Dr Alice Bunn joins Primary Engineer for “If you were an engineer, what would you do?”

On 23 February, Dr Alice Bunn joined Primary Engineer for their latest episode of the competition “If you were an engineer, what would you do?”, where she answered questions from 36 schools.

In their highest attended interview this year so far, around 1,080 pupils from across the UK tuned in to listen Alice speak about her career, from starting out at the Science Museum, to becoming the Chief Executive Officer for the Institution of Mechanical Engineers.

Throughout the interview, Alice referred to the importance of STEM subjects, resilience, and inclusivity. The three main points she asked pupils to take away from the session were: Do what you enjoy, listen to other people’s views and don’t be afraid to stand out.

Speaking specifically to the girls in the interview, Alice said if you are interested in pursuing a career in space/engineering, then just go for it! As a visible role model, Alice explained that there are many new opportunities for girls to get into STEM so there should be nothing holding you back.

The pupils were especially interested in whether Alice believed in aliens, and what space smelled like. More obscure questions such as “If you could make a planet, what would it look like?” were asked, to which Alice replied with “Imagine the best ever adventure playground” with mountains for skiing and bungee jumping. To end the interview, Alice described engineering in three words: Fun, Challenging and Rewarding. One of the ways in which she proved engineering was rewarding was by listing some of the amazing inventions engineers have been involved in. UV sanitisers have recently been installed in some schools to help prevent the spread of COVID – this was an initiative taken on by IMechE’s COVID Taskforce.

Susan Scurlock MBE, Chief Executive and Founder of Primary Engineer said: "The IMechE have been a great supporter of ours for a long time so we were thrilled to have Alice Bunn join us for an online interview. Sharing her stories and insights will go a long way towards helping inspire the next generation of engineers."

Check out the full interview with Alice and Primary Engineer here.