A CUMBRIAN nuclear specialist figures in the inaugural list of the UK’s top 50 women in engineering, published today.
Dr Dame Sue Ion, who was born in Carlisle and spent her early years in Orton Road, went on to become BNFL's group director of technology from 1992 until 2006, responsible for 1,000 staff in five UK locations including the nuclear laboratories at Sellafield.
She appears in the Top 50 list, compiled by the Women’s Engineering Society and the Daily Telegraph, and released to mark National Women in Engineering Day.
She said: "I hope the publicity associated with the list gives everyone an inkling of the very wide and diverse range of careers and opportunities and encourages more women to think about going into engineering.”
Meanwhile, the global infrastructure group AECOM, which was was part of the Nuclear Management Partnership that ran Sellafield, is warning of a "gender imbalance" in engineering apprenticeships.
Kate Morris, director – transport planning, said: “Urgent, positive action is required to correct years of unintended gender bias
"The growing gender imbalance at apprenticeship level must be addressed now in order to avoid sleepwalking into future diversity problems."
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