Profile

I currently split my time, living between Glasgow and the Lake District with my boyfriend. We have two dogs (working cocker spaniels) who are full of energy and love the beach. I enjoy many outdoor activities like mountaineering, bouldering, mountain biking and skiing. Probably the most notable interest of mine is my extreme passion for travelling having travelled, volunteered and worked in a number of different countries that includes: Colombia, Seychelles, Japan and Thailand.

The defence industry can be very secretive, often with its work classified which has two main benefits:

1. No one can ask you what you specifically did that day and;
2. You are included in a select group of people with inside knowledge, unknown to anyone else.

A safety and environmental engineer or consultant are often referred to as a “Jack of all trades, master of none”. This means I have to have a broad understanding or most engineering applications i.e. mechanical, software, control, structural etc. to develop a structured body of evidence in support of the product. I can be involved anywhere in a design lifecycle from the concept of a new design to the maintenance of an old one meaning no two days are the same for me, keeping me on my toes.

I have been technical (safety) lead on a variety of tasks focused on military combat systems and explosive safety. For example: I was key in the production of the body of evidence in support of the medium calibre gun on the newly designed Type 26 (see image), capable of long-range firing without a line of sight. Support for this task involved various trips away from Bristol to America.

Additionally, I have been responsible for the safety and environmental maintenance of the AS90 Howitzer (see image) where I have supported numerous assessments that required further product testing.

As a safety and environmental engineer, I am expected to thoroughly check all aspects of design and operation taking consideration of product pressures, stress, fatigue, material wear, noise and vibration (to name a few). Fundamentally, it is my responsibility to ensure the safe operation and maintenance of any military product I work on, without which could result in damage to property or even loss of life.

One of the main benefits about my role is the variety in work and flexibility in schedule. With this flexibility means I do not have a structured start or end to my day meaning I can organise my day to best suit me.

As I have mentioned above, I am usually an office worker however, due to the nature and responsibilities of my role I do often have to travel for meetings, testing/trials and assessments off site.

I would put the money towards better promotion of STEM in defence with the creation of defence related experiments that could be taken and utilised as demonstrations within schools.