Tomorrow's Engineers Live Speakers

Yewande is a chartered Engineer, Innovator, Consultant and Speaker. Her engineering experience includes the design and construction, innovation and manufacture of buildings and systems in the built environment. She has worked on projects in the UK, Africa, the Middle East and East Asia and has been named one of the 100 Most influential Engineers in Europe by the Financial Times and Inclusive Boards. the UK Young Woman Engineer of the Year by the Institution of Engineering & Technology. She has also been awarded the Exceptional Achiever Award from the Association for BAME Engineers and the Association of Consultancy and Engineering, U.K. (ACE). She sits on the governing body at the University of Warwick and is a Visiting Professor at the University of Westminster. She is passionate about STEM Education and communication and has presented Engineering programmes for Television. In the 2020 New Year Honours list, Yewande was awarded an MBE for services to engineering innovation and diversity in STEM. She has served as the UK's Innovation Agency (Innovate UK) Ambassador for Clean Growth and Infrastructure and was recently awarded Top 50 Workplace leaders in the UK. Yewande has been appointed as Vice President of the Institution of Engineering and Technology and serves as Chair of the Institution's Knowledge Services & Solutions (KS&S) board. She sits on the Global Advisory Board of Warwick Business School. She's the founder of Innovation Intel.

James Dornor is the founder of ‘Driven by Us’, a not for profit organisation established to support allies, ethnic minorities and women of colour in motorsports. Its primary activities focus on the provision of STEM and media programmes targeted at less affluent areas across the UK, to increase knowledge and accessibly for underrepresented groups. James also founded the first recognised ethnic minority led club through Motorsport UK that hosts events for the community and its members focusing on motorsports – he describes it as “a volunteer group activity making a difference”. Prior to his transition to the Aerospace and Defence industry, James acquired motorsport expertise over the course of 13 years, working as a professional in the automotive and motorsport industry for McLaren Racing, Haas F1, McLaren GT and McLaren Automotive. He was formerly responsible for maintaining all of the electronics and car systems on a range of Mercedes AMG F1 Heritage cars driven by the likes Sir Lewis Hamilton MBE, from 2013-2022 and beyond. James is a qualified and serving STEM ambassador, who is passionate about sparking the aspirations of the next generation of engineers and community members so that they believe that any career is possible, through talks, discussions and interactive sessions. Volunteering is a passion and he supports AFBE-UK as an Executive Board Member, focusing on industry engagement across the engineering sector. As an EDI Champion, James is deeply committed to increasing diversity and accessibility in engineering industries for communities across the UK, by sharing his journey into the industry and being an advocate for others."

Hilary joined EngineeringUK as Chief Executive in January 2019 and leads the organisation in its mission to enable more young people from all backgrounds to be informed, inspired and progress into engineering and technology careers. EngineeringUK leads collaborative work across hundreds of organisations to improve the impact of engineering and tech engagement for young people - with the aim of ensuring that the UK has the workforce needed for engineering and technology to thrive, to improve sustainability and to achieve net zero.

After a distinguished career in the British Army, which concluded as Commander British Gurkhas, Séan Harris joined ICE as director of membership in 2015, bringing leadership, planning, and financial experience to the role. Séan is guided by a core principle of growing a diverse, broad, and professionally qualified membership. By helping individuals to realise their potential and supporting employers in professionally developing their workforce, he believes that the Institution of Civil Engineers can play a powerful role in meeting the existential challenges of climate change and assuring society that its engineers are credible, current and competent. In 2023, he was also appointed Deputy Director General and Secretary of the Institution.

Alex is a Chartered Engineer, Fellow of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers and Fellow of the Women’s Engineering Society. After a career of over 15 years in Industry working in engineering consultancy and innovation, she founded STEMAZING – a social enterprise dedicated to inspiration and inclusion in STEM. Through the organisation’s two key themes - STEMAZINGWomen and STEMAZINGKids, Alex leads several not-for-profit initiatives to empower women in STEM and link this to inspiring our future generations of innovators and problem-solvers. To date STEMAZING has supported hundreds of women in STEM globally to level-up as visible role models who have collectively delivered over 100,000 STEMAZINGKids experiments for 7 – 9 year olds. Alex was named as one of the top Inspirational Businesswomen in STEM at the House of Lords in 2023 and previously won the We Are The City Champions Award in 2020 for her work to champion diversity and inclusion in STEM. The STEMAZING Inspiration Academy programme won the Diversity Impact Award at the RAC awards in 2021.

