You may not even know it but over the past year engineers have really stepped up to help keep us safe and solve some of the problems the pandemic has caused.
Elizabeth Donnelly, CEO of the Women’s Engineering Society (WES), says: “They’ve helped protect us from Covid-19 by manufacturing ventilators and PPE, they’ve kept the power on in areas that have been hit by natural disasters, helped reduce carbon emissions and managed energy supplies to help tackle the climate emergency.”
Donnelly says, however, that there is still a misunderstanding about what engineers actually do. “There’s an outdated perception that they must wear hard hats and build bridges, whereas engineering is actually far more diverse,” she says.
The 2021 Top 50 Women in Engineering: Engineering Heroes (WE50) awards, which are overseen by the WES, showcase the hugely diverse, rewarding and varied career options engineering offers, Donnelly says.
“Women are often reluctant to put themselves forward for awards, as evidenced by a number of our winners who didn’t even know they had been nominated,” she says. “However, we are delighted that just over a third (37%) of our 233 nominees nominated themselves.”
It’s clear that the number of women applying for engineering courses is on the rise, too. It has, in fact, almost doubled in the past 10 years, according to a recent report by Ucas and Richard Nelson LLP law firm. The study found an increase of 94% in female undergraduate applications for engineering courses from 2011 to 2020.
This still leaves a substantial gender gap, with 2020 Ucas figures showing 119,250 male applicants for Stem courses, compared with just 29,200 female applicants.
Simon Barber, managing director at Assystem UK, which sponsors the awards, says: “Covid-19 has made us focus on what is important today – our health and the health of our planet. Engineers are innovators, designers and the originators of the solutions that will improve our quality of life, and WE50 has revealed some of the brilliant women leading this work today. Their leadership sends a powerful message to girls and women that they have a major role to play as engineers, creating the safe and sustainable communities of tomorrow.”
1 Dr Tayebeh Ameri, senior lecturer, University of Edinburgh
Ameri has carried out world-leading research in materials for solar power and pharmaceutical applications. She is a pioneer in the development of ternary organic solar cells, addressing the challenges of global energy demand and the climate emergency. She was also the first female in her village in Iran to go to university.
2 Samidha Anand, engineering manager, Caterpillar UK (Perkins Engines Company)
Anand is an aftertreatment validation expert and has immersed herself in helping others take an interest in Stem. She works in a highly male-dominated environment but has not seen this as a barrier. She is the Caterpillar UK ambassador for the Society of Women Engineers and a member in the employee resource group of their internal women’s initiative network.
3 Phoebe Baker, senior construction manager, Mace
As principal contractor, Baker worked with the Nightingale hospital construction team to build 4,000 hospital beds during the Covid-19 pandemic and design the mass vaccine centre. Since the completion of the Nightingale hospital, she has focused on mental health in the workplace, ensuring engineers are recognised for the contributions they made during the pandemic.
4 Dr Claire Bennett, senior geotechnical engineer, Arup
Bennett has developed her skills as a geotechnical engineer to help overcome the devastating effects of flooding caused by the climate emergency. A specialist in both the rail and flood and coastal erosion risk management sectors, Bennett is leading flood protection schemes in Wales, south-west England and West Midlands. She is also chair of the ICE Wales Cymru Ground Engineering Group.
5 Susana Neves e Brooks, lead project manager, National Grid
Brooks leads project managers and support staff on a portfolio of projects, ranging from the replacement of ageing assets to substation new-builds. A key element of her role is championing new technology, leading the drive of net-zero targets and sustainable electricity transmission. On her Littlebrook project, she has a budget of £120m, and is working on a new substation that will be the first in England and Wales to have 400kV g3 gas-insulated bars.
6 Dr Grace Campbell, senior natural hazard and risk specialist, Arup
Campbell’s career – which is focused on developing innovative methods to respond to climate and biodiversity emergencies – has led her to Sierra Leone, Central Asia and Japan. She has also assessed landslides in Sierra Leone and climate hazards in Uzbekistan. She is, she says, all too often the only woman on site but she hasn’t let that deter her throughout her remarkable career.
