International Women in Engineering Day 2023

June 23 is International Women in Engineering Day. This is the 10th year in which this day has both promoted and celebrated the amazing work of women engineers across the globe. This year’s theme is #MakeSafetySeen. 

Across Chemring, many talented women engineers are playing a vital role daily, encouraging more young women and girls to take up engineering careers.  
To celebrate INWED, we spoke to Colette, Engineer at Roke, to find out what she finds most rewarding about her role.  

What is your current role at Chemring, and what does it entail?  

I am an engineer at Roke, nearing the end of my Graduate Development Program. I’ve had the chance to work on a range of projects, from innovation tasks around using AI on the tactical edge, to defence hardware development, to my current role as a full stack developer on an agile software engineering project.  

Alongside my technical work, I am a Site Coordinator for the STEM outreach out of our Manchester office, organising activities that drive and inspire positive change in our local community through engagement with science and engineering. I have also recently taken over as the chair of our Women in Roke Employee Resource Group, which is focused on improving gender balance and improving the workplace for women as a minority. 

What attracted you to a career in engineering?  

I was fortunate to have grown up with no one influencing me on which subjects to choose as a girl or what career to pursue as a woman. At college, there were only 2/25 females in our A-Level Physics class, which was eye-opening; I realised not everyone had had that experience. The decider for me was when a woman engineer came to school to tell us about her job. She was a chemical engineer and showed us photos of her in a hard hat by a chemical plant, which I thought was really cool! That’s why I place such a big emphasis on STEM outreach now; I really want to challenge people’s perceptions of what engineering can be and not be influenced by stereotypes when choosing school subjects. 

I was drawn to the ‘challenge’ aspect of engineering, where you’re using creativity and problem-solving to change the world around you for the better. There’s a misconception that engineering is rigid and governed by an unchanging rulebook, but in reality, we are all constantly looking for better and more efficient ways of doing things – which needs creativity and diversity of thought. 

What qualifications do you have, and what was gender diversity like in your course(s)?  

My favourite subjects at school were chemistry and physics, and I went on to achieve a first class master’s degree in Materials Science & Engineering MEng at the University of Manchester - which I really enjoyed. I won the Department of Materials Prize for Best Project for my work on machine learning in materials analysis, which is how I ended up at Roke, as I knew they were industry leading in innovative digital technologies.  

The makeup of my degree course was probably around 25% women for the bachelors, tailing off slightly for the masters. I remember noticing the lack of gender diversity on the engineering campus. It just shows how much work is still to be done to achieve equality. 

What’s the gender diversity like in your department?  

Gender diversity still varies across different departments at Roke. As with most engineering organisations, there are still pockets of the business which remain behind the curve on the diversity front, especially given its Defence focussed history. Diversifying the workforce is a top priority of the business and is something we look at as the Women in Roke ERG. Plenty of initiatives are ongoing to address this, such as The Roke Academy, which has created an alternative, fully inclusive pathway into employment for those who might otherwise have faced barriers to entry. 

What do you find most rewarding about your job?  

Finding a career where I could use my skills to positively impact the world and the people around me was really important. Knowing that the work I do day to day is part of a mission to keep the UK and its people safe feels really good. Roke is involved in really varied work across many industries, but the underlying theme of all of it is improving through innovation. The technologies we use are really cutting-edge and exciting, and you get to work shoulder to shoulder with experts in the field and learn so much from them.  

I have always said I would hate to do the same thing every day for the rest of my life, and a career in engineering is just about as varied and stimulating as it gets! Every day is a school day, and I love it. 

Have you faced any challenges during your career, and how have you overcome them?  

If you ask me again in a few years, I’m sure I will have more to add – I’ve not long started my career! My biggest challenge at the moment is juggling my responsibilities with the Women in Roke ERG, STEM outreach and technical work. I am learning to delegate tasks better and communicate with my team, who are all very supportive. 

Women in Engineering Day theme this year is #MakeSafetySeen. Can you share any initiatives you’ve been involved with to ensure safety is paramount at work? 

Part of my role as the chair of the Women in Roke ERG is to create a psychologically safe space for members to feel they can speak up about anything that’s troubling them. I believe it’s so important for employee wellbeing. The main aim of the client project I’m currently working on is keeping sensitive data safe and secure, so it’s something we spend a lot of time considering as part of our solution and our ways of working. 

What's your proudest career moment so far?  

My proudest career moment was picking up the ‘Outstanding Contribution’ award at Roke's Annual Awards in 2022, recognising my work in STEM outreach and EDI after just one year at the company. At the same event, two project teams I’ve worked in won and came runner-up as ‘Project Team of the Year’! 

Do you have any advice for other women considering a career in engineering? 

We need you! The industry is undergoing rapid growth and change, and the UK faces skills gaps across the board. Many organisations are looking to invest in people with a range of interests and educational backgrounds; there are plenty of opportunities, such as the Roke Academy, if you’re interested in re-skilling and changing careers.