Natasha Day | Paramedic | British Army
I joined the army in 2014 as a combat medical technician.
I then deployed to Kenya and South Sudan. I setup the defence breastfeeding network in 2020 when I realised that the armed forces didn’t support women integrating back into the work place after maternity leave. I then trained as a paramedic in 2021.
Laura Cottey | Royal Naval Medical Officer | Royal Navy
I joined the Royal Navy as a Medical Cadet in 2009 whilst at the University of Southampton.
On completion of university, I started work as a Foundation Doctor at University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust and quickly integrated into supporting the hospital community. Awarded the Outstanding Foundation Year 1 Doctor of the Year award, I wanted to ensure Junior Doctors voices were heard as the Chair of the hospital Junior Doctor Committee. 2013 to 2016, saw two deployments to the Arabian Gulf as the Medical Officer for a destroyer and in support of mine countermeasure operations, where I was awarded the Oliver Sword, an annual Medical Officer Award for leadership. This time away included an exciting opportunity to lead on a healthy lifestyle project as part of the Second Sea Lord's Feeding the Fleet initiative where I delivered weight management classes, nutrition support and tried a range of innovations to get people active.
With a keen interested in leadership and wanting to develop myself further, I pursued a Masters in Leadership for the Healthcare Professionals graduating with a Distinction and gained the 2nd place student award and distinction at the Defence Academy Maritime Intermediate Staff and Command Course. In 2016, I commenced Emergency Medicine training back in Plymouth and started on an Academic Clinical Fellowship where I led a nationwide study to research ways to improve the working lives of Emergency Department staff. The last three years I have been undertaking a PhD to improve outcomes for military trauma patients.
Ellie Bean | Junior Systems Engineer | Atkins
I joined Atkins a little over 2 years ago on their Systems Engineering graduate programme within their Aerospace, Defence, Security and Technology (ADS&T) sector, after having achieved a first class undergraduate degree in Chemical Engineering from Swansea University.
Systems Engineering was a new concept to me but the holistic problem solving aspect and working closely with clients as part of a consultancy appealed to me. In the last 2 years I’ve progressed from Graduate Engineer to Junior Engineer and have worked across 3 different projects within the Defence Industry, within the land and maritime domains.
I’ve worked closely with the client, DE&S, on complex critical systems and been an integral part of delivery teams at vital project phases. My most recent project saw me seconded into and working independently embedded in a client team delivering a new capability for naval ships, which has stretched me outside of my comfort zone to learn new and more advanced skills both technically and professionally.
Internally in Atkins I’ve also been closely involved in a number of different roles including Volunteering Coordiantor in our Young Professional Forum and Apprenticeship Technical Coordinator, managing the technical aspects of the apprenticeships in the business.
Alongside all of this I’m also completing a part-time MSc at Loughborough University in Systems Engineering, an incredibly challenging but interesting endeavour that will provide me with a better technical understanding in my discipline and also achieve my aspirations to achieve chartership in the near future.
Amber Jodko | Enterprise Project Engagement Manager | BAE Systems
Amber joined the Graduate Development Framework as a Project Management Graduate in 2015.
Since then she has grown in confidence, knowledge and experience. Amber brings insights from across the project lifecycle and has excelled in both Delivery, Change Management and Strategy roles. She has worked within our Naval Ships Combat Systems, Air and Shared Services businesses ensuring a breadth of insights, lessons learned and creative approaches to problem solving. Previously the youngest Project Manager in Combat Systems she now operates across the enterprise co-ordinating early lifecycle IT projects.
With a passion for helping others she has a longstanding commitment to supporting the business’s DE&I function alongside her day job. Currently Co-Chair of our corporate-level Gender Equity Network (GEN), for which she is a founding member, she has previously held other voluntary positions including GEN Secretary and Co-Chair of the Naval Ships Inspiring Women’s Network. She is passionate about supporting the personal development of her peers and driving the continuous improvement of the businesses policies and process to advance the employee experience regardless of gender.
Amber knows how important role models are to people, especially women in the defence industry. She works actively to support, mentor and advise others around her and continue her own development to ensure she is as effective as possible.
Outside of work Amber enjoys travelling, walking, reading, and pursuing creative outlets such as DIY and baking, especially the latter, as it is of course compulsory to sample the end product fresh from the oven!
Zeba Khanam | Specialist Research Professional | BT Group
Dr. Zeba Khanam received her PhD degree in Nuclear Robotics from University of Essex in 2022 where she was a recipient of the University of Essex's Embedded and Intelligent Systems Scholarship.
During her PhD, she had explored the research area of making robots resilient during nuclear decommissioning and had worked closely with NASA JPL, Sellafield ltd., UK's National Nuclear Laboratory, and Open Innovation Team, Government of UK. Her research was also identified as UK's top PhD for deep tech startup by Conception X, a top venture builder firm in London. Apart from her PhD, she has worked on UKRI, EPRSC sponsored research projects like National Centre for Nuclear Robotics, Liverpool Multi Vector Energy Exchange Market and UN's Global Challenge Research Project. She has published more than 14 academic research papers in top IEEE and NASA defence journals and conferences. These papers have already accumulated an unusual number of citations (96) for this early career stage. Her research on modelling behaviour of sensors in nuclear radiation zone resulted in additional grant funding £600k from UKRI. She has joined our Emerging Defence Technology team at BT recently and within short span of time, her research has consequential impact on our stakeholders. Beyond BT, Zeba is an advocate of increase representation of women in STEM and is associated with organisations like Women in Product and AnitaB.org as a mentor to many young girls across the globe.
