Emerging Professionals Day: Capital Projects Simulation
Experience a Real Pharma Capital Project From Every Stakeholder's Perspective
Event Overview
If you're early in your pharma career, you've likely experienced this frustration: you understand your technical discipline, but real projects feel chaotic because you only see one piece of a massive puzzle. Beyond the technical work, every single capital project requires enormous collaboration across some combination of Engineering Disciplines, multiple forms of management, construction trades, lab owners, EHS&S, maintenance & operations, CQV, QA, vendors, move coordination, and permitting to have any chance of success. Yet most young professionals never get trained on how these groups actually work together or what drives their decisions.
This full-day simulation is specifically designed for emerging leaders who want to accelerate their impact and credibility. You'll experience a complete pilot plant project (initiation through start-of-science) by rotating through four different stakeholder roles, building the cross-functional perspective that distinguishes future leaders from technical specialists who stay stuck in their lane. This isn't theory or a lecture. This is hands-on experience working through real decisions, trade-offs, and coordination challenges alongside peers from different disciplines.
What You'll Learn / Key Takeaways
By attending this event, you will:
- Navigate real project complexity by working through all five phases of a pilot plant capital project (from conceptual design to start-of-science), experiencing the decisions, trade-offs, and coordination challenges that arise at each critical milestone
- Understand stakeholder motivations by rotating through four different functional perspectives (Engineering, Quality/Validation, Operations/Maintenance, or Construction/Project Management), learning what drives their priorities and how they evaluate project success
- Anticipate cross-functional conflicts before they derail your projects by experiencing firsthand where stakeholder interests diverge and developing strategies to bridge gaps proactively rather than reactively
- Communicate more effectively across disciplines by learning the language, concerns, and success metrics of groups you'll collaborate with throughout your career (from EHS&S to CQV to construction trades to vendors and permitting authorities)
- Accelerate your leadership trajectory by developing the systems-thinking mindset that distinguishes project contributors from project leaders who can orchestrate complex, multi-stakeholder initiatives
Who Should Attend
This interactive workshop is designed for emerging leaders as well as:
- Process or facilities engineers seeking to understand how design decisions impact downstream commissioning, qualification, and operational efficiency
- Commissioning, qualification, and validation professionals looking to influence projects earlier by understanding construction sequencing and design trade-offs
- Project managers and coordinators interested in anticipating stakeholder needs and managing cross-functional dynamics more effectively
- Operations, maintenance, and lab personnel exploring how to advocate for end-user requirements during the design and construction phases
- Quality and regulatory specialists developing strategies to integrate compliance requirements seamlessly throughout project lifecycles rather than as late-stage checkpoints
Day's Agenda
- 8:00 AM - Arrivals and Light Breakfast
- 8:30 AM - Morning Session Begins
- 12:00 PM - Lunch
- 1:00 PM - Afternoon Session Begins
- 4:30 PM - Closing Remarks and Departures
You will rotate to a new stakeholder group at each break, experiencing the project from four distinct perspectives throughout the day. By the end, you'll understand how Engineering, Quality/Validation, Operations/Maintenance, and Construction/Project Management teams view the same project through completely different lenses.
Morning Session: Project Birth to Build
- Project Initiation & Conceptual Design – Break into stakeholder teams and tackle the early-stage decisions that set the foundation for your pilot plant project
- Break & Team Rotation #1
- Design & Construction – Experience the transition from concepts to concrete reality as you navigate technical specifications, construction sequencing, and stakeholder coordination
Afternoon Session: Bringing the Facility to Life
- Start-up & Commissioning – Work through the critical handoff from construction to operations, addressing equipment testing and system verification
- Break & Team Rotation #2
- Qualification & Validation – Navigate the regulatory and quality requirements that ensure your facility is ready for production
- Break & Team Rotation #3
- Move-in & Start-of-Science – Complete the project lifecycle by coordinating the final transition to full operational capability
Why This Event Matters
The pharmaceutical industry is experiencing unprecedented growth in capital investment (from cell and gene therapy manufacturing to continuous processing facilities), yet project delays and cost overruns remain stubbornly common. The root cause isn't technical incompetence; it's insufficient cross-functional coordination. As projects grow more complex and timelines compress, professionals who can think beyond their functional silo and orchestrate collaboration across disciplines position themselves for faster advancement and greater influence. This simulation leverages ISPE DVC's diverse membership to create an experience no classroom or single employer can replicate: the chance to truly understand a capital project from every angle before you're responsible for delivering one.
Registration opens at 8:00 am; the morning session begins at 8:30 am; the program concludes by 5:00 pm.
Ticket Pricing:
Before March 6, 2026 (cut-off date)
- ISPE Emerging Leader/Member - $150
- Non-Member - $200
After March 6, 2026 (cut-off date)
- ISPE Emerging Leader/Member - $200
- Non-Member - $250
Special Note: "walk-ins" will not be accepted due to SK Pharmteco Security Guidelines.