Get to know our top five and register for the ceremony here
As has become a tradition on Ada Lovelace Day each year, today we’re very excited to reveal the five amazing engineers that make up our 2025 Young Woman Engineer (YWE) of the Year awards finalists.
Our annual YWE awards celebrate engineering excellence in the UK and aim to highlight women role models in engineering roles to other young women and girls.
As we find every year with these awards, it was incredibly tough to whittle applications down to a top five, but our judges were able to reach a decision and we’re delighted to now share with you who our 2025 finalists are.
Registration for our ceremony on Thursday 11 December is now open, and we would love to see Members and Volunteers coming along and supporting this event after work hours. Please click the button below to register if you wish to attend this year.
Register for our ceremony here
Now, proudly introducing our 2025 YWE finalists:
Amy Dillon – YWE/WES Prize finalist
Amy is a bridge builder - quite literally! As a Principal Engineer at Design ID, a civil and structural engineering consultancy, she has been integral to many critical infrastructure projects, including the Northern Spire bridge in her hometown of Sunderland. She’s also the brains behind The Big Bridge, the STEM outreach initiative that brings a 13-metre-long buildable bridge to schools and community events across Northern Ireland and Ireland. It has reached over 2,500 students to date, with a focus on introducing girls from less advantaged backgrounds to engineering via hands-on experiences.
Jennifer Barry - YWE/WES Prize finalist
Jennifer represents the UK internationally on space sustainability. She has led UK delegations to the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS), and presented at the UN, and contributed to the ESA’s Zero Debris initiative. Her work as the Payload Systems Lead at the UK Space Agency involves technical insight, assuring quality standards, leading research and development initiatives, and project management. She has also found time for over 530 hours of STEM outreach to students, earning her an invitation to the Youth in Aviation and Aerospace parliamentary reception at the House of Lords.
Rachel Hayden - YWE/WES Prize finalist
Rachel was introduced to the idea of becoming an engineer through a school pasta bridge competition – and now manages infrastructure and assets that include not just bridges, but tunnels, culverts, pumping stations, and retaining structures. In her role as a Senior Chartered Civil Engineer at WSP, she project manages two multi-million pound projects, leading multidisciplinary teams of engineers, planners, commercial managers, and technical specialists, to ensure quality and safety. As an international STEM ambassador, she founded and led the Building the Future, Shaping our World competition, connecting students from India, Nepal, the UK, and Jersey to design sports venues for their communities.
Nikkala Pokojski – Mary George Memorial Prize finalist
Nikkala is still an apprentice, but she has already designed a full system architecture for HM Passport Office. Her commitment to real-world software solutions has led to rapid progression during her apprenticeship as a software engineer at Kainos. Her work contributes to the entire software development lifecycle, including writing, testing, deploying, and maintaining code. With a practical approach, she is taking responsibilities beyond her years, expanding her skillset, and is a debugging and problem-solving mentor to other apprentices and junior developers.
Rachel Donaghey – Mary George Memorial Prize finalist
Rachel is someone who drives strategic improvements. In the two roles she has held at NATS, she has redesigned workflows that streamlined the safety and assurance process by 50%, developed new guidance, enhanced collaboration, and supported consistency. She works closely with project teams to ensure operational safety in a 24/7 environment, planning and overseeing new systems, equipment, and software in and out of service. As someone with dyslexia, she is proud to have proved to herself and others that she is capable of excelling in a space she once felt excluded from.
We hope you’ll join us at the ceremony on Thursday 11 December 6 – 10pm at IET London: Savoy Place to find out who our winners will be - best of luck to all of our incredible finalists!