7 Jackie Carpenter, director, Friendship Cohousing
Carpenter has worked tirelessly to support sustainability throughout her career. She set up and ran national charity Energy21 and has spoken on national and international platforms about the need for clean energy. She has also been running online courses on sustainable communities and plans more courses on the ecological and environmental crises.
8 Dame Jo da Silva, global sustainable development leader, Arup
After the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004, da Silva spent a year working for the United Nations (UN), coordinating 100 organisations to build 60,000 shelters in six months. Da Silva realised that engineers had a crucial role to play and helped found Arup International Development, which focuses on social impact rather than profit. In 2021, da Silva received a damehood. “What we do over the next 10 years matters for future humanity. We can’t wait, we have got to act,” she says.
9 Georgia Davey, senior buyer, Babcock International Group
In March 2020, Babcock International Group was asked by Boris Johnson to help design, procure and assemble critical care ventilators to support the UK’s fight against Covid-19. Davey stepped up and volunteered her supply chain expertise and played a key role in designing a new supply chain outside of the standard medical suppliers.
10 Claire Dewhirst, aircraft engineer, Ministry of Defence
Dewhirst has played a key role in delivering and managing critical defence operations, including aviation logistics, Wildcat helicopters, survival equipment and engineering control. Dewhirst has completed multiple air safety investigations and audits. Outside of her core role, she has assisted in the formation of the Defence Breastfeeding Network.
11 Dr Karen Donaldson, research associate, University of Edinburgh
Over the past year, Donaldson worked alongside a colleague to develop personalised protective face masks (to World Health Organization standard) for medical workers treating Covid-19 patients. She also worked on a UK Space Agency project, developing a multifunctional mobile platform for agriculture applications. The prototype was the first of its kind in robotic technologies in farming.
12 Prof Hua Dong, professor in design and dean of Brunel Design School, Brunel University London
Dong champions inclusive design and utilised her research, skills and network to help tackle the shortage of personal protective equipment in the UK during the pandemic. Dong initiated a UK collaboration to raise awareness, attracting an audience from more than 20 countries. The project led to the launch of a new platform and book, Inclusive Design + Social Innovation: a Methodology and Case Studies.
13 Dr Katherine Dunn, lecturer, University of Edinburgh
Within a year of joining the university, Dunn proposed a new course in bio-inspired engineering. When the course first ran, she received two teaching award nominations and one student suggested her course should be used “as a model of best practice”. In March 2020, Dunn also initiated a programme to help engineer solutions to Covid-19 challenges. She led a team of 30 volunteers who manufactured 12,000 face shields.
14 Prof Elena Gaura, professor of pervasive computing, Coventry University
Growing up in Romania, Gaura found the only branch of engineering accessible to women was electronics. Since then, she has worked tirelessly to ensure no one is limited by their gender when considering which area of engineering to pursue. Gaura has gone on to train more than 300 female scientists in south-east Asia to access Stem jobs.
15 Kate Grant, director of West Midlands network, Cadent Gas
While studying for a master’s degree in engineering for sustainable development at the University of Cambridge, Grant realised the energy dilemma was one of the biggest challenges facing our generation, so she joined E.ON as an electrical research engineer. She designed and delivered the first customer-led electric vehicle charging trial in the UK and oversaw the backup power supply for the London 2012 Olympics.
16 Katherine Grigg, HS2 main works agent, SCS Railways
As delivery lead for an HS2 bridge in central London, Grigg is passionate about sustainable, interdisciplinary design and approaches and tries to embed this into everything she does. She also volunteered at an intensive care unit (ICU) at the London Nightingale hospital last year.
17 Jo Hartnell, assistant tunnelling engineer, Atkins
Despite the fact that Hartnell had just 18 months’ postgraduate experience, she was chosen to work on the South Tees Redevelopment Corporation project to help develop a construction logistics strategy for the 1,800-hectare site. Hartnell worked on developing local employment for the area, as well as presenting virtual Stem sessions alongside the TeenTech charity throughout lockdown, reaching more than 650 UK students.
