Graduate of the Master’s Degree Program European Energy Business Assesses the Situation

It is not an easy task to study part-time at a university, and it is an even greater challenge when you also want to work in an industry that tends to be dominated by men. Evelyn Cybok rose to the challenge and successfully completed her master’s degree program after two years. But these are not the only things that are crucial to be able to successfully graduate. Good, advance planning and coordination with your employer as well as with people in your personal life are also essential. Per semester, 2 weeks in class and 4 weekends are planned into the interdisciplinary curriculum. In addition to the learning-intensive phases in class, the additional distance-learning elements provide the opportunity to learn the material in a flexible way. During her degree program, Ms. Cybok already worked in the energy business, and she dealt more with the area of “renewable energies” at that time. However, this very exciting and important subsection of the industry was not enough. She wanted to broaden her horizons and understand the “big picture” of the energy business, which also meant being able to evaluate upcoming trends and tendencies in a timely way. “My degree program helped me to interpret political and business decisions on the basis of the knowledge and experience of my fellow students and to implement these decisions professionally,” says Evelyn Cybok about her degree program.

Some things have changed on the energy market especially in recent years, and more and more women are taking the challenge and making their career in the energy sector. The “Woman4Energy” platform was created to design communication in this strongly growing market in a way that is as thorough and focused as possible and to be able to recognize goals as well as current trends more easily. Stakeholders from scientific research and industrial companies interact here to work together on finding innovative solutions and new business models. It is about networking and knowledge transfer between research institutions and businesses. 

Women4Energy focuses on six subject areas:

1. Clean coal technologies
2. European smart electric grids & electric storage
3. Intelligent, energy-efficient buildings and cities
4. Energy from chemical fuels  
5. Renewables
6. Sustainable nuclear & renewable energy convergence

Evelyn Cybok is part of this network and tries to pass on the knowledge that she gained during her part-time degree program in combination with the related professional experience. “Woman4Energy” regularly holds conferences where members can participate to also have interaction at a personal level.