Female engineer shortlisted for major awards

 

A female engineer who joined Renishaw as an apprentice aged just 16 has been shortlisted for a prestigious engineering industry award.

Lucy Ackland, 26, is a Project Manager at the global company and has been shortlisted for the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) Young Woman of the Year Awards.

The IET Young Woman Engineer of the Year Awards aim to find female role models to help address the UK science and engineering skills crisis.

Lucy Ackland has been shortlisted along with four female engineers from other leading engineering organisations – Ford, Rolls-Royce, ABB Ltd and Selex ES.

Lucy comments: “I am thrilled to have made it this far in a competition that includes so many brilliant high achieving females.

“At the age of 13 I was inspired to become an engineer and despite some opposition from those who felt that I should follow a more academic route, I chose to apply for an apprenticeship.

“I hope that my progress and academic achievements since then can similarly help to inspire other young people to consider engineering as an attractive career option.”

Women currently represent only 6 per cent of the engineering workforce in the UK (source: 2014 IET Skills Survey), the lowest percentage in Europe.