18 Milly Hennayake, civil water engineer, Arup
Hennayake’s decision to opt for a career in engineering was cemented during a school trip. Her current role focuses on keeping people safe from flooding, working alongside flood authorities, including the Leeds Flood Alleviation Scheme, which protects 3,000 homes. She hopes to show people, especially young women, that engineering isn’t just about building tall buildings – it’s about making people’s lives better.
19 Jean Hewitt, senior inclusive design consultant, Buro Happold
Hewitt has worked in inclusive environments for 20 years and recently authored a trailblazing new publicly available specification, Design for the Mind, supporting neurodiverse people in the workplace. Hewitt also focuses on designing for women, including mothering and menopause spaces, and was a panellist at the Women in Construction Summit.
20 Debbie Janson, senior lecturer, University of Bath
Following nearly 20 years in industry, Janson returned to the University of Bath in 2018, frustrated by the ill-fitting safety footwear she had been made to wear during her time as an engineer. She started a PhD on improving safety footwear for women. Her research soon expanded to incorporate gender differences in personal protective equipment (PPE) and, more recently, design inadequacies across the PPE industry.
21 Dr Sohini Kar-Narayan, reader (associate professor) in device and energy materials, University of Cambridge
Some of Kar-Narayan’s happiest childhood memories involved taking apart cassette players and VCR recorders, and that curiosity is what drew her to her current role. Her research has involved developing novel polymeric materials for harvesting energy to power health monitoring devices and integrating materials into versatile sensors. She has been working on developing “self-powered” devices for patients to help improve their healthcare.
22 Emma Kent, construction director, Metropolitan Police
Kent leads a team of construction professionals to design, construct and refurbish the Metropolitan Police estate across London, including police stations, dog kennels and boat wharfs. She also represents the property services department in the Metropolitan Police’s diversity and inclusion group and is an advocate for inclusion in all forms.
23 Dr Suk Kinch, senior design and development engineer, Renishaw Neuro Solutions
Kinch is involved in making pioneering implants and equipment for brain surgery. The products are used to treat life-limiting neurological conditions in adults and children, such as brain tumours. She is also a diversity and inclusion champion for the Renishaw group and a Stem ambassador.
24 Hanna Leeson, senior environmental engineer, BAE Systems
Leeson started her career in aircraft maintenance, implementing new software, but soon found herself drawn to sustainability. She has made great progress, producing a global webinar on the circular economy and sustainable procurement, launching the annual sustainability forum and is now working towards a net-zero goal.
25 Dr Kristen MacAskill, lecturer, University of Cambridge
MacAskill, director of the construction engineering master’s course for senior professionals at the University of Cambridge, has transformed the course to a world-leading programme in an industry in urgent need of radical change. She is now a leading figure in disaster risk governance and decision-making and recently gave evidence to the House of Lords committee on the national risk assessment.
26 Caitlin McCall, engineering doctorate student, Swansea University and icmPrint
As the pandemic unfolded, McCall kept wondering how she could help. She applied her expertise in 3D printing to work with colleagues to design, manufacture and distribute face visors to help address the shortfall in PPE. After three months, the visor had been CE marked and NHS approved – and featured on BBC News – resulting in hundreds being manufactured for key workers in south Wales.
27 Linda McVittie, sales manager, J & E Hall International
McVittie is a well-known expert in the field of refrigeration engineering. She started in the industry in a non-technical support role without any engineering qualifications. McVittie worked her way up to become a chartered engineer and is now the first female chair of the Institute of Refrigeration’s Scotland branch.
28 Dr Helen Meese, founder and CEO, The Care Machine
Meese was approached by NHS England at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic to help find ways to support the London Nightingale clinical engineering team. She helped develop a voluntary recruitment process and social media campaign, which attracted more than 600 volunteers within the first 48 hours. She went on to coordinate a UK-wide programme, recruiting more than 1,000 engineers, where volunteers were trained to deliver ventilator support.
29 Mimi Nwosu, assistant materials engineer, Sir Robert McAlpine
Nwosu is currently working on the HS2 infrastructure project to ensure all the materials meet sustainability goals. This includes using cement replacements that have a lower embodied carbon value. She has also helped produce YouTube videos, articles and images to promote engineering to young people. In 2020, Nwosu won the Institution of Civil Engineers London Rising Star award.
