Anna

Organisation: Loughborough University & Renishaw
Role: PhD Researcher

Qualifications

A Levels in Maths, Physics and Economics and a BEng in Product Design Engineering

Academic knowledge important to your role

  • Materials and manufacturing processes

  • Laser processing
  • Academic writing
  • Statistics

Broad skills to be a good engineer

  • Enthusiasm
  • Resilience
  • Organisation
  • Teamwork
  • Communication

What inspired you to pursue a career in engineering

I did GCSE physics and found it really interesting especially the mechanics side of things, so looking at forces and how materials behave. I liked to annoy my physics teacher with lots of questions surrounding ‘why does this happen’.

I liked the idea of being able to apply science to real-world problem-solving situations.

Project examples

I created a 2-minute promotional video for young women’s engineer of the year, where I did an experiment where I showed that if you changed the ingredients in chocolate, it changes it melting properties and that very similar to how steel behaves – so that’s quite cool.

Typical week

PhDs are quite nice as you can plan your routine around your life. Every day I wake up, drink coffee and walk my dog and then I either come into the university and collect data or prepare samples or writing a paper (everyday can be different). Then sometimes I get to go away to conferences which is fun.  

At Renishaw specifically I do a lot of work with other material scientists, optical engineers, other metallurgists, and then software engineers. So, lots of engineers but in different disciplines.  

Favourite part of your job

Feeling like I’m a detective! Getting to explore new things that no one has looked at before.

Where do you see yourself in 20 years

Id like to be in a role where I have more influence over the culture of the engineering environment to make it inclusive for everyone.