Leicester Professor among Top 50 Women in Engineering

An inaugural list of the top 50 Women in Engineering, featuring Head of Engineering Professor Helen Atkinson CBE, FREng (pictured) is published in the Daily Telegraph for the first time on 23 June 2016 to coincide with National Women in Engineering Day.

The list, compiled by the Telegraph in collaboration with the Women’s Engineering Society features the UK’s top influential female engineers chosen from almost 900 nominations.

Dawn Bonfield, Chief Executive of the Women’s Engineering Society who is also the founder of National Women in Engineering Day commented: “We had a very high response to this campaign and were hugely impressed with the entries. This list of amazing role models is a great way of raising the profile of our talented women engineers and making them more visible both within the industry and to the next generation.”

Professor Atkinson said: “I am absolutely stunned to be on this list. I have no idea who nominated me but it is wonderful that the University and the Department is represented on this list.”

Professor Atkinson is Head of the Department of Engineering and a  trustee of the Royal Academy of Engineering. She chairs the  Committee on Education and Skills for the Royal Academy of Engineering. She was elected the first woman President of the Engineering Professors’ Council in its fifty year history, the body which represents engineering in higher education throughout the UK.

Brief biographies of each one of the 50 engineers on the list will be printed in the Telegraph on 23 June and this will be accompanied by a breakfast launch taking place at the Institution of Engineering and Technology, Savoy Place, London WC2R 0BL to which all of the engineers listed and many of the other nominated candidates have been invited.