Young Researcher Program: Developing Today's Innovators and Tomorrow's Leaders

Is your education and training complete after you graduate from university? In today's competitive world, the answer is a resounding "no." Success in your career requires that you create a plan, take advantage of all the resources and opportunities to hone your skills, and continue to learn. That is part of the motivation for the development of the Young Researcher Program (YRP) at Saudi Aramco's Advanced Research Center (EXPEC ARC), the company's upstream research and development center. The program was established with the objective of developing self-motivated and innovative researchers who lead in their area of specialty and support the company's vision, mission and strategic goals. It provides an opportunity for qualified engineers and geoscientists to become engineering/scientific specialists and, at the same time, provides the company with advanced technical expertise in the specialties for which there is a critical need. The program has a clear structure with distinct phases, and qualified candidates are matched with the most appropriate mentors. This strategy ensures that the young researchers obtain the required experience, further education and exposure for their chosen specialty. The program provides a roadmap for optimizing the professional growth and advancement of candidates. The program is sufficiently flexible to respond to candidates' training and work requirements, and enables them to achieve higher levels of competence and productivity. An important part of the program is the close relationship between the mentee and their mentor. This paper will highlight the main features of the unique and successful program to develop young researchers. It will describe the program, roles and responsibilities of various entities, graduation requirements and its tracking and evaluation. It presents a success story that can be the basis for others to follow.