Colleague Mieke Fordeyn awarded Engineer of the Year 2024

On 24 September, the jury named our Mieke Fordeyn Engineer of the Year 2024. Mieke is with us for 30 years now and, after many years in the Middle East and Singapore, has grown out to be Director International Division.

The jury chose her "because of her profile as a broad-minded engineer and manager in a technical-commercial function within a company operating worldwide, her commitment to STEM in schools, and her international career in the construction and dredging sector. Throughout her long career at Jan De Nul, she demonstrates that successful engineers rely on so much more than just their technical knowledge. Successfully combining broad substantive expertise with interpersonal and commercial qualities make her an example of a thinking, connecting and solution-oriented engineer."

Congratulations on your election as Engineer of the Year, Mieke! Can you tell us a bit about your background and how you started at Jan De Nul?

Thank you! I graduated as a civil engineer in structural engineering and joined Jan De Nul immediately after my studies. I have now been working here for 30 years, part of which has been in the Middle East and Singapore. I have been Director International Division for ten years.

What makes working at Jan De Nul so appealing to you?

What I love about Jan De Nul is that the result of our work is tangible. When I drive over Palm Island in Dubai, make a stopover at Istanbul airport or visit the beach in Knokke, I know I contributed to these landmarks. The diversity is also very enriching. Every project is different, and we have clients and colleagues from just about every part of the world.  All try to contribute their part to the end result from their own backgrounds. 

That is also why there is a great diversity of positions and careers at Jan De Nul. At my job interview, they said that there is a place for everyone, and that turned out to be the case for me. I started at the engineering office with stability calculations, but then I quickly followed up on execution of projects, first in Belgium, then abroad. 

Jan De Nul operates in various sectors. Can you tell us more about recent developments within the company?

Sure! We have been building offshore infrastructure for decades and these have always included difficult and challenging projects. The challenges are different each time: earthquakes, cyclones, emissions, local employment, biodiversity restoration, different forms of financing and contracts. These are aspects that even we did not venture into before but whose risks we can properly assess with our current knowledge. We are also one of the big players in the offshore wind market and things are moving incredibly fast there. Everything is new and nothing is taken for granted. Turbines and piles are constantly getting bigger and heavier; if you are not careful, ships will be obsolete after ten years. 

You often talk about the complexity of modern engineering jobs. What do you think are the most important skills for an engineer today?

The geek version of the engineer has been outdated for a while. Soft skills, such as coaching, storytelling and holistic thinking, are part of the job. An engineer must be able to find out the drivers behind the views of customers, governments, local residents, investors. These must then be integrated into a design that can also convince non-engineers.

Jan De Nul has established the JDN Academy. What is its purpose?

The JDN Academy is our internal training body that supports engineers in developing not only technical, but also administrative, financial and legal knowledge, and of course soft skills. We want to prepare our engineers for the complexity of modern projects by training them with concrete cases and lessons learned from projects that have gone well or the opposite.

What are your thoughts on the future of the engineering sector?

The problems we need to solve are increasingly embedded in official structures. The engineer has to find an affordable solution within the mix of standards and legislation and also be able to explain them clearly and simply. On the other hand, there are now a lot more tools and data at our disposal and the demand for infrastructure has never been greater. I don't think our job will be threatened any time soon.

How do you see the role of women in engineering evolving?

Twenty years ago, I was the only female engineer in an operational position in the industry. We have not yet achieved parity, but diversity in the team has become natural. We also do our best to meet specific needs 

What are your ambitions for the coming years?

I am optimistic about the future. At Jan De Nul, we are focusing on sustainable growth and innovation. That will play an important role in how and what we will do. Factors like global warming and geopolitics have a huge impact on our business. There are lots of factors beyond our control but the industry has proven over the last 150 years that it can always adapt quickly.