An important date in the global engineering calendar since 2014, International Women in Engineering Day (INWED) is an annual celebration of the outstanding achievements of women engineers across the world.
In honour of this year’s International Women in Engineering Day on 23 June, one of Frazer-Nash’s young female engineers, Sally Hall, asked some of her fellow women across the company to share their career stories.
Sally, who has been with Frazer-Nash for over two years, commented:
“When I first started writing this article, I wanted to showcase fantastic female engineers for International Women in Engineering Day 2022, as it feels like women rarely take the limelight.
“There could be a new wave of incredible female engineers who are yet to become famous and might well be on these lists in the future. People like Dr Ciara McGrath – who undertakes engineering research in astrodynamics and space mission design, and was the winner of last year’s Institute of Engineering’s Young Woman Engineer of the Year award; Nipuni Karunaratne, a digital technology model factory manager at Rolls Royce; or Frazer-Nash's own Anna Will, who was a finalist in the IET Young Women Engineer of the Year Award 2021, and has worked on a variety of important projects during her engineering career.
“So I asked myself why, on Women in Engineering Day, was I looking to celebrate only those who have already made it? Why not celebrate the 200+ inspirational female employees we have within our own company?
“And that is what I am doing instead. Below are just a few examples of the incredible female talent we have at Frazer-Nash.
Liz Collier is a mechanical engineer working in the Engineering Design team in Bristol. In nearly three years at Frazer-Nash, Liz has been involved in loads of different projects, including the mechanical design of a nuclear process plant finishing line, and a six-month stint working in heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) for the Type 31e Frigate. Liz is also an industrial mentor for a group of mechanical engineering students at the University of Bristol.
Laura McGuigan decided 14 years ago to try to achieve her life goal of becoming an engineer whilst being a single mum. She studied a higher national certificate at night school before her son turned one, and became a full-time student two years later. By the time her son started primary two, Laura had earned a first-class honours degree in Engineering Management. Her career at Frazer-Nash began as a Technical Clerk, and she has continued to move up the ranks, currently working as a Consultant.
During her time at Frazer-Nash, Laura has performed walkdowns at every EDF AGR (Advance Gas Cooled Reactor) power station, a chemical plant and two naval bases. With the support of her colleagues, she has developed and enhanced her skills in Electromagnetic interference (EMI) and electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) and safety case production. She arranged an outing to Hunterston B power station a few years ago, for the children of those in Frazer-Nash’s Glasgow office – at which point her son said he wanted to follow in her footsteps.
Rose Gambon leads Frazer-Nash's Digital Assurance team. As with any new service development, inspirational values, leadership, a common purpose, and a coherent strategy is essential. Rose has delivered on these elements in spades. She is a fantastic role model for everyone, and her group is doing work that matters every day, helping us stay safe and secure in a changing world.
Rose has grown the team to twelve members who are executing against her strategy, delivering fantastic operational performance and adding value to defence and the wider business through innovation and creativity.
Ruth Salomon has a Metallurgy BEng and PhD from the University of Birmingham with an Open University Master of Business Administration and is chartered through the IoM3 (Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining). Her previous roles have taken her from Cavendish Laboratory, Johnson Matthey technology centre, to being self-employed, to GKN technology centre, Magnox and finally to Frazer-Nash as a Senior Consultant this year. Ruth was also the first female engineer on Wylfa site, first emergency controller in Magnox, and first female shift charge engineer in Magnox.
Jen Tungate is an Engineer in the Requirements and Acceptance group. With a degree in English and History, Jen joined Frazer-Nash as part of the admin team.
Jen enjoyed supporting the company in all things technical; from producing data tables and cross referencing technical drawings to supporting projects. It was not until Jen was on maternity leave with her second daughter that she had the opportunity to apply for a Technical Clerk role within the Requirements and Acceptance group. Since joining the team in October 2019, she has supported several projects such as Sellafield Axiom Projects, Dreadnought Training System Requirements Project, Future Platforms T27 Project, and the Navigation Street Works Project.
Anna Will, who was originally ‘on the fence’ about beginning an engineering career, has just taken on a maternity cover role as Programme Delivery Lead after 5.5 years at Frazer-Nash. Anna has worked on projects including nuclear power stations, testing aeroplane kitchens on a shop floor, attending Transport for London depots, and has been seconded as a civil servant in Westminster to implement programmes in the Foreign Office and Cabinet Office, all within her career as an "engineer". The Wheel of Change project for Whizz-Kidz was a highlight of her career so far, and has helped her crystallise her thinking on the area of engineering that she wants to focus on – product development.
Anna was also a finalist in the Institution of Engineering and Technology's 2021 Young Woman Engineer of the Year Awards.