Karen Burt Memorial Award

The Karen Burt Memorial Award is for the best newly qualified chartered engineer.

The Karen Burt Impact report is both a celebration and a reflection. It explores the impact of this long-standing investment in inclusive engineering leadership and honours the legacy of the Karen Burt Alumnae community it has helped to build.
As well as exploring its impact over time, we also recommend new opportunities to enhance its future direction and expand its contribution to the engineering profession.

You can download a copy here

Who Was Karen Burt?

As an active member and Council office holder in The Women’s Engineering Society, Dr Karen Burt was a tireless campaigner for the recruitment and retention of women in science and engineering. From her own experience and her extensive research, she was regarded as an expert in the management of career breaks and women ‘returners’ to engineering.

Karen graduated from Newnham College, Cambridge and obtained a PhD from Reading University in electron microscopy. She joined British Aerospace Systems at Stevenage as project engineer for scientific satellites and progressed to Senior Systems Engineer before developing an interest in management in the Total Quality Environment, and subsequently becoming Business Acquisition Manager.

Leaving BAe, she set up her own consultancy and was instrumental in establishing the Centre for Advanced Instrumentation Systems within University College, London. She had just accepted a position on the staff of UCL when her career was abruptly ended by a devastating stroke.

Karen is remembered as a gifted communicator and her fight to recover speech and mobility following her stroke was an inspiration to all who knew her.

“As WES strives to further diversity and inclusion within engineering, it’s heartening to learn about the efforts of so many individuals outside of STEM roles who are dedicated to doing the same. Their invaluable support has helped to make real change and will play a vital role in the future of women in engineering.“

“On behalf of the judging panel, I would like to commend all of the nominees for the excellent work that they have done to help, encourage and of course inspire women to achieve as engineers. The high standard of nominations we received made for a fascinating and challenging judging process and I would like to thank everyone who applied for the transformational impact that you have made.”
WES Trustee and Head Judge Chrisma Jain said:

2025 winner: Juliette Goddard

Juliette Goddard is a Senior Chartered Mechanical Engineer with experience in both the aerospace sector and the pioneering vertical farming industry. At Intelligent Growth Solutions, she was in the R&D team developing the future of automated farming. She led the design of a flexible HVAC seal that significantly improved airflow efficiency and crop consistency in farming towers, directly enhancing customer outcomes and sustainability. In February 2025 she joined Leonardo Electronics as a Senior Mechanical Engineer, where she works on stabilisation systems and novel material designs for airborne applications, developing expertise in composite design and qualification. Alongside her engineering career, Juliette is an active advocate for women in STEM. She co-founded Watt Women at Heriot-Watt University, served on the WES Early Careers Board where she co-created the podcast “The Woman Engineer: Chit-Chats”, and is a long-standing STEM Ambassador.

Application Criteria:

Each Institution may nominate one newly chartered woman engineer.
The candidate must have achieved Chartership between 1 March 2024 and 29 February 2025.
The candidate must be a UK resident. Candidates temporarily working outside of the UK will be deemed eligible only if their contract is under six months in duration, or if they are a serving member of the armed forces.
Candidates can only be nominated once

Nominations Now Closed

Download further information:
Information for PEI’s
Information for candidates