List of women fellows of the Royal Academy of Engineering

The page lists women fellows of the Royal Academy of Engineering (FREng), elected by the Royal Academy of Engineering in the UK.

The Royal Academy of Engineering (RAEng), founded in 1976, is the youngest of the five national academies in the UK. It represents the nation's best practising engineers, innovators, and entrepreneurs, who are very often in leading roles in industry, business, and academia. Fellowship of the RAEng is a national honour, bringing prestige to both the individual and any organisation the Fellow is associated with. In recent years between 50 and 60 new fellows have been chosen each year by peer review from nominations made by the current fellowship;. Those proposed for fellowship must come "from among eminent engineers regarded by virtue of their personal achievements in the field of engineering as being of exceptional merit and distinction".

All 130 of the founding fellows in 1976 were men. Four women were elected in the first 20 years, the first in 1982. In all, 13 women fellows pre-date 2000, with a further 20 elected before 2010 and 65 in the decade before 2020. In 2010 the Council determined a policy that over time 10–20% of newly elected fellows should be women.

The Academy published a diversity and inclusion action plan for the five years from 2020 but does not regularly publish the proportion of women engineers in the current fellowship, estimated in 2019 to be less than 7%. In July 2020 it launched a campaign aimed at delivering a 'Fellowship that is Fit for the Future' by the time it celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2026 and set an aspiration that at least half of all candidates elected each year will be from under-represented target groups. In 2023 six of the 60 new fellows, in 2024 twenty one of the 60, in 2025 fourteen of the 60and in 2026 seventeen of the 60 were women.

As of 2026, 189 women have been elected to Fellowship, plus twenty one international fellows, seventeen honorary fellows, and one royal fellow.

