The Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) is celebrating this Saturday’s (8 March) International Women’s Day by inviting entries to its 2025 Young Woman Engineer (YWE) of the Year Awards.
The awards celebrate women working in modern engineering, aiming to banish the misconception of it being a sector for men and support more girls and women to fulfil their ambitions in the industry.
Last year the prestigious accolade was won by Marisa Kurimbokus, Head of Engineering at Raeon. The award celebrated her already-considerable achievements in her decade-long career, from the development of custom batteries to designing high-speed air compressors for hydrogen fuel cells, all supporting the move to net zero transport as countries across the globe rush to meet ambitious carbon reduction targets.
"Engineering is about problem solving; being innovative and creating new products and processes to solve challenges, from bringing the latest fashion to market to tackling climate change. Yet society rarely pauses to celebrate the contribution of engineers and the leading role it plays in our everyday lives," she said. "It's a real privilege to work across such a wide range of projects, and see ideas develop from concept through to delivering real-world benefits for people.
"Having my achievements recognised through this award has been a huge honour and moment of personal and professional pride. I'm now at a stage where I'm fortunate to be able to inspire and support more young people to enter the industry and realise their ambitions through a career in engineering. There are so many girls and young women out there that we need to welcome into engineering, as it'll be their ideas and designs that help us to deliver a better tomorrow."
Dr Laura Norton, Head of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion at the IET, said: “Engineers affect our everyday lives, creating and maintaining the products and infrastructure that we all use. Only 15.7% of engineers are women, and that’s down from 16.5% two years ago. It’s vital that we provide the support for girls and young women to realise their goals. This talent pool will help us to address the skills shortages we currently face, to deliver ambitious targets around infrastructure improvements, technological advancement, decarbonisation, and more.
“Our awards celebrate the work of inspirational women engineering a better world for us all, whilst also providing role models to encourage the next generation to see a future in our sector. We will banish outdated exclusive stereotypes by championing women in engineering, shining a spotlight on their achievements, and showing others just how important their work can be.”
Other former winners of the prestigious accolade include Dr Ciara McGrath, a Lecturer in in Aerospace Systems at the University of Manchester; Ella Podmore, Materials Engineer for McLaren Automotive; Ying Wan Loh, Manufacturing Engineer at Rolls-Royce plc; and Sophie Harker, Aerodynamics and Performance Engineer for BAE Systems.
The deadline for entries to the IET Young Woman Engineer of the Year Awards is 27th June 2025.
