Congratulations to Becky Maughan IEng MIMechE, an aerodynamicist at BAE Systems, who has won the 2023 Baroness Platt of Writtle Award. The announcement was made at a presentation dinner held at Plaisterers’ Hall in the City of London on 11 July 2023.

The annual award goes to an individual who has demonstrated excellence in gaining professional registration as an Incorporated Engineer (IEng) in the past year. Each professional engineering institution (PEI) licensed by the Engineering Council can nominate one candidate for the honour. Becky was put forward by The Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE).

Following her graduation from the University of Liverpool with a degree in Aerospace Engineering, Becky joined BAE Systems’ 18-month Accelerate graduate scheme, where she rapidly developed engineering expertise as an Aerodynamicist. On completing the Accelerate scheme in early 2022, Becky joined the Propulsion Integration team focussing on intake air induction technologies for military aircraft and utilising fundamental theories of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD).

The judges said: “Becky impressed us with her infectious enthusiasm for engineering (and in particular, high-performance computing and coding) and also with the way in which she has become authoritative at such an early stage in her career – for example by producing the Design Space Compendium. This is a guide Becky developed and authored by herself, which covers the full design space associated with a class of intake, and was produced based on hundreds of dedicated hours of CFD and self-taught coding (Bash, Matlab, Python, etc).

“Her love for coding and engineering was also clearly manifested by her voluntary creation of a digital professional experience record keeping platform that was adopted by BAE for use by all engineers that are working towards gaining their engineering professional qualifications. Becky proved herself to be the strongest candidate for this award this year, showing herself to be a dynamic, motivated and diligent young engineer who actively and enthusiastically engages with other members of the engineering profession and is driven to rapidly become an engineering leader in the field of highly technical Aerodynamics.”

As the winner of the Baroness Platt of Writtle Award, Becky received an engraved medal, a certificate and a cash prize of £1,000.

The Baroness Platt of Writtle Award is named after Baroness Platt of Writtle CBE FREng in recognition of her work in support of the Engineering profession in general and Incorporated Engineers in particular. The award is made by the Charitable Trust Fund of the Worshipful Company of Engineers, a Livery Company of the City of London, through their trust fund The Engineers Trust, in conjunction with The Dulverton Trust and the Engineering Council.

For more details on the Baroness Platt of Writtle Award, please visit the Engineers Trust website.

Photo courtesy of Mark Witter Photography

For press enquiries:
Helen Potts, Engineering Council – hpotts@engc.org.uk, 020 3206 0568
The Engineering Council holds the national Register of Engineering Technicians (EngTech), Incorporated Engineers (IEng), Chartered Engineers (CEng) and Information and Communication Technology Technicians (ICTTech). It also sets and maintains the internationally recognised standards of competence and ethics that govern the award and retention of these titles. By this means it is able to ensure that employers, government and wider society, both at home and overseas, can have confidence in the skills and commitment of registrants. For more information visit: www.engc.org.uk