When I was in school, I had the incredible opportunity to hear Helen Sharman (the first British astronaut) speak about her experiences during her eight days in orbit. My sister (now a chemical engineer) and I were the only two people in the room to ask her questions. One was about space ice cream, and the other was about how astronauts go to the loo. I’ll let you decide who asked what! After that talk, I realised that working in the aerospace industry wasn’t just a dream but a possible career path. Pair this with a growing love for aircraft at school, and aerospace engineering sounded like a promising degree.

At A level I studied music, further maths, maths, physics and completed an EPQ. I was trying to decide between music and aerospace engineering (quite the jump I know!) After a talk with my family and realising I didn’t want to give up on my childhood dreams, I decided on aerospace engineering.

Exploring the engineering industry on placement

When choosing where to study, I knew that I really wanted to go on placement and explore different engineering companies and industries while at university. At the Bath open day, I spoke with inspiring female lecturers who showed how strong and integrated the placement scheme was compared to other universities. This along with Bath's excellent employability record made it feel like the ideal environment to grow both academically and professionally.

The placement support at Bath was fantastic. Thanks to it, I have completed a summer internship with Oxford Instruments and a year in industry with BAE Systems. I am currently on a summer internship with Rolls-Royce after I was selected as a top 10 finalist for TargetJobs Female Undergraduate of the Year Award.

The experiences and skills I have learnt on placement have been incredible, and I am excited to bring these back with me in September when I continue my studies. During my placement year at BAE Systems, I helped organise a networking day for the other industrial placement students. I attended the RAeS FCAS Conference in London by invitation, and I became a STEM Ambassador. Being a STEM Ambassador gave me the privilege of sharing my experiences and passion for STEM. It enabled me to run outreach activities across many schools. Without the placements guidance from the department I don't think I would have felt empowered to take advantage of all these opportunities.

Designing subsystems for a simulated mission

The ESA Academy is the education branch of the European Space Agency that runs events for UG, PG and PhD students. Since starting university, I have kept an eye on the Academy for a workshop that I was really enthused about. On placement, I was introduced to teams that worked with 'Agile' frameworks, moving away from the classical style of engineering. I found this invaluable. Concurrent engineering seemed similar to some aspects of 'new types of engineering' I saw in industry. I was keen to expand my skill set to be a more adaptable engineer in the future so I applied for the Concurrent Engineering Workshop!

In September, I'll join 27 other engineers from all ESA member states. We'll learn about and apply concurrent engineering practices to a real-world simulated mission. It's a method of designing and developing products where all subsystems (I've been assigned structures and mechanisms) are designed simultaneously. This is a more efficient way of working but comes with issues where solutions in one area could impact the design of another area. The workflow relies on strong communication between teams to identify and resolve these issues.

The course is based at the European Space Security and Education Centre (ESEC) in Transinne, Belgium. The centre is a simulated concurrent design facility which we will be using for the duration of the workshop. The structures and mechanisms discipline focuses on the structural design and verification of the whole spacecraft and launcher. I am excited to learn more about my subsystem and the wider principles of concurrent engineering, as it has been a real area of interest this past year. I look forward to being able to work as part of a team to explore these practices and apply them to a mission.

I am also excited to explore Belgium as it’s somewhere I have never been before. This occasion affords me the opportunity to explore Brussels after the event!

Balancing commitments

One of the most challenging parts of my degree has been balancing my sporting commitments with my studies. In Freshers’ Week of my first year, I tried out dodgeball, and it sparked my enjoyment for this sport! I became the university’s first-ever official women’s captain in second year. I set up a full women’s team and started running weekly women’s sessions to boost female participation in the sport. This year, the women’s team won the university championships. The club has never achieved this before! I was also selected for the England development dodgeball squad, something school-aged me would have never expected. I am looking forward to bringing back my experiences training with England to the university squad on my second run as women's captain!

As well as my sport commitments, I also became an academic representative in the Staff-student liaison committee in my first year. This is where student representatives come together from all the years across the department. Getting the student voice heard was important to me. I could ensure that my cohort had an input into faculty decisions that directly affected us. In my second year, I joined the (Department Learning and Teaching Quality Committee (DLTQC). My friend Emily and I were the two student representatives. We felt it was important to have an active student input into the department's major decisions and guidance. Balancing my degree alongside these commitments took a lot of organisation and was definitely testing at times!

I would love to know what the future holds for me!

On my degree, you don't specialise in aerospace until the third year, which I start in September. Working at BAE and Rolls-Royce focusing on aircraft and new technology has got me increasingly excited to begin my aerospace focused modules. I am also looking forward to seeing all my friends again post-placement and discussing all our experiences working in industry!

After I graduate, I would love to return to fighter jet development. It is a really exciting time for new emerging technologies especially as it’s only once every few decades that the UK builds a new fighter jet. For anyone thinking about what to do, it’s a very exciting opportunity to get involved and be able to contribute to something that will fly in your lifetime!

That being said, the dream of being an astronaut is still very much in the back of my mind. I’m also deeply enthused by the prospect of contributing to advancements in space technology. Especially because much of what we use every day and take for granted has come from this field.