Winners of Top 50 Women in Engineering 2023 revealed
Aaron Blutstein 23 June 2023 
As part of INWED 2023, The Women’s Engineering Society (WES) has announced the winners of the Top 50 Women in Engineering awards.
Now in its eighth year, the Women’s Engineering Society founded The Top 50 Women in Engineering Awards (WE50) in 2016 to showcase the diversity of women engineers making a difference to people’s lives. The awards are announced each year on 23 June which is International Women In Engineering Day (INWED) a campaign started by WES to raise the profile of Women Engineer’s around the world. Each year WES chooses a different theme for the WE50 and INWED and for 2023 the theme for the WE50 was Safety and Security. This year’s awards are held in association with Power Engineering International.
The 2023 Top 50 Women in Engineering Awards celebrate the women engineers who are engaged in safety and security and who #MakeSafetySeen. Following in the footsteps of its first Secretary, Dame Caroline Haslett, who invented the three-pin safety plug to protect children from electric shocks, the 2023 WE50 winners will be women who are protecting the public through their work, often unseen and unknown.
Nominations opened at noon on 11 February 2023, International Day of Women and Girls in Science, to those women engineers who are working in safety and security, including cybersecurity, particularly if they also support sustainability and/or combat climate change, and support other women to do the same.
Elizabeth Donnelly, CEO, Women’s Engineering Society, said of the awards: “The women in this year’s WE50 list are a truly amazing group. Their work often goes unseen yet is key to keeping us all safe and secure. From the creation of a system being used to kill weeds with no chemicals, to providing safety leadership to the RNLI, the women we celebrate in these awards are all inspirational in their work. Each year the judges are always amazed at the breadth and talent of the nominations they receive and this year’s nominees more than lived up to expectations. We hope that these awards will inspire more women to get involved in engineering and show what a diverse and rewarding career it can be.”
The Top 50 Women in Engineering for 2023 are (in alphabetical order):
Chisom Akujobi-Ezeonyeka – Power Electronics and Systems Engineer, Rootwave Ltd
Mary Allan – Principal Radiation Protection Scientist and Head of Profession, Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE)
Sarah Bailey – Hardware Engineer, Leonardo
Niamh Barker – Graduate Engineer, Arup
Dr Beth Barnes – Assistant Professor in Engineering, Durham University
Sholeh Behzadpour-Shaw – Senior Engineer Industrial Cyber, Heathrow Airport Ltd.
Dr Marzia Bolpagni – Associate Director – Head of BIM International, Mace
Sue Caccavone – Operations Manager – Asset Management, Binnies (UK) Ltd.
Caroline GCHQ
Patrizia Carpentieri – Principal Blast Engineer, Arup
Kelly Cary – Managing Consultant – Transport Planning, Atkins
Dr Clara Cheung Senior Lecturer in Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering, University of Manchester
Sarah Clark – Head of Technology Centre, Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE)
Natasha Dunkinson – Aerospace Engineering Degree Apprentice, BAE Systems
Jennifer Edwards – Senior Systems Engineer, UK Space Agency
Verena Fernandes – Senior Civil Engineer, Wokingham Borough Council
Dr Nicolette Formosa – Senior Research Engineer in Technology, National Highways
Mariella Gallo – Associate Director Arup Resilience Security and Risk, Arup
Charlotte Goodwill – CEO, Institute of Telecommunications Professionals
Ana Gorgyan – Director of Engineering, Independent Power Corporation PLC
Sally Hall – Senior Engineer, Frazer-Nash Consultancy
Amina Hamoud – Lecturer in Systems Engineering, University of West of England
Laura Hoang – Senior Human Factors Engineering Consultant, Environmental Resources Management Ltd
Lauren Jenkins – Engineering Capacity Lead, Defence Equipment and Support
Svetlana Joao – Structural Engineer and ICE President Future Leader, Institution of Civil Engineers
Emma Johnsén – Personal Care R&E Director, Europe, Middle East & Africa, Kimberly-Clark
Laura Joryeff – Principal (Engineering Safety) Consultant, Corporate Risk Associates (CRA)
Eleni Kastrisiou – Engineer, Arup
Susan Khan – Head of Hardware Engineering, Thales Ground Transportation Systems
Holli Kimble – Chief Engineer, Defence Equipment and Support
Dr Eluned Lewis – Team Leader Survivability, QinetiQ Defence and Security
Dr Salmabanu Luhar – Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellow (UK Research and Innovation), University of Sheffield
Jennifer Maher – Principal Mechanical Engineer, Sellafield Ltd.
Elena Martin Fernandes – Principal Highways Engineer, Waterman Aspen
Guilia Marzetti – Senior Carbon Management Consultant, Mott MacDonald
Jenny McLaughlin – Project Manager, Heathrow Airport Ltd.
Krishna Mistry – Body Engineering Programme Lead, Volta Trucks
Faith Natukunda System Capability Manager, National Grid ESO
Titilola Oliyide – Senior Process Safety Engineer, Supercritical Solutions
Stacey Peel – Director, Arup
Claire Price – Associate Director, WSP UK
Caroline Roche – Senior Engineer, Capula Ltd
Anne Seldon – Chief Engineer – Product Safety & Compliance, WAE Technologies
Nikita Shetti – Payload System Engineer, Airbus Defence and Space
Professor Nicola Symonds – Director, nC2 Engineering Consultancy, University of Southampton
Joanne Turner – Project Director, Amey Consulting
Shiyao Wang – Computer Vision Engineer, Intel Corporation
Roshni Wijesekera – Senior Fire Engineer, The Fire Surgery Limited
Catherine Wood – Maintain Design Integrity Group Lead, EDF Energy
Louise Wood – Senior LEV Engineer, Airducts Design Ltd & Airducts Engineering Ltd.
