Meet The Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) Young Woman Engineer of the Year Finalists. 

Where Women Work is a Supporter of this important and prestigious award that celebrate the best in female engineering talent. 

High achievers, team players and problem solvers

The six finalists [pictured above] are all dynamic young female engineers who represent the very best of their profession. High achievers, problem solvers and team players, they're an inspiration to their colleagues and for others to follow in their footsteps.

For the second year running, the IET is also awarding the Gender Diversity Ambassador Award to an individual who has spent a large proportion of their career committed to addressing the gender imbalance within their profession.

Engineering smart tech that improves lives

Shrouk El-Attar, an Electronic Engineer at Elvie. She engineers smart tech that improves the lives of cis women and trans men, whilst breaking down barriers and smashing taboos. Shrouk previously worked with surgeons operating on the eye, on IoT Tech at Intel and at Fujitsu in Kawasaki and did her master’s research in Electron Spin Resonance (ESR). Shrouk has been a STEM Ambassador since 2011, teaching children about engineering solutions and most recently headed up a project, teaching maths to children of refugees.

Researching environmental and medical diagnostics

Dr Melanie Jimenez, a Royal Academy of Engineering Research Fellow at the James Watt School of Engineering, University of Glasgow. She leads a research group focusing on rapid and cost-effective systems to improve environmental and medical diagnostics. Melanie’s work crosses the engineering, science, clinical and social science disciplines to help achieve a healthier world. Her passion for art and science communication led her to develop a wide range of award-winning engagement activities to promote engineering. The excellence of her research and engagement work has been recognised by several institutions and funding agencies.

Inspiring young girls into engineering careers

Neera Kukadia, a Project Engineer at Transport for London. Neera works in the Major Projects Directorate, where she is currently managing works on the Elephant & Castle Station Capacity Upgrade Project. She has been a STEM ambassador for five years, working with girls’ schools in underrepresented boroughs in East London encouraging and inspiring young girls into the engineering industry. Since completing her MEng at Brighton University, Neera now volunteers in the university’s BAME mentor programme.

Ensuring structural integrity of submarines

Denize Ivy Pilarta, an Apprentice Non-Destructive Examination Engineering Technician at BAE Systems Submarines. She is responsible for ensuring the structural integrity of submarines, working alongside technicians confirming critical components are free from unwanted defects. As a passionate STEM ambassador, Denize supports many educational events including: World Skills Live UK and ‘The Road to Engineering’ hosted by BAE. She has been awarded ‘MAKE UK Engineering Apprentice of the Year: Rising Star National Winner’ for her dedication to continuously improve, and actively promotes the endless possibilities within STEM to young girls.

Leading STEM ambassador for McLaren

Ella Podmore is a Materials Engineer for luxury British supercar maker McLaren Automotive. She is responsible for all the material investigations in the business across all development phases of the company’s supercars; from concept drawings, all the way to customers in the field. Balancing her time between experiments and leading technical meetings, Ella created this department from the ground-up and plans to demonstrate the importance of materials in the automotive industry even further. As the leading STEM ambassador for McLaren, Ella helped launch the recent competition McLaren Automotive ran with BBC Blue Peter asking children to design their ‘supercar of the future’ and was one of Autocar’s Top 10 ‘Rising Star’ in 2019.

Testing safety critical software 

Bethany Probert, a Junior Software Engineer at Altran UK, working in the High Integrity Software Centre. Bethany is on a graduate apprenticeship scheme and her work involves developing and testing safety critical software to help keep people safe in their everyday lives. She is also a member of the Women in Science and Engineering (WISE) Young Professionals Board where she advocates for gender diversity in STEM and aims to inspire the next generation of women.

Celebrating last year's winner

2019 saw 28 year old Rolls-Royce plc Manufacturing Engineer Ying Wan Loh win the award.

During her MPhil at the University of Cambridge, she co-founded a technology startup that developed rapidly within a year and won the CSSA UK High-Tech Entrepreneurship Bronze Award. A STEM ambassador, Ying wants to use her passion in arts and engineering to engage and inspire the next generation of engineers.

Working to engineer a better world 

Where Women Work is delighted and proud to have a long-term collaborative relationship with The IET and values highly the work of the organisation in celebrating and advocating for women in engineering and technology. 

One of the world’s largest engineering institutions, The IET is also the most multidisciplinary institution, reflecting the increasingly diverse nature of engineering in the 21st century. It works to engineer a better world by inspiring, informing and influencing members, engineers and technicians - and they want female talent to thrive so they provide a range of exciting opportunities for women to reach their full potential, including their prestigious YWE Awards that celebrate women working in modern engineering.

Where Women Work is an official supporter of the IET YWE Awards, and is proud to celebrate the highest calibre of female engineering talent. Further supporters include AFBE-UK, InterEngineering, and The Women's Engineering Society while there are many progressive sponsors also involved.

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