From Modeller to Model Lead: Jørgen Stenersen’s Journey at Terravera
After over a year and a half at Terravera, Jørgen Stenersen is moving on from his role as Model Lead to pursue a PhD in governance structures for carbon capture and storage (CCS) at NTNU.
Jørgen Stenersen has developed valuable skills through Terravera.
Since Jørgen joined Terravera as a Sustainability Modeler in November 2024, he has gained experience across disciplines and teams while developing a strong understanding of how complex sustainability challenges can be translated into actionable data.
For Jørgen, the opportunity to develop professionally was one of the main reasons for joining Terravera in the first place.
“I wanted to develop my professional skills, while having a high degree of ownership over my work and the flexibility to fit Terravera into a dynamic everyday life.”
Another important factor was the opportunity to work closely with experts from industry, academia and other stakeholder organisations. According to Jørgen, this interdisciplinary environment created both an incentive and an expectation to maintain a high professional standard.
Learning to solve the right problem
One of the most important lessons he takes with him is a simple, but powerful, approach to problem-solving: before trying to solve a problem, make sure you understand what the actual problem is.
“What is the actual problem that is interesting to solve for everyone involved?”
From there, the next question is what resources and methods can be used to address it effectively and robustly.
“If you start with the wrong problem or a wrong understanding of your collaborator’s challenge, you can very quickly spend countless hours solving the wrong problem.”
Skills that extend beyond sustainability modelling
Looking back on his time at Terravera, Jørgen highlights three experiences that he believes will be particularly valuable throughout his career.
Learning how to engage constructively with different opinions, including those of people with greater professional expertise.
Learning how to turn large amounts of complex and sometimes messy input into a focused problem statement that can lead to tangible and useful results.
Learning how to build effective collaboration between people with fundamentally different working methods and preferences for communication and feedback.
“I am certain that I will make use of many of the methodological tools I learned during my time at Terravera.”
What’s next
Jørgen is currently pursuing a PhD focused on governance structures for carbon capture and storage (CCS) at NTNU.
We thank Jørgen for his contributions to Terravera and wish him the very best with his PhD and the road ahead.
