About Me

I'm an engineer who has worked in both industry and academia, who is passionate about making engineering more diverse, inclusive and equitable. I love to challenge traditions, so growing up around a granddad who loved to tinker with engineering in his shed but didn't want me to get involved in case I got hurt led me into engineering out of both love and defiance. As well as being an engineer, I'm also a human being who loves to swim, craft, play boardgames and spend time with my family.

 

My Role Models

Personal Role Model - Viv Maginnis

Viv Maginnis, an engineer by background who taught me maths. She was fearsome when I was at school and took no nonsense, but also incredibly supportive. She really encouraged me to go into engineering, giving me the confidence that I could use my maths skills and interest in the world to be a brilliant engineer. She was fairly new at my school when she found out that I was interested in following in her engineering footsteps and she set up Further Maths A-Level at our school for the first time, to help myself and others to follow our dreams. A force to be reckoned with who excelled at teaching maths, and with her on your side you felt unstoppable.

Academic Role Model - Roma Agrawal

Roma Agrawal, structural engineer, author and broadcaster inspires me because she is a whirlwind of exciting goings on who draws people in and engages them with engineering . She is a very skilled engineer; she is the woman behind all the complex structural engineering of the Shard. As well as this she is also a brilliant communicator whose books, talks and videos always make engineering both interesting and easy to understand for both adults and children. On top of this, she is a mentor to others, running writing and communicator skills courses for underrepresented communities. She is also unapologetically herself, a wonderful eclectic mix of Indian-British feminism, and truly a Mega Badass Engineer!

Learn More

If you want to learn more about my role models here are some recommendations