Chartered chemical engineer Madeleine Jones has been honoured for her impressive work at Sellafield inspiring more women to enter her profession.

Madeleine, who has worked at the west Cumbrian nuclear plant for seven years, won the Karen Burt Award from the Women's Engineering Society (WES)

Nominated by her professional body, the Institution of Chemical Engineers (IchemE), she picked up her award at a ceremony in London after the judging panel said it was impressed by her work inspiring future chemical engineers.

She said: “I am delighted to receive the Karen Burt Award and hope that I can continue working with the Women’s Engineering Society and IChemE to support, and inspire, more women to choose interesting and fulfilling careers in engineering.”

A student ambassador promoting engineering to primary and secondary school children, she sits on the Aston University Industry Advisory Board and mentors new engineering graduates at Sellafield.

Currently responsible for three nuclear facilities as Deputy Operations Manager, Legacy Ponds and Silos, her work on Sellafield’s new solid waste management facility delivers critical emergency response solutions across 220 nuclear sites

In 2015, Madeleine provided project support to help promote engineering and the nuclear industry as part of the BBC4 documentary: Britain’s Nuclear Secrets: Inside Sellafield.

IChemE Policy Director, Claudia Flavell-While, the lead on IChemE’s Diversity and Inclusion work, said: “At IChemE we are committed to championing the role of women in engineering and are proud that Madeleine's achievements have been recognised with the Karen Burt Award.

“As a dedicated volunteer for IChemE, her outstanding work with the North West Member Group and Midlands Member Group is one of the many examples of the invaluable contributions our members make to IChemE and engineering as a whole. On behalf of IChemE I congratulate her on this well-deserved award.”

The Karen Burt Award was established to draw attention to Chartered Engineer Status and to encourage more women to aim to become Chartered as early in their career as possible.

Dr Karen Burt was an eminent physicist whose career was cut short by a devastating stroke.