Her father told her she was born to be an engineer. Becoming one of the top ten students in her country proved his point, especially when she chose to work in electrical and electronic engineering.  She now educates the next generation of stars in the subject. Meet Salma Al Arefi, an IET Young Woman Engineer of the Year finalist.

Let me begin

My name is Salma Al Arefi. I am a Lecturer in Engineering Education with a focus on teaching and scholarship. I work at the University of Leeds in the School of Engineering and the School of Electric, Electronic and Electrical Engineering. My teaching expertise focuses mainly on the field of renewable energy systems, and I deliver lectures and laboratory sessions, as well as supervising student's technical projects.

What inspired you to get into engineering?

I am a person who stammers, so I have a speech impairment - it's a neurological disorder I live with and is a key part of who I am.
One of my dreams was to become a Lawyer - because I always advocated for human rights and equal rights to education – but when I was younger, I didn't think I could do that with my stutter. Being really good at maths and physics and doing very well in these subjects at school made me realise what I can actually do.

Another reason was that my parents, especially my dad, would say, 'Oh, you were born to be an engineer.' And that was because of the way I would go about things in the house. I always loved coming up with creative ways to do things - so I could optimise effort, time and resources but still get the same output as my siblings. There was that creative element in me, as well as thinking about effectiveness and optimisation.

How did you get to where you are now?

I have always enjoyed science, technology, engineering, and maths (STEM), and it was one of the things that I did really well in school. I am originally from North Africa, from Libya, where I did all of my education for my Foundation of Education. It was actually in my A-Levels that I was among the top 10 across the nation with high achieving grades, and I was awarded a scholarship to study anywhere in the world for my undergraduate degree.
Although I didn't speak a word of English then, I chose to study in the UK because it is a leader in education, and I could learn English and do a degree.
A new education system, new environment and learning a different language was another challenge. However, once I settled in, I did very well academically, being top of my class every year until I graduated. I had an offer to do a PhD, which my sponsors were very happy to support.
I've always wanted to do engineering and have a great passion for it. There were so many challenges, but the passion and drive for success kept pushing me through the whole journey.

What difference do you think this kind of award can make to women engineers?

The IET's YWE Awards give great recognition and visibility to the work many women do to promote more women into engineering. This prestigious platform gives it that emphasis of importance and underlines that this is still an ongoing challenge.

What can the IET and wider society do to get more women into the sector?

I think we're doing really well in terms of promoting interest. Over the years, there's been a lot of campaigns and initiatives working with people across different backgrounds to get them interested in STEM.

What we're not doing well is supporting them in navigating that system. We're telling people to come and do engineering, and once they enrol and access university, we almost don't do anything for them - we say, 'Okay, go and do your own thing.' Beyond that admission point is where I think we could do better.

We need to do more to support all students throughout their engineering journey and look at ways we can support women in STEM throughout the life cycle of their academic or career journey.

One of the really interesting things I find from my work is that women engineering students don't struggle academically. The challenge is how we can get this exceptional talent into the engineering workplace, promote them as leaders and retain them within the workforce.

What do you think wider society can do to improve matters?

One of the best things the IET is doing, and I do in my own outreach practice, is to involve families and children.
As a wider society, if we can work to support more local initiatives and create facilities for children where we can support young people and expose them to STEM beyond the classroom through community centres, public engagement and encouraging more people to take part in these initiatives - we can help eliminate some of the barriers and sidestep challenges that might arise from doing all these things in isolation.

What are you working on at the moment and why is it important?

At the moment, I'm working on a Fellowship with the Leeds Institute for Teaching Excellence, supporting students' sense of belonging. This is important to me because the best way to support student success, in terms of both academic achievements and career progression, is to support them to be part of a community where they feel they belong - a community where they can be themselves without the need to change to fit in.

What's next in your career?

I would really like to continue work on supporting women engineers throughout their career, while still doing my outreach work and working with initiatives aimed at supporting students throughout their life cycle.

A project I'm currently working on is developing case studies aimed at enhancing inclusion of women in the engineering curriculum. This would include examples of how engineering aids women and addresses challenges specific to women.

Where do you see yourself in the next decade or so?

I think I would like to be recognised nationally and internationally for my contributions to supporting women in engineering. We should not only have numbers of women going to study engineering or have a career - but have women in engineering with a substantial contribution to engineering communities. Women need to be among those key drivers of engineering solutions and engineering decision making.

What kind of breakthroughs would you like to see in your field?

I would really like to see more women, particularly from backgrounds like mine, in senior leadership positions driving key decision-making about engineering innovations, education and policies. As well as diverse representation, the key breakthrough for me would be to see women not just included at the table because they are women, but see them empowered and enabled to drive critical decision-making about engineering.

What do you hope to achieve in your career?

In terms of my academic career, I would like to be recognised as a Professor of Inclusive Engineering Education. I want to have contributed to enhanced engineering education that caters for the diverse need of learners (women and other underrepresented groups) and help attract more diverse skills into engineering. I hope to establish a legacy to foster a sense of belonging to both engineering education and discipline so engineers can thrive and be their best.

What is the best part of working in your area of engineering?

As an educator of future engineers, I love working closely with students to help them unlock their engineering potential. Being able to make a meaningful contribution to my students and seeing them do well in their studies and careers has always been very rewarding.

Overall, the thing I like the best about engineering is its creative nature, creativity in problem-solving, designing systems, and career pathways.

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The IET Young Woman Engineer of the Year is an annual prize chosen from among five finalists, each of whom is a promising young engineer. The first award was presented in 1978.