow fit in a few hours’ sleep.