Celebrating International Women’s Day with IET President Dawn Ohlson CEng FIET
For someone who never set out to be a role model, Dawn Ohlson has an uncanny habit of becoming one.
Today, as President of the IET, Dawn’s story is a powerful reflection of this year’s International Women’s Day theme: Give to Gain — the idea that by giving our time, skills, and energy, we gain confidence, connection, purpose, and unexpected opportunities. Dawn’s journey embodies that spirit at every turn.
A spark that started with numbers
Dawn’s path into engineering began early. With an engineer father and a natural love of numbers, she discovered quickly that STEM felt like home. While writing assignments left her frustrated (“I’ve got all the facts right! How much more do you want?”), physics and maths offered the certainty she craved. She thrived in environments where “when it’s right, it’s right.”
Even in school, Dawn stood out, often as the lone girl in her electronics and physics classes, and not necessarily part of the popular crowd. But what she lacked in belonging then, she later found in unexpected places.
Finding sisterhood at Somerville
Arriving at Oxford, Dawn stepped into a world that was overwhelmingly male, except for Somerville College. Ironically, it was the last place she wanted to go, but it turned out to be transformative: a women-only environment that grounded her through the culture shock of joining a highly academic, male dominated engineering department.
It was more than just a college, it was a community that reminded her she wasn’t alone, and that representation matters.
It was at university that Dawn first realised engineering’s real power to change lives. Her early projects from analysing EEGs of neonatal babies to using AI to study mammograms, lit a fire inside her. Engineering, she discovered, wasn’t just about solving technical puzzles. It could be meaningful. It could be human.
That belief shaped every decision that followed.
A career built on curiosity
Dawn’s career has always followed an unconventional rhythm, shaped as much by curiosity as by the unexpected opportunities that seemed to appear at just the right moment. Sponsored into Oxford by Racal, she began her career with a sense of proving herself in spaces where women were never the obvious choice.
She came close to pursuing a PhD, nearly took a different academic path, and ultimately found herself spending almost 30 years at Racal and Thales: one long, evolving chapter that carried her from hardware to software to systems engineering, and eventually into senior leadership. One of her most defining early leaps came from a simple stroke of timing.
Walking past an office at the wrong (or right) moment landed her a two-year posting in France, despite not speaking a word of French! What could have been a disaster became a lesson in resilience and immersion. Within months, she was functioning in a new language, determined to leave her mark before returning home. Then there was the famous underfloor heating presentation — the one that put her on stage for the IET Faraday Lecture tour. While others talked about robotics, Dawn chose a topic she understood inside out, and it paid off.
Those lectures transformed her confidence, taught her how to hold the attention of 1,500 teenagers, and led her to her future husband. As she jokes, “If we could survive that tour, we could survive anything.”
“I’m an engineer. That’s who I am.”
As her career evolved, roles seemed to “find her”. Carrying her from avionics to systems, and later into strategy and global capability. She retrained when needed, stepped into unfamiliar environments, and followed opportunities with a mix of humility and quiet confidence. Through all the twists, the committees, the countries, and the reinventions, one thing never changed: Dawn always circled back to her core identity: “I’m an engineer. That’s who I am.”
Where giving truly became gaining
Volunteering wasn’t a box Dawn ticked; it became a golden thread woven through every stage of her life and career. What began with simple school STEM visits gradually expanded into something much bigger, serving on the Engineering Council, WISE, STEMNET, Engineering UK, and more IET committees than she could ever list in a single breath. She chaired the Professional Development Operations Committee (famously while heavily pregnant), reviewed countless CEng applications, and helped shape the professional pathways that now support the next generation of engineers.
“Volunteering doesn’t just give something to others - it gives something back to you.”
For Dawn, that “gain” showed up in many forms: confidence built beyond her day job, leadership practice around tables of senior engineers, friendships that have lasted decades, and a network of people completely outside her own professional bubble. Most of all, it gave her the joy of seeing those she’d mentored, (sometimes gently nudged, sometimes firmly pushed) spread their wings and grow into leaders in their own right.
Championing honesty, visibility, and the quiet power of making a difference
For Dawn, supporting women in engineering starts with honesty. The mental load, the expectations, and the persistent myth that anyone can “have it all” without compromise. She believes women deserve real conversations, not polished narratives, and that visibility isn’t about being a flawless role model but about simply being seen as a human, imperfect, and credible presence in the profession. 
Threaded through her journey is one phrase that has gently steered her time and again: “You could make a difference.” It has followed her from committee tables to classrooms, nudging her into opportunities she hadn’t planned for and ultimately guiding her toward the IET presidency. It speaks to her belief that engineering changes lives not through dramatic gestures, but through steady, practical contributions, one project, one decision, one person at a time.
And each time Dawn says yes, she’s found that giving her time and experience doesn’t drain her; it strengthens her. For women looking at STEM pathways, whether starting out, returning, or finding their way through, her message is simple and reassuring: you don’t need to be perfect, extraordinary, or certain. You just need to know that you, too, can make a difference quietly, steadily, and in your own way.
This International Women’s Day, the 2026 theme “Give to Gain” shines through beautifully in Dawn Ohlson’s approach to engineering and leadership. Her career and volunteer work reflect a belief that giving your time and experience doesn’t deplete you, it builds confidence, connection, and purpose. Her commitment to helping others grow reminds us that empowering others is one of the most powerful ways to empower ourselves.
Join Dawn as she leads a dynamic panel discussion featuring trailblazing women in STEM who exemplify how generosity, mentorship, and collaboration can accelerate success, and discover how you, too, can be part of this powerful movement.
The power of giving: the women leading the charge - WISE taking place on March 6 from 12 - 1:30pm GMT.
#VolunteerSpotlight