Former F1 engineer to encourage girls and women into engineering
A former F1 trackside engineer, who has worked alongside Sir Lewis Hamilton, will be part of an event to encourage girls and women into engineering next Tuesday (May 2).
University of Bradford graduate Stephanie Travers was the first black woman to stand on a Formula 1 winner’s podium in the sport’s history when Sir Lewis, her Petronas teammate, invited her to share his victory at the Styrian Grand Prix, Australia, in 2020.
Stephanie, who is now the Development Lead at Mission 44 and Deputy Team Principal for Team X44 with a focus on Ignite, a joint charitable initiative between Sir Lewis Hamilton and the Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 team, will share stories about her career and her time as a student.
Pictured above: Stephanie Travers with Sir Lewis Hamilton
The University of Bradford event, Girls Need Engineering: Engineering Needs Girls, is aimed at school pupils interested in engineering and tech careers and their parents/carers. It will look at what engineers do, the skills you need to become one and the challenges engineers are working on.
Stephanie will be joined by three other successful graduates:
- Lauren Averill, who graduated with a First Class (Hons) BEng in Chemical Engineering in 2021 and is now working as a Project Engineer at AllWater Technologies, designing bespoke water and effluent treatment processes for a range of industrial clients.
- Aysha Khan, who won best design and research awards in her BEng and MEng Chemical Engineering, graduated last year. She is now working as a Process Engineer in the water sector.
- Zoya Raja, who graduated in 2021 with a BSc (Hons) Computer Science and is now working as a Product Analyst at tech consultancy firm, AND Digital.
Women engineers working at the University and current students will also be on hand to meet guests and answer questions.
Elaine Brown, Associate Dean for the Faculty of Engineering and Informatics, said: “There is a gender gap in engineering in the UK. Fewer women are engineers than men. It is important that girls and young women are aware of the fantastic opportunities that engineering careers can bring.
“It is also important that we increase diversity in the sector so that a wider range of perspectives and ideas can feed into the engineering decision making and so that the outcomes are relevant to more people in society.”
Click here to book your place at the event, held from 6pm to 9pm on Tuesday May 2nd at the Atrium, Richmond Building, University of Bradford.
Pictured below: Lauren, Zoya and Aysha
