International Women in Engineering Day: We speak to two brilliant young women working in the region

June 22nd 2022

To coincide with International Women in Engineering Day (June 23 2022), EEH's managing director Naomi Green sat down with two brilliant young female engineers working in the region.

Lucy Ellis is a section engineer working for the East West Rail Alliance between Bicester and Bletchley. Having completed her A-Levels at Silverstone UTC she undertook a degree apprenticeship with Laing O’Rourke in Civil and Structural Engineering which she completed last year.

Sherin Francis is a Principal Transport Planner at Jacobs who holds a Bachelor of Technology in Civil Engineering from the Mahatma Gandhi University, India and an MSc. Eng. in Transport Planning and Engineering from the University of Leeds. She has worked in Qatar to deliver key road improvements ahead of the World Cup, and has also managed projects with key public sector transport authorities in the UK. She is currently seconded to EEH to work on our ‘centre of excellence’ plans to increase transport planning skills and capacity in our region.

The full half-hour discussion is at the bottom of the page.

But first, here's what we learnt:

Both Sherin and Lucy enjoy the impact they're able to have through their roles

Lucy's love of problem-solving got her into engineering

Sherin worked on schemes to support connectivity at the forthcoming Qatar World Cup

Lucy believes a more diverse workforce can open new ways of working more effectively and efficiently

Stereotypes are creating a barrier stopping under-represented groups from getting into engineering, according to Sherin

Lucy says people still wrongly assume engineering is a 'dusty, dirty job'

Sherin says technological advances and different ways of working are making engineering more accessible and inclusive

Lucy believes it is important to target primary school girls

Both Lucy and Sherin have plans for International Women in Engineering Day to showcase their professions to younger generations

And here's the video in full: