2 Jul 2018
Babcock Safety Engineer Dr Lorna Dallas joins UK’s Top 50 Women in Engineering 2018
Babcock International graduate Safety Engineer, Dr Lorna Dallas, has joined an elite rank of professionals having been announced as one of the UK’s top 50 Women Engineers.
Lorna, based at Devonport Royal Dockyard, is featured in the Telegraph Newspaper’s 50 Top Women in Engineering 2018 (WE50) list in conjunction with the Women’s Engineering Society.
This prestigious honour, highlighting the UK’s top female engineering talent, celebrates the theme of ‘returners or transferrers’. Lorna’s career path to Babcock firmly cemented her position on the list.
From an early age, Lorna’s love of the ocean steered her towards the marine industry. However, her passion for sea-life was very much focused towards marine biology. Completing her PhD and gaining her doctorate in Marine Ecotoxicology, Lorna took up a postdoctoral research role at Plymouth University where, along with her pro-active role as chair of Women in STEM Plymouth, she used her enthusiasm for Science to promote STEM subjects to women of all ages. Following one such successful event promoting the opportunities available at Babcock, Lorna’s own interest was piqued driving a fresh new outlook and the desire for a career change.
Lorna joined Babcock’s graduate programme in a natural transition into engineering where the company would focus on the development and implementation of new innovation for defence and commercial marine customers. Utilising the parallels between her positions – and wealth of transferrable skills – Lorna was able to swiftly take on the varied and complex engineering workings of projects including submarines and warships.
In addition to her new role, Lorna continues to promote STEM careers, delivering countless talks, workshops and initiatives to pupils, teachers, parents and those working in other industries – both in and outside STEM sectors.
Successfully selected from hundreds of nominations, Lorna and the 2018 cohort attended a celebratory afternoon tea where the Royal Academy of Engineering provided the perfect location for the group to receive their awards.
Reflecting on her achievement, Lorna said: “I am hugely honoured to be featured in the WE50. Accepting the award and meeting so many inspiring women was a great privilege, especially with 2018’s theme highlighting ‘returners or transferrers’, a concept, close to my heart having changed my own career path. Through my ongoing STEM Ambassador work, I regularly share my story so that others see engineering as an area everyone can get involved in – that it is not just for one particular type of person – and I hope that my varied career illustrates that.”
Audrey Campbell, Head of Diversity and Inclusion at Babcock said: “We are all delighted with Lorna’s inclusion in the UK’s Top 50 Women in Engineering 2018 list – it’s a fantastic achievement. Not only does she have a great problem solving mind which drives her from an engineering and innovation perspective but she is also engaging and a great teacher. All of these skills can be applied as we develop future industry talent and encourage more women to get involved in engineering.”
The WE50 campaign celebrates the achievement of women in the engineering industry. In parallel, it aims to increase awareness of the opportunities available to girls and women in the industry.