Anna is a Chartered Civil Engineer. She currently works at Mabey Hire as a Team Leader within the Product Development Department and has worked in the construction industry for over 25 years. 6 years ago, Anna received an Autism diagnosis. This changed the way she saw herself and explained why the world can be a challenging place for her. She is passionate about using her life experiences to help the next generation, in particular neurodivergent pupils, to realise the benefits of a career in STEM.

Before joining EngineeringUK, Beatrice was working in the charity sector for over 10 years in a range of policy, campaigning and public affairs functions, working on issues ranging from women’s representation in politics to improving employment opportunities for disabled people, including access to apprenticeships. Beatrice is passionate about improving employment and skills opportunities for all and about creating an education and skills system that equips young people in the UK with the skills they, and the country, need to succeed.

With almost 25 years’ experience in the national careers and skills agenda, Becca brings insider knowledge to businesses via her support of the Careers and Enterprise Company and the Apprenticeship Ambassador Network. In 2015 Becca joined large utilities employer Wessex Water, part of the YTL Group, to support around 20 apprentices. This year Wessex Water plan to enrol their 500th apprentice. As Head of Academy and Skills Becca and her team support a development for all culture. Described as unconventional, the team are known to be bold with decisions and ideas. In 2023, Wessex Water removed ‘Early’ from their Careers Team to reflect the work the of team across the whole workforce. The YTL Wessex Academy was launched in 2022 delivering government funded apprenticeships and bootcamps. Driven by showcasing and growing existing talent within the business, and empowering colleagues across the business to engage in training that focuses on competence with a “know it, show it, live it” emphasis.

Becky is an ex teacher with over 11 years teaching experience at both a primary and secondary school level. For the last 5 years she has led on the creation and delivery of the Tech We Can educational resources for the charity Tech She Can as their Head of Education and Learning. Becky is passionate about ensuring all children and young people broaden their knowledge of the opportunities available to them in STEM careers. She understands that technology is prevalent across every aspect of our lives today and will continue to play an even more significant role in the careers and personal lives of future generations. Children can't aspire to be what they don't know exists, and this is where Tech She Can and the Tech We Can resources play such an important role in bridging the gap between industry and education.

Join Beth for our breakout session and get insights into how to secure funding for engineering and technology outreach initiatives.

Carol is an Associate Professor and Director of NUSTEM at Northumbria University. Carol began working in education at Barnsley College as a Physics lecturer, and later taught at a large North East school. Moving into teacher education, she worked within the network of Science Learning Centres for over five years, and with the Institute of Physics as a Physics Network Coordinator for the Stimulating Physics Network. Carol is an experienced curriculum designer and textbook author. She is also a governor at three different schools/colleges. Carol's research interests include career aspirations in young children, and diversity in STEM.

Grace was recognised as a WeAreTheCity Rising Star for her work in Diversity, centred around her work in STEM in particular. She leads the STEM programme for the RNLI, and co-founded and leads the Bournemouth, Poole and Christchurch area STEM Steering Group. Within these programmes, she champions both women and disadvantaged young people, each of whom have less opportunity to access engineering careers and STEM advice. She sits on the STEM Learning Regional Advisory Board and spends time volunteering as an Enterprise Advisor. She believes tomorrow's problems will be solved today’s engineers, and the more diversity we can bring to the engineering community now, the better the solutions will be for all. Grace is passionate about building inclusive environments and cultures that cultivate talent and development opportunities, helping everyone reach their full potential.

With over 25 years of experience as a careers adviser, Jo has supported thousands of students in making their transition from school/college to university, apprenticeships and work. She has managed successful employer partnerships creating activities for students to explore career pathways. Her focus has always been to create meaningful experiences for students that both inform and strengthen applications to university and apprenticeships. Jo is currently the Schools and Colleges Lead for Springpod, an innovative careers platform which has opened up access to impactful work and university virtual experiences to students across the UK. She is a strong believer in widening access to opportunities to create a fair admissions process whether this is for university or apprenticeships.