30 Jennifer Olsen, PhD researcher, Newcastle University
After leaving school at the age of 10, due to bullying and poor schooling, Olsen did her GCSEs independently and applied for the Talent 2030 National Engineering competition. She designed a new prosthetic elbow and began a career in mechanical engineering. Her current project focuses on improving the design of upper-limb prosthetics – to make them cheaper, more reliable, and comfortable. She is also a founding member of Newcastle University’s new FemEng society.
31 Polly Osborne, assistant electrical engineer, Burns & McDonnell
Osborne has led a number of projects that support net-zero emissions in her current role. She also founded and chairs the company’s UK Women’s Professional Network and is its UK sustainability champion. Later this year, she will be taking part in a month-long event of web chats with schoolchildren across the country on all things related to Earth.
32 Dr Cristiana Pace, founder, Enovation Consulting
Pace designed the Oxford Box, an airway management aerosol device that helps safely intubate Covid-19 patients. Having created the initial design with a doctor at the University of Oxford, Pace then led the development and build of the product, which has a net-zero carbon footprint. She has also helped deliver a coding and engineering programme for girls from local schools.
33 Dr Tannaz Pak, senior lecturer in engineering, Teesside University
Pak’s research has provided new insights within energy and water engineering and contributed to several sustainable development goals set out by the UN. As the principal investigator, she leads three international engineering research projects funded by the Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF), British Council, and British Academy.
34 Sergeant Sarah Partington, senior medical and dental technician, Army Medical Services Training Centre
Partington’s principal role is to ensure availability of electro-medical equipment (EME) for the training and validation of hospital care. Partington oversaw the deployment of 700 items of EME during the pandemic for military and civilian hospitals and the London Ambulance Service.
35 Kelly Paul, core projects team lead, Air Products
As news of Covid-19 spread in early 2020, it became clear that oxygen supply was critical to patient treatment. As core projects team lead at Air Products, Paul led her team in meeting the needs of hospitals across the UK. She maximises oxygen availability and her creative thinking and collaborative attitude helped support the NHS throughout the pandemic.
36 Kayisha Payne, founder and programme director, BBSTEM (Black British professionals in Stem)
Payne has been working to address one of the most pressing problems currently blighting the engineering industry: systemic racism. Payne has demonstrated excellent leadership in setting up BBSTEM, a not-for-profit organisation that aims to support and champion Black individuals across science, technology, engineering and maths. BBSTEM is working to educate allies in the wider Stem community.
37 Andrea Pearson, senior engineer, Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies
In May, Pearson became a technical operations manager at Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies, which manufactures the Novavax Covid-19 vaccine, among other biologics. During her maternity leave, Pearson also started running Teesside Cloth Nappy Library, helping about 100 local families convert to reusable nappies.
38 Dr Maria Sunyer Pinya, senior climate change consultant, Arup
Growing up in Mallorca, Pinya experienced the challenges unsustainable growth can have on communities and the environment first-hand. In her current role, Pinya is in charge of large infrastructure projects such as HS2 and Peru’s Authority for Reconstruction with Changes (ARCC) programme to develop integrated management plans to mitigate and reduce climate and geohazard risks sustained during the El Niño drought, where they delivered flood mitigation infrastructure for 17 rivers, 74 schools and 15 healthcare facilities.
39 Prof Alison Raby, professor in environmental fluid mechanics, University of Plymouth
Raby leads the Coast Engineering Research Group, helps manage the Coast laboratory facilities, and was instrumental in establishing the £19m Marine Building at the university. She is renowned worldwide for her work on the protection of coastal and maritime structures and participated in a number of post-tsunami surveys in Japan, Indonesia and Samoa. She has also been involved in two documentaries for National Geographic.
40 Catherine Rennie, consultant ENT surgeon, Charing Cross hospital
Rennie has successfully combined aeronautical engineering and surgery in her career. After receiving her PhD in aeronautics in 2014, Rennie was appointed as a consultant ear, nose and throat surgeon. During the Covid-19 pandemic, Rennie has worked as an engineer and frontline surgeon, performing high-risk airway surgery while working to find ways to reduce aerosol spread in the hospital environment.
