Nicolette

Organisation: Loughborough University
Role: Research Associate (Which means I conduct research, either on a pre-specified project or one of my own design and publish that research)

Qualifications

A-Levels, Bachelor of Electronics and Engineering, Master of Science in Control, and a PhD.

What inspired you to pursue a career in engineering

Since a very young age I enjoyed mathematical subjects and was always curious how to apply the knowledge learned in our daily lives. Everything we use from day to day is a result of engineering! As a child I enjoyed finding out how things are made and worked, and engineering allows me to use that drive to solve problems and make a positive contribution to people’s lives. One leading American computer scientist, Alan Kay, once said: “The best way to predict the future is to invent it”. Engineering gives you the opportunity to create a better and brighter future for all of us.

Project examples

One of the most exciting projects I have worked on is the CAVIAR (Connected and Autonomous Vehicles: Infrastructure Appraisal Readiness) project. A £1m project where Loughborough University teamed up with Highways England to ensure the country’s motorways can accommodate connected and autonomous vehicles (self-driving) vehicles. This project included research by looking at operations at roadworks, merging and diverging sections (across lanes and at junctions) and lane markings to understand the challenges connected and autonomous vehicles (CAVs) may face. This research will build on our understanding and give us further insight into how connected and autonomous vehicles would operate on England’s motorways. It is a great example of partnership working between academia and industry. The results could help us shape how we invest in future road design and maintenance.

Other teams you work with

Engineers almost never work alone. You will work with a wide range of employees, both fellow engineers and also people outside your department. This is key to bring a project to completion. On a regular basis, you would be working with technicians, electricians and mechanics who help during the build and maintenance phase of the project. At a higher level, regular meetings are held with department heads to define the strategy and focus of a project and also financial controllers in order to secure the budget and define the right resources.

Academic knowledge important to your role

  • Data analysis 

  • Computer programming 
  • Mathematics 
  • Statistics 
  • Artificial intelligence

Broad skills to be a good engineer

Engineering is an exciting and broad field with plenty of personal satisfaction. There is no perfect recipe for a ‘good engineer’ and a number of skills are expected on the job. A large part of an engineer’s job is assessing a situation, identifying the problems and then finding the solutions. Although some tasks performed can be individual, most of the time engineering would require you to work as part of a bigger team. This means that accurate communication between colleagues is required, sometimes also with people outside the field, such as clients or the general public, who do not have a technical background. 

Biggest challenges in the sector

Technology is developing rapidly, and the global population is also growing. One of the biggest challenges the engineering sector is facing at the moment is the widespread skill and staff shortage. It is in the hands of the current and future engineers to maintain and sustain many crucial aspects of our lives: access to electricity and clean water, improvement in energy efficiency, all transport networks (be it by land, sea or aviation), cyber-security, construction and development, amongst others. Ensuring that there are enough people with the right skills and experience together with upskilling and reskilling the current workforce for the current and future workplace is a must.

Predictions for 50 years time

We are currently going through a rapid change in our daily lives which was brought about the digital transformation. I imagine a world which is fully integrated and where virtual and augmented realities are a norm. A world where collaboration with robots are normalised and where the digital twin is omnipresent. This can be enabled by more personalization and customization of products and manufacturing, closed-loop data models and control systems and the bridging of the physical and the digital world through cyber-physical systems.