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Top 50 Women in Engineering list announced

An inaugural list of the top 50 Women in Engineering has been published in the Daily Telegraph for the first time today to coincide with National Women in Engineering Day.

The list, compiled by the Telegraph in collaboration with the Women’s Engineering Society, features the UK’s top influential female engineers chosen from almost 900 nominations. 

Key women from the infrastructure sector featured in the list include Lady Barbara Judge, chair of the UK Atomic Energy Authority and current chair of ACE’s advisory group, Bechtel’s Ailie MacAdam, Dervilla Mitchell from Arup, Helen Samuels of United Utilities, Jane Simpson of Network Rail, Transport for London’s Dana Skelley, Rachel Skinner from WSP|Parsons Brinckerhoff, Vicky Stewart and Katherine Ward from Atkins and Crossrail 2’s Michèle Dix.

Dawn Bonfield, chief executive of the Women’s Engineering Society, who is also the founder of National Women in Engineering Day, commented: “We had a very high response to this campaign and were hugely impressed with the entries. This list of amazing role models is a great way of raising the profile of our talented women engineers and making them more visible both within the industry and to the next generation.”

The list includes many familiar senior engineers’ names such as Dame Ann Dowling OM DBE, president of the Royal Academy of Engineering, Naomi Climer, president of the Institution of Engineering and Technology, and Dame Judith Hackitt DBE, former chair of the Health and Safety Executive and now chair of EEF the Manufacturers’ Organisation. It also includes some names that may come as a surprise, including business news journalist Steph McGovern from BBC Breakfast, a former engineer who continues to do a huge amount to encourage the next generation into engineering, and Chi Onwurah MP, the only female engineer in the House of Commons.

Those listed represent the broad range of engineering roles available including industrialists from the traditional built environment, energy and transport sectors, but also including names from Hilton Worldwide, the Merlin entertainment group and many representatives from academia. The list also includes women who are no longer working as practicing engineers but are nevertheless still highly influential in the sector.

National Women in Engineering Day is an international awareness campaign sponsored by UNESCO to raise the profile of women in engineering and focus attention on the career opportunities available to girls in the industry. It takes place annually on 23 June and 2016 is its third year. 

Many events are taking place across the UK and internationally to mark National Women in Engineering Day and further details of these can be seen here.

Sponsors of the 50 Women in Engineering list were Scottish Power, Mars Petcare, Jaguar Land Rover, SEMTA, the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) and BAE Systems.

Click here to view the full Top 50 Women in Engineering list.  

If you would like to contact Andy Walker about this, or any other story, please email awalker@infrastructure-intelligence.com.