Sarah's engineering success

The University of Brighton final year Civil Engineering BEng(Hons) student beat off competition from students around the country to take the ICE (Institution of Civil Engineers) –  Balfour Beatty Student Innovator of the Year Award 2017.

Her ideas and innovations to help improve the health, safety, environment and sustainability in the construction and engineering industry were considered the best and her reward is a fully-paid three-month summer placement with the Balfour Beatty, the international infrastructure group.

Sarah, 20, will be integrated in onsite teams to work on real-life major construction projects where she will have the opportunity to make a difference to the way things are normally done.

Her safety ideas included the use of drones, building information modelling and virtual reality to identify potential hazards on live, working sites and utilising off-site manufacturing to reduce overall risk.

Sarah, who plans to continue her studies with a Civil Engineering MSc course, said: “I was really surprised when I won – it’s an honour and I am excited to start my placement with Balfour Beatty.

“I have definitely enjoyed studying at the University of Brighton. The support provided by the university has helped me develop and become more confident in my abilities. The course covers a wide range of subjects from reinforced concrete to hydraulics and sustainable construction and it has provided me with the engineering knowledge and skills required in industry.”

Professor Debra Humphris, University of Brighton Vice-Chancellor, said: “This is an outstanding achievement by Sarah and wonderful news for women in civil engineering. The whole university is very proud of her.”

Dr Maria Diakoumi, Principal Lecturer and the university’s course leader for civil engineering, said: “This is an amazing achievement by Sarah and I hope her success will inspire many more women to take up engineering.”