Published: Tue 10 Dec 2024
Outstanding women celebrated nationally at Young Woman Engineer of the Year Awards
Three young women engineers, Marisa Kurimbokus (34), Alexia Williams (25) and Natalie Parker (30), have been recognised at the Institution of Engineering and Technology’s (IET) Young Woman Engineer of the Year Awards for their work in engineering.
IET Young Woman Engineer of the Year
Marisa Kurimbokus (34) is a Chartered Engineer with over a decade in product design and systems engineering within the automotive and power electronics industries, including Jaguar Land Rover, Triumph Motorcycles and Lyra Electronics. Most recently, Marisa was Head of Engineering and Product Development at Aeristech, where she led a multi-disciplinary engineering design team to create high-speed air compressors, primarily for hydrogen fuel cell applications.
IET Mary George Memorial Prize for Apprentices
Alexia Williams (25) is a Through Life Technical Lead at Rolls-Royce Plc. Alexia improves assets throughout their life, utilising data and information collected to make informed decisions to extend the products operation life and reduce maintenance periods.
Women’s Engineering Society (WES) Prize
Natalie Parker (30) is a Technical Specialist and Manager for Operational Technology Group at Sellafield. She provides technical and assurance support to front line engineering teams and wider projects. Natalie works to support and develop an offsite central location that allows engineers to share problems, innovate ideas and learn from experience.
On winning, Marisa said: “It is a huge honour to be named the IET’s 2024 Young Woman Engineer of the Year - I can’t believe it! There are so many incredible women engineers out there changing our world for the better, and I want to use this important platform to show girls that they not only have a place in engineering but that their contribution is vital, and they too can change the world.”
Finalists Erin Lowe and Salma Al Arefi were both highly commended. All winners and finalists will play an ambassadorial role in the engineering and technology professions in the forthcoming months, promoting engineering careers to more girls and young people.
Now in its sixth year, the Gender Diversity Ambassador Award, which recognises an individual’s hard work in achieving gender equality within the engineering industry, was awarded to Brigid Smith. This lifetime achievement award aims to showcase innovation and good practice to complement the YWE Awards by recognising the support and encouragement of women in STEM careers.
Throughout her career, Brigid has been dedicated to addressing gender imbalance and fostering inclusivity within the engineering community. Her actions and leadership have advanced the dialogue on diversity and inclusion within her company, Intel, and inspired those around her to engage in these crucial conversations.
The IET’s Young Woman Engineer of the Year Awards celebrate women working in modern engineering – and aim to help change the perception that engineering is predominantly a career for men by banishing outdated engineering stereotypes of hard hats and dirty overalls.
In addition to highlighting engineering talent, the IET Young Woman Engineer of the Year Awards seek to find role models who can help address the UK science and engineering skills crisis by promoting engineering careers to more girls and women. Just 15.7 per cent of those working in engineering occupations are women (source: Engineering UK).
Head of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion at the IET, Dr Laura Norton, said: “Engineering and technology have been improving our world and shaping our future for centuries. Engineers make an ongoing difference to the world around us, and we want to celebrate those who are engineering a better world for us all.
“However, due to a lack of understanding of engineering, perceived gender norms and not enough visible role models for the next generation, the UK has a shortage of women engineers.
“Our awards tell the stories of incredible women engineers who are changing our world for the better, and I’d like to congratulate our fantastic winners and finalists this year. They are a real credit to the engineering profession and make excellent role models to young girls thinking about engineering and technology careers.
“We must champion engineering careers to the next generation – it’s a diverse, creative and exciting career, which offers the opportunity to change lives, or even the world.”
The winners were announced at the IET Young Woman Engineer of the Year Awards ceremony on 9 December at IET London: Savoy Place.
Leonardo, London Stansted, MBDA, Northrop Grumman, Royal Air Force and Thales sponsored this year's awards.
ENDS
Notes for editors
Photos from the awards ceremony are available upon request
About the IET
- We inspire, inform and influence the global engineering community to engineer a better world.
- We are a diverse home for engineering and technology intelligence throughout the world. This breadth and depth means we are uniquely placed to help the sector progress in society.
- We want to build the profile of engineering and technology to change outdated perceptions and tackle the skills gap. This includes encouraging more women to become engineers and increasing engineering apprentices.
- Interview opportunities are available with our spokespeople from various engineering and technology disciplines, including cyber-security, energy, engineering skills, innovation, manufacturing, technology, transport and diversity in engineering.
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