Launched by the Women's Engineering Society (WES) in 1998, the Karen Burt Memorial Award is given annually to a newly Chartered woman in the discipline of engineering, applied science or IT.

Arup employee, Clare Lavelle, was awarded the prestigious prize following her nomination by WES who recognised her excellence and potential in the practice of engineering.

Throughout her career, Clare has delivered a number of technically challenging major projects in the energy sector including the development of the world’s first commercial wave farms at the European Marine Energy Centre in Orkney and the development of Hammerfest Storm tidal technology. Clare has also helped over 2.5 GW of offshore wind projects in UK waters to successfully achieve planning consent.

Important and exciting work

In Clare’s role as Arup’s Energy Consulting Business Leader in Scotland and the North East, she manages a team of consultants delivering technical commissions in the energy sector in offshore wind, wave, tidal, oil and gas decommissioning, and carbon capture and storage amongst other aspects.

Winning the award, Clare commented that “It is a privilege to represent WES, who do such important work in improving the profile of women in the engineering industry. I’m glad to be able to contribute to these efforts to make the industry more accessible as I believe that greater gender balance is key to our profession being able to play an even greater role in society. From helping getting wave farms off the ground, to looking at capturing and storing CO2 - engineering has provided me with a challenging career and the opportunity to work on some incredible projects. I am excited about my future career and where engineering will take me.”