Thursday 23 June is International Women in Engineering Day (IWED), a global day celebrating the amazing work that female engineers around the world are doing to support lives and livelihoods every day.
The UK Aerospace, Defence, Security and Space sectors are crucial to UK prosperity, national security, and net zero by 2050 ambitions. Our four sectors innovate technology, services and capabilities and women engineers play a vital role in delivering solutions to the most complex of problems.
To mark International Women in Engineering Day 2022 we wanted to focus on and celebrate the work of female engineers in our member companies.
Philippa Davies, Engineering Director, Reaction Engines
Reaction Engines’ Engineering Director, Philippa Davies, has been named one of the top 50 Women in UK Engineering for 2022 by the Women’s Engineering Society.
Philippa has worked at Reaction Engines for 10 years and is playing a leading role in the Company’s development of pioneering technology that is transforming high speed flight, space access, and delivering sustainable technologies to accelerate the transition to net zero.
The WE50 awards, which are held in association with The Guardian newspaper, are announced each year on 23rd June on International Women in Engineering Day.
Aaminah Wali, Graduate Engineer, Thales
The best thing about my role is that I’m really at the forefront of what is such an exciting time in the industry. We’re currently rolling out a number of innovative technologies (with more on the roadmap) that are already improving the way we do Engineering. This will enable us to deliver better to our customers and introduce more innovation to our products.
It’s the diversity of our Engineering workforce that has been one of the biggest drivers for innovation. A diverse workforce introduces new skillsets, approaches and ways of working that allow ‘out of the box’ ideas to be heard. Its important women are recognised for their role in driving innovation to encourage further diversity in Engineering.
Sarah Cooper, Senior Hardware Engineer, Leonardo
I was lucky enough to grow up in a family of engineers and scientists, so it was never a consideration for me that engineering was not always seen as a natural career path for women.
Sarah has led many Leonardo STEM activities, including International Women in Engineering Days and Ada Lovelace Days. She is also a contributor to the company STEM@Home initiative, with her featuring in videos where she leads young people through fun STEM activities to build their confidence in their engineering skills.
Pam Robertshaw, Head of Performance Excellence, Raytheon UK
Head of Engineering Performance Excellence at Raytheon UK, Pam works to empower engineers – encouraging them to always take time to work on their professional development.
Pam is passionate about supporting the next generation of engineers through her work as a STEM Ambassador. Having been a STEM Ambassador for five years, she has supported a number of students through Raytheon Technologies Quadcopter Challenge as well as running CV workshops and giving key‐note speeches to aspiring engineers.
Khadijah Ismail, Engineering Apprentice, BAE Systems
In December 2021, Khadijah travelled to Nepal on an engineering scholarship from the Royal Academy of Engineering, spending ten days studying microgrid systems for rural development and built a solar powered grinding mill for the local community.
Khadijah is an excellent example of how female engineers work to support the lives and livelihoods of people across the world all day every day.
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