Current Students and Staff

A researcher at the University is one of the first-ever women to be awarded a place on the TechUp Women Programme.

Dr Amy Woodget, based within the Department of Geography and Environment, will be one of 100 women from the Midlands and the North of England to be part of the new initiative, which is being led by Professor Sue Black from Durham University.

The programme – funded by the Institute of Coding - will provide an intense six-month course where participants can train in data science, cybersecurity and project management, as well as public speaking and teamwork.

Modules cover topics such as artificial intelligence, advanced programming and agile software engineering.  

In addition, there will be four residential weekends across the UK, access to online resources, and the opportunity to be interviewed for an internship or job with an industry partner organisation.

Speaking about the announcement, Dr Woodget said: “I’m delighted to have been chosen as one of the first women to undertake the TechUp Women Programme.

“This is an exciting and important initiative, which will allow me to develop skills in coding and data science to enable me to analyse drone imagery in new ways.

“My hope is that this will unlock new ways of monitoring and managing the environment to help mitigate against the impacts of climate change.”

Alumna Dr Ilona Berry - who graduated from Loughborough with a PhD in 2011 - works as a Data and Insights Manager at British Triathlon and will also join Amy as part of the programme.

Speaking about how the programme will help her, she said: "The Tech Up program will improve my programming and data science skills which will complement the qualitative research techniques I developed during my PhD. This will then allow me to undertake more complex research projects in my job and have a greater impact in terms of supporting more people to participate in triathlon."

More information about Dr Woodget's research on drone technology can be found here.