EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT
BECOMING A SUSTAINABLE AND SMART CITIES CONSULTANT FREELANCER
Does the sustainable and smart cities world fascinate your students? Are they eager to work in the field of energy, climate change, sustainable mobility, and waste management? If they are interested in creating greener and sustainable cities, they should know Cornelia Dinca, a sustainable and smart cities consultant freelancer. She oversees bridging between technical and non-technical aspects of urban innovation projects. Are you willing to know more about her profession? Get to know Cornelia Dinca, a sustainable and smart cities consultant freelancer!
Meet Cornelia Dinca
To create this STEM Job Profile, we had the chance to talk to Cornelia Dinca, a Sustainable and Smart Cities Consultant Freelancer. She is currently working as a Programme Manager for Open and Agile Smart Cities (OASC) and International Liaison for Amsterdam Smart City. Her work focuses on connecting people and ideas, and especially bridging between technical and non-technical aspects of urban innovation projects. She holds a bachelor’s in Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, and a master’s in Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Amsterdam.
“One of the biggest inspirations shaping my career path was a three-week study abroad program I went on during my undergraduate program. I travelled through China, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam, learning about environmental and urbanization challenges in the Mekong Basin. I discovered a very different way of looking at complex problems, which I found much more inspiring than what I had been exposed to in engineering. It made me realize that at heart I was much more an ecologist than an engineer.”
Curious to find out more about this job? Read about the related skills and scroll down to find and download her career sheet!
SKILLS
Find out the key skills to become a sustainable and smart cities consultant freelancer.
Data Analysis
When implementing solutions to make cities more sustainable, is fundamental to study the data to understand if the project is addressing the problems and fulfilling its goals.
Analytical Reasoning
As a Sustainable and Smart Cities Consultant, “my role is to make sure that the technical solutions developed will actually be useful for non-technical stakeholders, including civil servants and citizens.”
Collaboration
Working as a consultant freelancer means “coordinating and carrying out project work, group activities, organising knowledge-sharing events, and continuously connecting people.”
Social Skills
During most of the working day of a consultant freelancer is spent dealing with people. To make the projects work, bridging between technical people like developers and non-technical stakeholders is fundamental.
Flexibility
The work of a consultant freelancer varies a lot, there is almost no typical working day. It’s necessary to be able to adapt to the needs of the different collaborators and projects.
Initiative
Working as a consultant freelancer in the field of sustainable and smart cities requires people with strong initiative to create new collaborations and projects.
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Advice to take away
“My advice to students is to pursue their passions and interests. I think it’s also important to try and adopt a “do-no-harm” approach. We often want to make a positive impact, but I consider our world desperately needs everyone to make an effort to do less harm – both in our personal and professional lives.” – Cornelia Dinca
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0: all the materials and content presented on this STEM Job profile have been co-created by STE(A)M IT, in collaboration with DUET, a project funded by the EU Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No.870697.
