My Profile

Did you see the news yesterday that scientists had been able to take a picture of a black hole for the first time. There was a young woman who created the software that allowed the image to be captured - Katie Bouman. You can read about here at this link : Katie Bouman: The woman behind the first black hole image - BBC News Katie Bouman, 29, has earned plaudits for helping develop the algorithm that made the photo possible. WWW.BBC.CO.UK

A woman called Jocelyn Bell- Burnell today launched a new fund to support BAME and female physicists. The article about this can be seen on the BBC website at and there are some interesting short profiles of women working in physics now. Fund to boost female and black physicist numbers - BBC News Astrophysics star launches a scheme to help female and black students to become researchers. WWW.BBC.CO.UK

I spent last week in Frankfurt on a leadership training course. It was interesting to meet new colleagues - pictured here from Spain, Germany and Poland. I learned new things and was given constructive and helpful feedback about my performance during the sessions. I have lots to think about now that I am back at work.

I watched Dr Who last week and was struck how clever they were to flip stereotypes. The Doctor explained the beauty of quantum physics in a very eloquent manner while a man was giving birth with men birth partners. Enjoyable episode and great script writing! Did you watch it?

This is a picture of my daughter (I am the one at the front!) who left home last week to study Biochemistry at university. Whilst I am sad that she has us (temporarily, I hope), I am delighted that she is having this opportunity. I am also mindful that she is the third generation of women in my family to study a STEM subject - my mother was a pharmacist, I studied engineering and my daughter studies Biochemistry. Proud mother!

Last week was an interesting week for women in science -Canadian Donna Stickland won a Nobel prize in Physics the day after an Italian scientist at CERN claimed that men are being over looked in science. I say, the proof is in the work and recognition of it. Well done, Donna - the first woman in 55 years to be recognised this way. 403 Forbidden WWW.BBC.CO.UK

Last week I was lucky enough to attend a Deutsch Telekom Talent summit with some of my colleagues. We were in Berlin and learned about how to progress your career- including networking, personal branding and use of social media. Here we are, ready for the first session

From doing experiments with sewage to become one of the most successful engineers in the UK?

I listen to the radio a lot - and like the programme "The Life Scientific" where eminent scientists and engineers talk about their career. A recent episode was about Ailie MacAdam - who is talks about her awareness that diverse teams tend to be more successful. As a result she recruited a top team of engineers in which 30 % were women. You can listen to it here- 403 Forbidden WWW.BBC.CO.UK

New favourite TV program?

Watching Derry Girls on Channel 4 to remind me of my school days in Northern Ireland. Love these girls and it's all true

Now we know where gold comes from...

Today a big scientific announcement has been made - it was broadcast on youtube and the lady who is third from the right is Kate Maguire from Queen's University in Belfast. She said that heavy elements such as gold and platinum were formed in space from things called "neutron stars" merging to form a black hole. So now we know,...

Want to go to space?

I saw this on the BBC website - "Despite being told to give up her dream of going to space, Peggy Whitson persisted and is now a record-breaking astronaut." - will it be you next? Look on twitter for 100women #BBC

Visiting Bonn, Germany

I have just come back from a work trip to Bonn, Germany. There were people attending from 21 countries there and I met lots of new and interesting people. We were there to think about what we want to do next in our careers. I heard about opportunities to take a 3 to 6 month role in Germany - it sounded very interesting! Here are a couple of pictures of the event

Diversi-T Day

Last week I attended my company (T-Systems) diversi-T day where people from around the business came together to learn more about the subjects of Inclusivity and Diversity. A very interesting lady who works at the Department of Justice told us about the work she and her team are doing to ensure that her colleagues can feel comfortable to be themselves at work and also how they are trying to ensure that their work force reflects the wider population. Any of us could use the services of the Department of Justice and they feel it is important that they ensure they reflect that in their workplace. One of my colleagues talked about her experience of entering the work force as a young single mother in the 1980's. It is so important to realise how much the world of work has changed since this time but, of course, there is always more we can do.

Last week we had a meeting with our customer to review the work we have completed since January and what we are going to do over the next 6 months. The project name is Jellybean, so can you guess what we ate?

Half term holiday

During half term, my family and I were lucky enough to go skiing. Lots of sun and snow - and here is a picture of my daughter and I at the top of the mountain enjoying the views - you can see them in our goggles!

Cinema trip - Hidden Figures

Saw a great film last night about women scientists/ engineers in the 1960's who worked in NASA. Really inspiring story. You can read about it here..https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-39003904

I'm in London again this week... here we are in the office

A night out with my colleagues at the Association of Project Managers awards dinner

A pink coated me and the team going into a customer meeting