My Blog

Engineering Intelligence – INWED

Posted on June 19, 2026 in Uncategorised, Women in Engineering

Tuesday 23rd June is the International Women in Engineering Day and the theme this year is Engineering Intelligence – aimed at highlighting the ‘breadth of expertise, judgement and leadership women bring to engineering across every sector’.

I was talking with a wonderful group of school pupils last week (thank you Dr Carpenter and St Olave’s School!) and they asked me some insightful questions about what an engineer actually does on a day to day basis.

I’m delighted to say it’s an impossible question to answer, because every single day is different.

Commissioning precious metal recovery equipment, Portugal

Talking about system safety for the TV program ‘Disasters Engineered’

Riding the biomass train to a power station

Teaching master’s students at the University of Sheffield

What links each day is problem solving and teamwork. I work with people from all over the world and together we apply science to disentangle real world problems, one small step at a time. All the fun of solving complex puzzles – and we get paid for it!

My day job has also provided both the inspiration (and travel opportunities) for my fiction.

Exploring Chernobyl with a proof my first book The Chemical Detective

Remembering Banqiao for second book The Chemical Reaction

Investigating Brazilian beaches for The Chemical Cocktail and The Chemical Code

If you want to find out more about my chosen profession, the Institute of Chemical Engineers has some inspiring new videos

Want to change the world? Start here

Next step for my writing – outer space!

Happy INWED day everyone!

Fiona