41 Prof Jane Rickson, professor of soil erosion and conservation, Cranfield University
Rickson has more than 30 years’ experience of research, consultancy and teaching in soil and water engineering. She specialises in soil degradation processes and sustainable land management, working closely with industry to address both climate and biodiversity emergencies. Rickson was also the first female president of the Institution of Agricultural Engineers in its 80-year history and acts as a mentor for other women.
42 Dr Dipa Roy, senior lecturer, University of Edinburgh
Roy has pioneered the development of sustainable materials, not only for the university’s composites research group but for the School of Engineering as a whole. Roy has helped to tackle the climate crisis by focusing on the development of sustainable biocomposites and recyclable thermoplastic composites. She has also become a supervisor for female PhD students.
43 Dr Natalia Falagán, lecturer in food science and technology, Cranfield University
Falagán works towards reducing food loss and waste by developing innovative technologies and packaging to extend the shelf life of fresh produce. She seeks to reduce the impact of food systems on climate change. She has been instrumental in establishing the first African Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Cooling and Cold Chain. The centre will bring training to local farmers to reduce food loss, empower women in agriculture and boost the African economy by improving health and livelihoods.
44 Jyoti Sehdev, group equality, diversion and inclusion lead, Costain Group
Sehdev is a founding member of Costain Group’s LGBT+ and Allies network, of which she is the chair and has become an LGBT+ role model. She has given presentations on being LGBT+ in construction, developed Costain Group’s transitioning at work guidance, participated in the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) LGBT+ history month campaigns and supported the ICE to march at the Pride festival for the first time.
45 Era Shah, senior engineer, HS2
As an engineer on the HS2 enabling works contract, Shah implemented cutting-edge innovation – the first of its kind on HS2 – which revolutionised the operational works. She reduced each building’s demolition programme by a third and contributed towards an overall carbon saving of 360 tonnes. She also co-founded the Female Advocates in Infrastructure and Rail (FAIR) network.
46 Prof Rebecca Shipley, professor of healthcare engineering, University College London
Shipley co-leads the university’s Ventura programme, designing and manufacturing non-invasive breathing aids to help treat Covid-19 patients. The devices are now helping patients in more than 15 countries including India, South Africa, and Mexico. The team has also worked with charities to supply breathing aids to countries such as Palestine and Uganda that were unable to manufacture them locally. Shipley helped raise more than £25,000 to support this.
47 Dr Larissa Suzuki, data/AI practice lead, Google
One of Suzuki’s greatest achievements in her 16-year career has to be the technology she’s created to improve mammogram images, which have helped the early diagnosis of breast cancer. Her creation uses an algorithm and enhancement technique based on the X-ray equipment used to generate the images.
48 Sue Threader, chief executive, Rochester Bridge Trust
Threader is the first female engineer to be chief executive in Rochester Bridge Trust’s 600-year history. In 2020, she completed a multi-million pound refurbishment of its bridges (including a heritage structure), with minimal disruption, on time and under budget while also home schooling her children during the pandemic. She has also mentored sixth-form girls and new engineers for more than a decade.
49 Hannah Vickers, chief executive, Association for Consultancy and Engineering
Vickers is a leading member of the Construction Leadership Council (CLC) and on the Covid-19 taskforce. In response to prime minister Johnson’s 10-point plan for a green industrial revolution, Vickers also established and leads “CO2nstruct Zero”, the construction sector’s response on behalf of the CLC, with a programme of work leading up to the next annual UN climate change conference COP26 and beyond.
50 Julie Wood, major complex projects director, Arup
Wood leads 700 people across 40 disciplines and was awarded the Freedom of the City of London in 2020. Wood is currently directing a rail station from concept to detailed design. Under her leadership, the environmental impact has been reduced by around 50% of the lifetime carbon, saving 350,000t CO2e over 120 years.
If you want to be at the forefront of developing the UK’s low-carbon energy technologies then find out about Assystem’s graduate opportunities today
• This article was amended on 24 June 2021 to correct a quote from Elizabeth Donnelly
