Sellafield engineers, Jennifer Maher and Jennifer Humphries have extra reasons to celebrate this Women in Engineering Day having been named in the Women in Engineering Society's Top Women in Engineering Awards.
Following in the footsteps of the first Women in Engineering Society Secretary, Dame Caroline Haslett, who set the standard for the three-pin safety plug to protect children from electric shocks, the awards this year were given to women who are protecting the public through their work, often unseen and unknown.
Jennifer Maher is one of our principal mechanical engineers as part of the team who are working to empty one of our highest nuclear hazards, the Pile Fuel Cladding Silo, and was named as one of the 'Top 50 Women in Engineering'.
She said:
I'm delighted to have been selected for one of these prestigious awards.
Safety is at the forefront of everything we do in nuclear design engineering. It's the priority, to protect workers, the public and the environment. In my role I must demonstrate that waste can be handled and long-term safely stored.
Up against women from across the UK in all sectors, Jennifer's winning nomination stood out as it demonstrated the resilience, attention to detail and high safety standards expected of a leader and role model for women in engineering.
She added:
Helping inspire others is very important to me. I'm an Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) fellow and mentor, and a senior coordinator for the nuclear graduate's scheme.
I will keep encouraging engineers to showcase their achievements as sometimes we don't give ourselves enough credit for the expertise and support that we provide to enable project delivery.
Being in nuclear has provided me with the opportunities to keep growing my skills and knowledge, and Sellafield has all the variety of projects an engineer could want.
Jennifer Humphries, one of our radiation protection advisors was shortlisted to the top 100 engineers. She is also President of the Society for Radiological Protection, a post she took up earlier this year.
Jennifer Humphries
She said:
As a visible role model within radiation protection, my nomination for these awards this year clearly fits with the #makesafetyseen theme. It was great to be nominated by the Sellafield Women in Engineering branch and incredible to make the short list of the top 100.
Getting this acknowledgment from the Women in Engineering Society is a proud moment for me, recognising the work of our community in supporting the safety of our colleagues and industry.
The Society for Radiological Protection is the UK professional society for those who work in radiological protection.
On being named as President, Jennifer said
Being active in the society means I get to give something back to my profession.
We have a known skills gap in radiological protection, not just at Sellafield Ltd but across the country. As the professional society, it's our role to understand how we can help employers deal with this and develop their people into these complex technical roles.
Becoming the President is a great honour. I am willing to put myself forward for roles people like me haven't done before. It was only recently that I realised doing this makes me a role model to others.
