Former pupil Lucy Collins talks to PGHS students about careers for women within the engineering profession

Lucy Collins returned to PGHS this week to give a talk to our Senior girls about the opportunities for women within the engineering profession.  Lucy Collins, who left PGHS in 2003, is a Naval Architect with the Ministry of Defence, involved in the  design, operation and maintenance of Royal Navy ships and submarines. She currently holds the position of Research Assistant in the Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering Office at University College London, on secondment from the Ministry of Defence. She is responsible for assisting with the MSc in Naval Architecture and Submarine Design course as well as management of the tank facilities and is currently undertaking a PhD in the field of submarine design.

Lucy is passionate about breaking the stereotypes within the engineering profession and her experiences to date highlight this: Last year she was the first uniformed female civilian to do sea time on a Royal Navy submarine, as a Lieutenant in the Royal Corps of Naval Constructors. She has also just been given a position on the inaugural WISE Young Women’s Board, made up of women under 30 across the range of STEM careers in the UK, the aim being to offer insight and contribute to the wider WISE campaign. 

The girls were thoroughly inspired by her talk, the same as they were when she visited the school last November and gave a speech at Senior Prize Giving.  During her speech she said, “I’m an Engineering Ambassador and have been back to PGHS, and other schools as well, to talk about my career and if I convince even one girl to consider engineering as a career when previously it wouldn’t even have crossed her mind then it will all have been worth it.”

Lucy Collins MEng(hons) MSc AMRINA
Naval Architect, UCL, Ministry of Defence