Patricio Barrera

What attracted you to the Department of STEaPP at UCL?

The combination of social and engineering sciences present in the MPA degree, which I believe is a good reflection of the disciplines that are normally required to tackle complex societal challenges.

What was your favourite aspect of your course?

The ability to expand my knowledge and experiences by having the opportunity to complete a group project with the UK government, not to mention the outstanding people that are part of the department which not only support you to achieve your objectives but can sometimes act as mentors.

What did you enjoy most about studying in London?

Definitely one of the most diverse cities I know and personally, one of the aspects I enjoyed the most was the fact that it provides an interesting global perspective in regards to innovation, projects, and developments happening across the world that find a stage in London.

Please provide your current job title and the name of your organisation

Downstream, Renewables & Energy Solutions - Country Integration Lead at Shell

Please provide a brief summary of your role and the skills that you use

1) As the Downstream businesses grow in Mexico, there will be consequent changes to the organisation and its processes. The Integration Team supports cross-business projects, across market geographies, in multiple languages and wide set of skills, intending to follow Global Operating Standards to meet local customers’ expectations.

• Business integration provides a competitive advantage to deploy high-scale strategic projects, along with its respective Change and Performance Management to leverage on business scale and internationally integrated value chains.
• Main business partner in Mexico to deliver strategic projects based on business economic value and group’s objectives.

2) Involved in Shell’s biggest strategy update aimed to shift into an energy company achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 or sooner and transitioning to lower-carbon fuels with a customer-centric approach. Supporting the decarbonisation of key industries such as Aviation, Marine, Mobility and driving the cultural change within the organisation.

• Supporting the creation of the new Sectors & Decarbonisation business and aligning executive teams to deploy energy transition plans.
• Global PM dedicated to consult business VPs on opportunities to adapt to the new strategy and build new ways of working.

How has your degree at STEaPP shaped your experiences since leaving UCL?

My MPA degree has allowed to understand several socioeconomic dynamics across the energy industry, starting with the opening of the energy market in Mexico and continuing with the evolving energy needs of today and well into the future, positioning me to not only understand the current businesses and their value chains but also prepare and embrace how the energy landscape will look like in the near future.

What advice would you give to current or prospective students?

From my point of view UCL really is a global university and having the opportunity to share ideas coming from varied realities across the world is an invaluable experience to grow personally and professionally, but also to prepare you to make a difference in your field.