Institution news
On 23 June every year, the Women’s Engineering Society announces the Top 50 Women in Engineering, each year with a different theme. This year, the awards are based around ‘Safety and Security’. The 2023 winners are all women who are protecting the public through their work, often unseen and unknown.
Dr Alice Bunn, Chief Executive of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, says:
“Congratulations to all the women who have received recognition for the Top 50 Women in Engineering Awards, we are especially proud that the list includes seven IMechE members.
One of our values as an Institution is “We make an impact” and your work reflects this perfectly. Today is about celebrating you.”
Here are the seven IMechE members who were recognised:
Niamh Barker, Security Consultant, Arup
"Niamh Barker joined Arup in 2021 as a graduate and is already working at the forefront of helping clients with a range of security needs including, threat and risk assessments, blast design, hostile vehicle mitigation and general physical security. She was solely responsible for defining new scoring criterion to assess crime within a railway threat assessment, which has been implemented at various railway stations in the UK.”
Lauren Jenkins MIMechE, Engineering Capacity Manager, Weapons Operating Centre
"Lauren Jenkins is an experience weapons engineer with over ten years in defence as a civil servant. She specialises in the safety and engineering assurance of complex air defence systems and general munitions and has delivered numerous systems to support vital military operations around the world.”
Susan Khan, Head of Hardware Engineering, Thales UK – Ground Transportation Systems
"Susan is a Chartered Member of the Institution of Mechanical Engineering who has spent her career working in the rail industry. In her current role she is responsible for leading the UK Hardware Engineering function to ensure mastery of Engineering, deliver current projects and develop and implement strategic change for future projects and is responsible for supporting and developing over 100 Engineers.”
Holli Kimble FIMechE, Chief Engineer, Defence Equipment & Support (DE&S)
"Holli is a Fellow of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers with over ten years of experience working in the MOD in a range of engineering, innovation, and project management roles. She was until recently the Chief Engineer and Specialist Fellow for the UK's portfolio of Directed Energy Weapons. ”
Jennifer Maher FIMechE, Principal Mechanical Engineer, Sellafield Ltd
"Jennifer Maher is a Fellow of the IMechE and a Principle Mechanical Engineer for Sellafield Ltd. Safety is the priority in nuclear decommissioning and Jennifer delivers engineering design solutions for some of the most hazardous buildings in Western Europe. She also mentors, coaches, and is an advocate for women in industry.”
Roshni Wijesekera, Senior Fire Engineer, The Fire Surgery
"Roshni is a Chartered Engineer and a Senior Fire Engineer at the Fire Surgery. She develops fire strategies for complex buildings, helping clients and architects realise their vision without compromising on safety of the people, the building and its contents. She has sector-wide experience but has developed specialisms in heritage buildings addressing the difficult challenge of improving fire safety in existing buildings without compromising historic features. She has also developed and leads the CFD team at The Fire Surgery.”
Catherine Wood, Group Lead, Sizewell C Design Authority
"Catherine is a Fellow of the IMechE and a leader at EDF Energy. For the past 17 years, her roles have either involved supporting the safe running of the existing UK nuclear fleet or she has been working to provide the next generation of reactors on the Hinkley Point C and Sizewell C projects. In each of her posts, safety has remained her overriding priority. Catherine is proud of her contribution towards net zero and in helping to maintain nuclear as a low carbon source of sustainable energy for the UK.”
The Institution would also like to send out a huge congratulations to the finalists; Rouha Hussaina, Farai Mwashita and Catherine Sinclair.