Emerging Leader Award leads to further study for Dilys

June 27 2025

Our 2025 ACE New Zealand People Awards are now open and we want to hear about the amazing mahi consultants are doing within their organisations and communities.  

Applying for an award demands some critical self-reflection, but the potential rewards are numerous. We spoke to 2024 Emerging Leader Award Finalist Dilys Fong (Transport Engineer at Tonkin + Taylor), who recently completed an international course in multi-hazard risk assessment partly funded by her prize, about why entering the People Awards is worth the effort. 

 

Why would you encourage people to enter the Emerging Leader Award?  

Dilys Fong

"The Emerging Leader Award provided an opportunity for future development, not just industry recognition. This stood out to me as, relatively speaking, I haven’t been in the industry long and relish chances to challenge myself and grow. 

"I absorbed heaps of value from attending the ACE New Zealand conference, Futurespace 2024, and the funding amount offered for finalists was perfect for me to make a business case to my company to do the condensed part-time six-week online course I was interested in – Multi-Hazard Risk Assessment – at the University of Twente in the Netherlands. As a working professional, this is a very intense period but also doable because you can commit for this shorter time and take in as much as you can. It’s a bit of a sprint, and this is part of the fun – you set yourself up for it so you can dive into the craziness." 

 

Tell us about the course you completed with your prize. Why were you drawn to it? 

"One of my industry mentors had recommended it to me perhaps a year ago and, at the time, I thought: ‘Who gets the time to do stuff like that?’ So, when I received the funding, this course was the first thing on my mind!   

"Not all parts of it were mandatory – we could focus on the aspects we were most interested in. I haven’t done much work in floods but it’s one of the key hazards of climate change, and especially relevant to what New Zealand is currently facing, so I chose all the flood modules to skill up in those areas. Having someone with this expertise to call on, ask questions and provide feedback was so helpful. You’re not always able to get this focused time on the job, so getting the theory behind our work is quite satisfying – everything lines up nicely. 

"The Netherlands is also a place that we like to look to given its level of exposure to climate change hazards. Seeing the resources they’ve developed – geospatial information systems – something I’ve learned ad hoc as a consultant, and having a solid course to cover some new skills, was a highlight for me. And it was great to broaden my perspective of what else was happening in the world as I’ve always lived and worked in New Zealand. It’s given me confidence that I’m on the right track and that it’s also the space I want to have further development in."  

 

Will you be able to share the knowledge and skills you’ve acquired, or are they more specific to you in your own work? 

"Hazard risk assessment, especially for climate change, is a developing field and my learnings are already filtering into the multi-disciplinary projects I’m on. We’re always trying to grow our skills collectively too and increase the number of people who are conversant about what’s happening – I started out as a Transport Planner (and still am one)!  

"Having these learning experiences also opens your eyes to see how others might benefit from them. I’m hoping that maybe this will open the door to more conversations and chances for me to support others in their journey too. I’d love to do that. 

"I’d really like to thank ACE for this opportunity, and Tonkin + Taylor for supporting me. It’s been such a gift to be a part of the Emerging Leader Award, and I really appreciate it."  

 

How to apply for the 2025 People Awards 

Applications for this year’s ACE New Zealand People Awards close on 11 July and will be presented at the ACE Awards Gala on 23 October in Auckland. 

Find out more: