2 ICE President’s Future Leaders make WES Top 50 Women in Engineering

A current and a past ICE President’s Future Leader have been named in this year’s WES Top 50 Women in Engineering.

Svetlana Joao, one of ICE President Keith Howells’ Future Leaders, and Beth Barnes, a Future Leader under ICE Past President David Balmforth, have been recognised alongside eight other ICE members.

The annual list was published today as part of International Women in Engineering Day (INWED), under the theme of ‘Make safety seen’.

"This INWED, I'm proud to make safety seen by enhancing the representation of human behaviour in evacuation simulations (which currently favours the white, able-bodied young male) to improve disaster management and potentially reduce the number of injuries and fatalities caused," said Barnes. 

Joao said that the most rewarding safety-related project she's worked on was the design of the headwall of the West Ruislip portal (HS2 project). 

"Ensuring safety was crucial from the initial stage, guaranteeing the structural integrity during the launch of the tunnel boring machine, and through the final construction phase," she said. 

A WES spokesperson said: "The judges stated that the standard of the nominations was extremely high and is testament to the difference that female engineers are making in keeping the public safe and secure."

ICE members in WES Top 50 Women in Engineering 2023

The ICE members who featured this year work in a range of sectors to keep the public safe, from highways to bomb blast structural design.

They are (in alphabetical order):

• Beth Barnes - assistant professor in the department of engineering at Durham University. (North East)
• Sue Caccavone - health and safety professional and operations manager, asset management at water engineering company Binnies. (South East England)
• Patrizia Carpentieri – principal blast consultant in the Arup resilience, security and risk team. (London)
• Verena Fernandes – senior engineer working in highways at Wokingham Borough Council. (South East England)
• Elena Martin Fernandez - principal civil engineer specialising in highways at Waterman Aspen. (Midlands)
• Mariella Gallo - associate director in the Arup resilience, security and risk team. She designs bomb blast design strategies in response to terrorist threats. (London)
• Svetlana Joao - structural engineer at independent engineering services company TYPSA. (London)
• Eleni Kastrisiou – bridge engineer at Arup. (London)
• Claire Price - associate director at WSP. (London)
• Joanne Turner - technical director at Amey. (Scotland)

How the members contribute to ICE

As well as the President Future Leaders, some of the members named above volunteer in roles to support the ICE develop the skills of civil engineers.

Sue Caccavone is a professional reviewer and end point assessment (EPA) assessor, and sits on the ICE Professional Reviews Panel.

Patrizia Carpentieri, Elena Martin Fernandez and Claire Price are delegated engineers. 

"I'm proud to make safety seen by the wider engineering community, showing that security is not only a topic covered on a daily basis onsite, but also a component of so many other disciplines, such as counter-terrorism design," said Carpentieri.

Price is also a supervising civil engineer and serves on the ICE’s UK Regional Affairs Committee (UKRAC), while Joanne Turner is a supervising civil engineer and mentor.

"This INWED, I'm proud to make safety seen by speaking up if something seems unsafe, working with design teams to design out risks to health and safety, for both the contractor who builds it and the people who use it," said Price. 

Delegated engineers, supervising civil engineers, mentors and professional reviewers all support civil engineers to achieve professional qualifications.