Sir Julian Young is a founding member of ‘The Code’ and chairs its Advisory Board. He is a Past President of the Institution of Engineering and Technology and served in the Royal Air Force (RAF) for more than 40 years as an Engineer Officer. In his last military post, he was Director-General Air within the Defence Equipment & Support (DE&S) organization in the Ministry of Defence (MOD). In this role, he led some 2,265 civilian and military project specialists and was responsible for putting to work some £3.7 billion annually on equipping and supporting all the MOD’s fixed-wing aircraft. He was a member of the Air Force Board and the RAF’s Chief Engineer, and he had a MOD-wide role concurrently as the Defence Engineering Champion. He was appointed as a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering in 2016. He was awarded a KBE in 2020, a CB in 2013 and an OBE in 2000.

I’m a Trainee Operational Technology Engineer for VolkerStevin. My team is responsible for managing subcontractor with all the fibre networks, PLC hard and software and SCADA systems. I’m in my final year of university studying electrical and automation engineering on day release. I am also Profoundly Deaf and use hearing aids, and my preferred language is British Sign Language. Returning to full-time education, I found a huge improvement in my understanding by having full access to a BSL interpreter. The impact of this inspired me to spread my passion for STEM in BSL to encourage the next generation of engineers.

Kat worked in marketing for over 20 years, starting out in theatre. As a musician herself, she was very inspired by activities that got young people excited about the performing arts so when she joined ICE, her enthusiasm for education led to her designing communications and activities to demystify civil engineering careers. She now works with a range of tech providers to create fun and informative careers resources which will help ICE grow its membership and secure the engineers we need for our future infrastructure.

Dr Laura Fogg-Rogers is Associate Professor for Engineering in Society at UWE Bristol, researching and teaching about community engagement with technology for the net zero transition. Laura manages the Science Communication Unit (SCU) team organising science outreach for schools and diverse young people in the West of England through the Curiosity Connections network, the Inspire Sustainability education programme and the Women Like Me mentoring programme.

Lisa’s career has spanned early years to postgraduate level provision and the development and management of education and youth volunteering programmes from local to national level. Having started out studying orangutans for 10 years, along the way she has also taught statistics and psychology, managed a sustainable energy department, led on business development for a software start-up and run operational delivery for a Careers Hub. Lisa has also held a number of non-executive director roles within education and sustainability. Underpinning her education outreach work at the Met Office is a keen focus on evaluation and demonstration of impact.

Committed to increasing diversity and gender equity, Lydia works to increase the number of women working within engineering roles and within the rail sector and to create a working culture that will mean those women feel safe, respected and will want to stay. With a varied background beginning in technical recruitment, Lydia’s worked in specialist, strategic and generalist HR roles. Lydia uses creative and innovative approaches to everything she does, challenging behaviours and what’s gone before to make positive strides to a better and more equal future for all. Lydia led the project for Network Rail to become White Ribbon Accredited in 2020, embedding the action plan within the organisation and reaching out to the wider industry to make a bigger impact. Now a trustee of White Ribbon, Lydia continues to work closely with the charity to change the story for women and girls everywhere.

Marieke joined CIWEM in 2022 to organise the annual UK Junior Water Prize competition, and since then she also joined the Partnerships team. Encouraging young people to develop their skills and pursue their passions (be they in STEM or elsewhere) was always a big motivator. She is using her current position to integrate youth engagement more into the work CIWEM does together with its partners, and to build new partnerships that can further grow outreach activities.

Mercedes (she/her) is a global equity strategist for Google. She leverages systems-thinking to help drive equitable outcomes across the way employees experience the workplace from hire to retire. She has worked in the DEI space for over a decade working at the intersections of education and technology. Mercedes studied film theory in university and ruins all movies for friends by critiquing them. She is also a yoga teacher, avid hiker and dog parent of one well-behaved dog and one not-so-well behaved dog. She is currently at Birkbeck University for her MSc in Gender, Sexuality and Society.

