To celebrate International Women in Engineering Day we're sharing individual stories of women engineers from across UKCRIC member institutions.
Tell us about your role and what you find most exciting about it.
I am a Lecturer in Civil Engineering at the University of Bristol. I have been in this role since November 2019. I spent my time between teaching, researching and administration work. I mostly teach 2nd, 3rd and 4th year civil engineering students and I enjoy seeing their progress and development over the years. I am excited when they secure an internship in Industry and their job-hunting efforts end in success. I enjoy interacting with students, listening to their problems and providing pastoral care and career advice. I can reflect on my experiences as a student, and I relate to their difficulties. I am thrilled about the researching aspects of my job, and I always try to find time between tasks to go to the lab and work on my personal projects. I enjoy the thrill of research and digging for the ‘truth’. It is kind of a detective job… trying to find answers and solutions to engineering problems.
What inspired you to become an engineer?
As a kid, I liked Lego like most engineers. I also enjoyed investigating how things work. For example, I remember I was trying to fix our phone device when I was around 12 years old. The odds were 50/50 but surprisingly enough I made it work.
However, the memories that affected my career path are those of our family house in my hometown in Greece. I observed our home being built from excavation to foundation and concrete casting of the structural skeleton until full completion. You could say that I had my first site visit as a prospective civil engineer at the age of 14. Although I was inclined to arts and humanities, civil engineering was the only technical profession that was of interest to me. I also found exciting the fruitful interaction and dialogue with the architects and how engineers could make challenging buildings work.
How do you balance your professional and personal lives?
It is quite challenging to find a balance between my personal and professional life. There are certain periods where the workload might be high, or I want to stay in the office a bit longer to work out why my model is not running effectively for example. As an early career professional, you may also fall into the trap of saying yes too much. Over the years, I have learned to weigh my ‘yes’ and ‘no’ and acknowledge that I cannot accommodate everything in my calendar. I also make personal commitments for my free time and organise several activities (e.g., Taekwondo Mondays) to make sure that I enjoy my free time and recharge my batteries.
In your opinion is there more that can be done to encourage a greater diversity of people into engineering careers?
There is still plenty room for improvement if you consider that the ratio of female to male engineering students is still low. In my opinion, the focus should be at a school level with increased STEM activities and engagement and training of School teachers towards STEM subjects. This is where you can plant the seeds and change mentalities and break down barriers and stereotypes. Another key focus should be how we can support and encourage people from lower socio-economic backgrounds who do not have the same opportunities and access to resources. Prospective female engineers from developing countries face greater challenges than those from developed countries. Do we need to focus on targeted educations programmes? Scholarships? Training?
What advice would you give for anyone interested in pursuing an engineering career?
Engineering is an exciting job for problem solvers. We need to keep ourselves updated with constant advances and quench our thirst for knowledge (lifelong learning). The University will set a strong foundation for a successful career, but engineers will learn more over the years with the daily tasks in the office and with greater exposure to projects. It is the journey towards the destination….’don’t hurry the journey at all’ from ‘Ithaka’ by C.P. Cavafy.
Dr. Eleni Toumpanaki is a Lecturer in Civil Engineering at the University of Bristol.