ICE West Midlands BSBC Branch: International Women in Engineering Day

Armin Berenjian

Dr Armin Berenjian graduated with an MEng in Civil Engineering from the University of Birmingham in 2012. He went on to complete a PhD in Structural Engineering at the University of Salford, where his research focused on structural glass—introducing him to the world of façades and cladding systems.

After completing his doctorate, Armin began his professional career at Kingspan as a Structural Engineer. He later joined Wintech, where he progressed to the role of Associate Senior Façade Structural Engineer. Over the past decade, he has specialised in façade engineering, contributing to a wide range of projects from developing specifications for façade remediation works to investigating various types of cladding failures.

Meshi Taka

Meshi is a chartered Civil Engineer predominantly focused on water, flood risk and infrastructure spanning 20 years. In that time she has worked in a variety of roles across client and consultancy design delivery teams.

A longstanding volunteer for the ICE in the northeast and nationally, Meshi is an active champion and advocate for workplace EDI, STEM ambassador and Supervising Civil Engineer. Meshi can usually be found speaking to industry on allyship, inclusion, enabling, and promoting inclusive dialogue with everyone. She is committed to promoting inclusion in the workplace and attracting diverse talent into engineering and sustainability in design and net-zero action. Having collaborated with schools and professional organisations both within the region and nationally, engaging with and empowering girls through direct dialogue and visible representation; she has been influencing change by sharing her own experiences to help break down barriers and misconceptions, celebrate diversity and underrepresented groups without alienating the mainstream groups.

She also holds national ICE commitments as a serving member and vice-chair of the ICE’s Fairness Inclusion and Respect (FIR) committee (Diversity and inclusion, Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE)) and a member of the editorial panel for the ICE journal. She is also a technical contributor to the ICE’s Knowledge hub on flood risk and water.

Tina Gunnarsson

Tina Gunnarsson is a sustainability & social inclusion lead at Fika