Submarine engineer going into uncharted territory
A YOUNG female engineer who works on cutting edge submarine software is hoping to navigate her way to an award.
Nadia Johnson, 20, from Cheadle Heath, has been shortlisted for the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) Young Woman of the Year Awards 2016.
She is a software engineer degree apprentice at Thales UK, currently working on the latest submarine software and SONAR processing.
And Nadia is one of five finalists for the award, which celebrates women working in engineering and aims to help change the outdated perception that the industry is predominantly a career for men.
She is the youngest of the five shortlisted and others up for the award work for organisations including Rolls Royce, Jaguar and the University of Cambridge.
Women currently represent only 9 per cent of the engineering workforce in the UK, the lowest percentage in Europe.
Naomi Climer, IET President, said: “Engineering is a fantastic career – it’s diverse and exciting with the opportunity to do something life or world changing.
“But the lack of women in the sector is a huge problem. The difficulty in attracting women into engineering is down to a combination of things, including the image of engineers within the UK.
“It’s also a result of the lack of engineering role models for girls, which is why our awards are all about finding role models to get girls inspired.
“So I’d like to congratulate Nadia for making the final five and in helping to demonstrate the tremendous female engineering talent in our industry today.”
The winner will be announced at a ceremony on December 1 in London.