Fellows

+List of female fellows Year of election Image Fellow Field(s) of work; academia/industry RAEng appointments/awards and notes 1982 Electronic engineering, marine technology; industry Died 2019 1987 Aeronautical engineering; industryDied 2015 1992 Electrical engineering; academia and industry 1995 Electrical engineering; industry 1996 Mechanical engineering, aeroacoustics; academia First woman President of the RAEng, 2014–2019 Articles - Creating silent skies Nuclear engineering; industry A vice-president of RAEng, 2002–2008; first woman to be awarded RAEng President's medal 2014 Chemical engineering; industry First woman to win MacRobert Award, (with ICI, 1993) 1997 Civil engineering; industry Fracture mechanics; academia Led RAEng working party on 'Educating Engineers for the 21st Century' 2007 Manufacturing engineering; industry and academia 1999 Geotechnical engineering; industry and academia Chemical engineering; academia A vice-president of RAEng, 2008–2011 Mechanical engineering; industry 2000 Computer science; academia First woman to be RAEng Senior Vice-President 2005–2008 2001 Information technology; industry and philanthropy 2002 Optical networking; industry and academia Computer science; industry and academia First woman to be awarded the RAEng Silver Medal 2001 Civil engineering; industry 2003 Chemical engineering; academia Structural engineering; industry Editorial Board member of RAEng magazine Ingenia 2004 Signal processing; academia Died 2012 2005 Materials science; academia 2006 Biomedical engineering; academia Editorial Board member of RAEng magazine Ingenia; RAEng Trustee Board 2017- Civil engineering; industry and academia 2007 Materials engineering; academia A vice-president of RAEng, 2012–2014; RAEng Trustee Board 2014–2016 Civil engineering; industry A vice-president of RAEng, 2011–2014 2008Jo da Silva Civil engineering; industry and international development Biomedical engineering; industry and academia Control engineering; industry and academia 2009 Geotechnical engineering; industry and academia Chemical engineering; industry and academia Structural engineering; industry and academia Computer science; industry and academia 2010 Chemical engineering; industry Chemical engineering; industry Manufacturing engineering; industry Computer science; academia Chemical engineering; industry Mechanical engineering; academia Died 2022; RAEng chair in Emerging technologies, University of Leeds 2011 Civil engineering, highway engineering; industry Editorial Board member of RAEng magazine Ingenia Materials engineering; industry Polymer engineering; academia Bombardier-RAEng chair in Composites Engineering at Ulster University from 2014 Civil engineering; industry Electronic engineering; industry Electronic engineering; industry RAEng Trustee Board 2015- Human-computer interaction; industry Materials science, corrosion engineering; industry 2012 Materials science; academia Mining engineering; industry Precision engineering; industry and academia Renishaw-RAEng chair in Precision Metrology at the University of Huddersfield from 2015 Chemical engineering; academia Formerly Editorial Board member of RAEng magazine Ingenia; RAEng Trustee Board 2014- Geochemistry; academia Died 2016 2013 Adisa Azapagic Chemical engineering, sustainable engineering; academia Computer science; academia Media technology; industry RAEng Trustee Board 2017- Chemical engineering; industry Mechanical engineering, railway engineering; industry Chemical engineering; academia Biomaterials science; academia 2014 Bioengineering; academia and industry Electron microscopy, nanotechnology; academia and industry Materials science; academia 2015 Claire Adjiman Chemical engineering; academia Mechanical engineering, acoustic emission; academia and industry Mary Ryan Electrochemistry; academia Shell-RAEng chair in Interfacial Nanoscience for Engineering Systems, Imperial College London from 2015 Computer science, information security; academia 2016 Electronic engineering, computer science; academia and industry Forensic materials engineering; academia Fire protection engineering; industry and academia Civil engineering; industry 2017 Chemical engineering, agrochemicals; industry Biological engineering, regenerative medicine; academia Mechanical engineering, human–machine interaction; industry and academia Manufacturing engineering; industry Computer science; academia Chemical engineering, petroleum engineering; industry Biomedical engineering; academia and industry Computer science; academia Structural engineering; industry 2018 Materials science; academia Aviation engineering; Royal Air Force Civil engineering, geotechnical engineering; academia BAM Nuttall-RAEng chair, University of Strathclyde from 2017 Hilary Mercer Mechanical engineering, project management; industry Materials engineering; academia Biomedical engineering; academia 2019 Electronic engineering; industry Railway engineering; industry Chemical engineering; industry Chemical engineering; academia Fluid dynamics; academia Electrical engineering; industry Cyber security; academia RAEng Silver Medal (2014) Artificial intelligence; academia Nuclear power; industry Petroleum engineering; industry Telecommunications engineering; academia Transportation engineering; industry Highway engineering; industry 2020 Fire engineering, structural engineering; industry Mechanical engineering, aeronautical engineering; industry Computer science; academia Marine engineering; academia Wearable technology; academia and industry RAEng Silver medal (2020) Mechanical engineering, fluid dynamics; science communication RAEng Visiting professor at Brunel University Sensor engineering, photonics; academia RAEng Silver medal (2016); RAEng Research professor (2018) Cyber security, software engineering; industry 2021 Computer science; academia and industryRAEng Silver medal (2018)Civil engineering, infrastructure; industry Nuclear engineering, project management; industry Electrical engineering; industry Physics, artificial intelligence; academia and industry Entrepreneur; industry RAEng Silver medal (2013) Chemical engineering; academia Chemical engineering, fluidisation; academia Civil engineering, ultrasonics; academia Mechanical engineering, thermofluids; academiaRAEng/EPSRC Research Fellow (2004-09) Mechanical engineering, environmental engineering; academia Materials science; academiaTiziana Rossetto Structural engineering, earthquake engineering; academia Computer science, aeronautical engineering; academia and industry Environmental engineering; academia and industry Nuclear engineering; industry 2022Aerospace materials; diversity and inclusionRAEng Visiting professor of Inclusive engineering Bioprocess engineering; academia Offshore geotechnical engineering; industryRAEng chair in Emerging Technology Aerospace engineering; industry Artificial intelligence; industry Artificial intelligence; industry Mechanical engineering; academiaJudith Sykes Infrastructure; industryNiki Trigoni Software engineering; academia and industry 2023 Biomaterials; academia and industry Computer architecture, software engineering; industry Hydraulic engineering; industry Nuclear physics; industry Naval architecture; academia and industry Materials science; academia

2024

2025

2026

International Fellows

International Fellows are engineers of international distinction who are not of British nationality and who are not resident and working in Britain. The number of International Fellows cannot exceed one-tenth of the number of Fellows, and no more than ten may be elected in any year.

+List of female International Fellows Year of election Image Fellow Field(s) of work; Academia/Industry Notes 2004 Computer science; academia 2011 Chemical engineering; industry 2012 Particle physics; academia Civil engineering; industry 2013 Mechanical engineering; industry 2018 Chemical engineering; academia Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2018 2022 Entrepreneur; industry Electrical engineering; academia and industry Aeronautical engineering; industry 2023 Fluid mechanics; academia Chemical engineering; industry Bioengineering; academia 20242025Engineering

2026 Efi Foufoula-Georgiou Selda Gunsel Sue Harrison Dorothy Okello

Honorary Fellows

Persons not being Fellows who have made or are making a distinguished contribution to the practice of engineering are eligible for election as Honorary Fellows. Their number cannot exceed fifty and no more than five may be elected in any year.

+List of female Honorary Fellows Year of election Image Honorary Fellow 2008 2021 2022 2023

2024 Rebecca Fitzgerald

2025 Maggie Aderin-Pocock

2026 Katherine Bennett Sile O'Modhrain Hayaatun Sillem

Royal Fellows

Royal Fellows are such members of the Royal Family as on the invitation of the Board shall agree to become Royal Fellows.

+List of female Royal Fellows Year of invitation Image Royal Fellow 2010

References General

Specific

External links

RAEng Awards Prizes and Medals