As Head of Environmental Sustainability, Mike increases EngineeringUK's understanding of how to inspire young people into engineering and technology, and then makes sure its engagement programmes and materials reflect this learning with appropriate content. I’m also leading the work to reduce EngineeringUK’s environmental impact.

Join Moira and learn from our speakers in this breakout, as we explore how to secure the backing and buy-in needed from senior leadership to drive your outreach forward.

With continuous improvement as her main driving force, Orisha works as a Project Leader in Network Rail and delivers business change projects to bring about a more efficient and better equipped workforce for the future. Orisha currently leads on the delivery of Engineering T Levels for Network Rail, and is collaborating with various colleges and regions across the UK to facilitate the early engagement of 16 to 19 year olds into the rail industry. Capitalising on her background in Route Operations, Orisha seeks to bridge the gap between HR objectives and the tangible execution of improvement projects throughout the organisation.

Join Peter to highlight the role engineers play in solving societal and environmental issues. Hear from speakers as they showcase outreach programmes that demonstrate the positive impact of engineering, equipping you to inspire the next generation of innovators and problem-solvers.

Shaffra Gray-Read is the Senior Reputation Manager at KFC, and is responsible for driving change, delivering social impact and increasing influence with stakeholders, consumers and media. She also leads KFC’s youth impact strategy, creating positive change for young people both in and outside the business. With over 15 years’ experience, Shaffra has advised large and international organisations on developing and delivering strategic communications and change management programmes, as well as advocating for the role that business can and must play in the transformation towards a more sustainable and equitable future. Prior to KFC, Shaffra worked in the Corporate Affairs and Social Impact team at Weber Shandwick, with clients including Spotify, IBM, ADHB and Ericsson. She also worked at the UK Home Office, where she led the department’s EU Exit communications and engagement strategy.

Stewart Edmondson has been the CEO of the UK Electronics Skills Foundation since 2015. He has a degree in Electronics and a wide range of engineering and training management experience in both the public and private sectors. He has been a Chartered Engineer for over 20 years and is a Fellow of the IET. As a volunteer, he has chaired their Professional Development Advisory Committee. He is a Royal Academy of Engineering Visiting Professor of Employability, Professionalism and Ethics at Aston University.

Environmentalist and Educationalist Susan Falch-Lovesey has a successful 30-year track record of establishing and developing environmental projects and services of various scales for charity, local authority and business - applying her skills and experience to projects that make a social and environmental impact. Sue’s early career focused on establishing and developing environmental centres – a role that brought together her love for teaching and the outdoors, care for the environment and interest in sustainable business.

Suzanne provides leadership and direction to ICE London and the South East members. She represents 20,000 members by promoting the contribution of civil engineering to society, representing and engaging members in the policy making across the region. Her role also includes inspiring the next generation of civil engineers, raising the profile of civil engineering, and helping support members throughout their career and beyond. She previously led the Mayor of London’s long term infrastructure planning, authoring the London Infrastructure Plan 2050, the capitals first infrastructure plan, setting out London’s strategic infrastructure needs and how the capital should pay for and deliver them.

Vienna manages stakeholder relationships with organisations who support the STEM Ambassador Programme, STEM Learning’s flagship volunteering programme. With 28,000 role models engaging with young people across the UK, STEM Ambassadors make a significant contribution to champion STEM and transferable skills and influence subject and career choices for young people. Following a successful technical career in geoscience, Vienna joined STEM Learning to lead positive change in STEM industries, promote inclusivity and encourage underrepresented groups to consider STEM is for them after experiencing the challenges corporations have recruiting and retaining a high calibre diverse workforce.

Wendy Sadler, MBE, FInstP, is the founding Director of Science Made Simple – an award-winning social enterprise that offers science shows to schools and families. Since 2002 they have reached over a million people and worked in over 30 countries. The company has a serious mission to inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers and to raise the profile of STEM within popular culture. Science Made Simple was awarded the Rooke Medal from the Royal Academy of Engineering for their work in the promotion of Engineering, and the EU Descartes prize for Innovation in Science Communication.