E&T: As the author of ‘Engineers Making a Difference’ (aka ‘EMAD’), what is your experience of engineering?

Shini Somara: After my Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) in mechanical engineering, I continued to pursue an Engineering Doctorate (EngD) in environmental technology at Brunel University in London. My EngD was sponsored by Flomerics, which specialises in computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software. My doctoral research focused on the dynamic thermal modelling of buildings because, at the time, CFD models only provided static images. CFD in buildings has grown from strength to strength and was particularly useful during the pandemic, when we needed to know how Covid was transported among crowds.

My father inspired me into engineering, with his incessant problem-solving approach to life. The plan was to take over the reins of his building services engineering consultancy. This hasn’t happened yet – but there is still time!

The highly visual nature...