The theme for the Top 50 Women in Engineering Awards 2025, ‘Together We Engineer’, celebrates the collective strength of engineers who unite across disciplines, challenge conventional boundaries, and drive progress through teamwork.
Whether enhancing projects through group efforts, integrating unique perspectives, or fostering connections that push engineering forward, the awards recognise those who exemplify the spirit of collaboration in engineering.
Dr Tanja Radu was nominated by Professor Graham Sander, Professor of Hydrology in the School of Architecture, Building and Civil Engineering, for her dedication to Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, particularly supporting female Early Career Researchers (ECRs) from developing countries. In his nomination, Graham said: “Over the years, Tanja has worked tirelessly to create opportunities for ECRs through joint research projects, mentoring, training, and organising research visits. She has supported colleagues from Tanzania, South Africa, Serbia, Indonesia, China, Thailand, and India, helping them advance in their careers and improve their quality of life.”
Tanja is currently leading a UK-Indonesian bioenergy project addressing heavy metal pollution while empowering women through clean energy training.
On receiving the award, Tanja commented: “The 2025 Top 50 Women in Engineering Award means a lot, as it celebrates my years of dedication to mentoring and supporting female early-career researchers from developing countries. This has been a very rewarding experience, which resulted in the advancement of the careers of female colleagues but also brought great personal satisfaction and a sense of achievement to me.
“It felt great to attend the awards ceremony and meet so many talented and truly inspiring women engineers. What strikes me is that most of the winners come from industry, while women engineers from academia are still in a relative minority. I hope to use this award as a platform to promote the fantastic work of female academics across Loughborough University who champion research excellence in engineering. The WES award makes me feel even more inspired to continue on my journey to lead and uplift other women and help them progress in their careers in STEM."