Lauren Thompson | Deputy Account Manager | BAE Systems
After graduating Liverpool John Moores University in 2014 with a 1st Class Degree in Marketing, I joined BAE Systems on the Business Development Graduate Scheme where I undertook four business winning placements over the course of 2 years.
After completing the scheme in 2016, I joined the Strategy Team in the Air Sector, in a role that focused on developing a future fighter programme for the UK.
Over the proceeding 4 years, I undertook a variety of Strategic, Campaign Management and Project Management roles and saw the programme through various stages - from being a strategic concept, to the announcement of Team Tempest, to contract award for the initial phases of the Global Combat Air Programme (formerly FCAS). During this time I worked collaboratively with MoD and industry teams from across the UK and internationally and I am incredibly proud to have played a part in what is now a strategically important programme for the UK and its allies.
In mid 2020 I moved into the Digital Intelligence business (formerly Defence Information), which focuses on delivering cyber, digital and data products and services. I am Deputy Account Manager for one of our key Customers and I work with our teams to deliver important capabilities to our Armed Forces today, as well as looking ahead to ensure that we are developing technologies that meet future requirements for our Customers.
I am passionate about championing authentic leadership, diversity of thought, and creating a working environment that allows everyone to perform at their best.
Isabella Curtis | Systems Engineer | Boeing UK
My passion for engineering stems from an interest in solving complex problems - breaking them down into manageable blocks that, together, deliver an elegant solution.
I studied General Engineering at the University of Warwick, specializing in Systems Engineering. I have a range of cross-industry experiences that have enabled me to explore the breadth of engineering. This has included civil engineering at High Speed 2, high performance automotive engineering at Hyundai, and manufacturing and quality engineering at Tesla.
I am currently a Systems Engineer at Boeing, working in the Phantom Works Global UK team. Phantom Works is the applied research and development arm of Boeing where future concepts are developed by engineers across air, sea and space domains. I joined the Engineering Graduate scheme at Boeing in 2020 and have worked across the development of aircraft training simulators, modelling and simulation of new concepts and capabilities, and systems engineering for evaluation of those new concepts. This has involved the design, development and test of prototypes to showcase autonomous capabilities.
Beyond my day-to-day role, I am passionate about engaging young people in STEM. I am part of the STEM Strategy Committee for Boeing UK where I contribute to decision making that expands the impact of our outreach activities. Outside of work, I am also a volunteer member of the Women’s Engineering Society Early Careers Board where I lead the competitions project that aims to support aspiring students with their professional development.
Hannah Green | Data and Navy Applications CTO | BAE Systems Digital Intelligence
Originally with an Engineering degree, upon graduation Hannah pursued a career in Data Science with a particular focus on Big Data technologies and how to best exploit large datasets to deliver value.
Hannah joined BAE Systems Digital Intelligence as an intern, before returning as a graduate. Joining a consultancy to have the opportunity to be involved in lots of different things, Hannah has so far been involved in two long term projects. Both offered huge development opportunity and are genuinely important and help to protect people which is important to her.
Currently Hannah is acting as Chief Technical Officer for Data and Navy Applications, part of Navy Digital within the Royal Navy. In this role she provides strategic technical direction and advises on a wide range of technical issues to deliver a technical ecosystem that allows the Navy to exploit its many kinds of data. Hannah enjoys the challenge of combining the latest data techniques and technologies with the limitations large grey things that float bring. There is a strong focus on improving the capability of the Royal Navy and the lived experience of Royal Navy Sailors which Hannah is proud to be a part of.
Prior to her work with the Royal Navy, Hannah led the Cyber Threat Detection Analytics team within BAE Systems Digital Intelligence’s Managed Security Service, where she was responsible for developing algorithms to detect threats in network and host data to protect a range of organisations from threats ranging from cyber criminals to nation states.
Hannah Evans | Senior Software Engineer | SiXworks
I have always had an affinity towards STEM subjects from early education when I studied GCSE maths, physics, biology and chemistry.
At college the theme continued, I obtained A-Level mathematics, biology and geology. When it came to university I did not have a career in mind, so decided to follow my interests and study BSc (Hons) Mathematics & Statistics. However, it did not help to clarify what career path to follow. So after graduation, I chose what I saw as the next logical step… MSc Exploration Geophysics of course! My rational was that Geophysics was essentially a combination of my two main interests, Mathematics and Geology, so perhaps it could be the answer to my big career question mark. I guess I was right in some respect… during my MSc, I took a Computational Inverse module which is where my curiosity in programming first ignited!
I was both intrigued and excited around the concept of Computer Science. So I enrolled on BAE System’s National Security Academy, a 3 month intensive training program to retrain as a Software Engineer. I then stayed with BAE for two years, my internal engineering fire fuelled as I navigated through the complex world of software delivery and development for the Defence industry.
I then joined SiXworks in 2020. Just after completing my first year, I was promoted to Technical Team Lead on one of their high profile projects. Since then I have taken on a second project and am line manager for our six graduates.
Rachel Arthur | Head of Computing | Teach First
Rachel has a strong background in education, technology, and innovation.
As the current Head of Computing at Teach First, she is responsible for developing and implementing the training program for ITE. Rachel has a deep understanding of the latest trends and best practices in digital learning and is committed to using educational technology to enhance the teaching and learning experience. Prior to her role in education, Rachel gained valuable experience in the field of cyber security while working at PwC, which has contributed to her technical knowledge and understanding. Rachel is dedicated to driving positive change through innovative and evidence-informed approaches.