IWED is a day to celebrate women in engineering so TP Progress returned to one of last year’s champions, Catherine Downes, to nominate her engineering hero for 2022 and chart her professional development plans.

I was blown away by the females who were presenting at a recent engineering event in the North West, with their passion and knowledge of civil engineering reflected in the way they were able to engage and captivate the audience. One, in particular, stood out and I was fortunate to have a chat with Yuli Chaido Doulala-Rigby afterwards.

An inspirational figure

Yuli is a chartered engineer, a fellow of the Institute of Civil Engineers, a Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Engineers, a passionate STEM Ambassador and the first civilian to be elected a fellow of the Institution of Royal Engineers (FInstRE). 

Yuli’s story began in Greece where she was born and later gained a first-class degree in Civil Engineering. She then studied for a Masters in her specialism: an MSc in Rock Mechanics and Foundation Engineering at the University of Newcastle Upon Tyne. Throughout her 28 years of experience in the industry, Yuli has gained extensive knowledge in her field, from spending 10 years as a geotechnical engineer in Hong Kong, working on schemes such as the Jubilee Line Extension in London and a host of other world-class projects. Yuli has been chief civil engineer at Tensar with responsibility for the Tensar Global Design Team since 2009.

Challenging the gender stereotype

Yuli is an engineering hero and role model for any woman looking to embark in the field.  Women like Yuli are part of that drive; to encourage and promote engineering to young females, reduce the disparities between gender in this area and challenge the gender stereotype that engineering is a male-only field.

It is sometimes said that women engineers are invisible. However, women like Yuli are proof that this doesn’t have to be the case. If women strive to be noticed for their capabilities in engineering, continue to support and encourage young females into engineering and push for equality they can and will ultimately succeed in this field.

My next professional milestone?

This September I‘m starting a part-time degree in civil engineering, and, alongside, I will be pushing to gain IEng status. I’ll be particularly interested in CIHT networks linked to the university I'm attending and if none exist, I’ll push for one to be set up to help provide a support network for those on the civil engineering course.

How can CIHT help me? CPD that really focuses on undergraduates and postgraduates needs such as help with report writing, project management, and financial management would be beneficial. Such CPD supports students, not only with their studies, but in preparation for future professional roles.

I also believe that face to face workshops for students would help them understand how to prepare for professional registration. Preparation for professional registration is often a nerve-wracking and daunting experience. Having a workshop to help break down the ‘dos and don’ts’ of the process would be of real value to students leading up to it. 

End Point Assessments provided by the CIHT like those offered to Level 3 Transport Planning Technician Apprentices would also be a way of providing support to Civil Engineering students who wish to pursue their EngTech or IEng status.

How CIHT has already helped me

As a CIHT member, I’ve been able to access relevant information for progressing my professional qualifications through Greg Saunders. When I was the CIHT regional recruitment officer, Behrooz Saghafi, regional committee member, and one of CIHT’s regional engagement officers, Sally Carrington were extremely helpful, by breaking down my volunteering role and providing me with the right contacts so I could approach universities to promote membership.

I was heavily involved in designing the pop-up cycle infrastructure in Liverpool, and to support and give me guidance for this design, I referred to the CIHT’s guide to planning for cycling by Rob Gallagher and John Parkin. I also attended the ‘The 2020 Cycling LTN and Greater Manchester’s Bee Network – what good cycle infrastructure looks like in 2021’ webinar which discussed LTN1/20 and how the Manchester Bee Network has revolutionised active travel in the Greater Manchester region.  I have also listened to the ‘Active travel and transport - post pandemic futures podcast by CIHT with Professor Rachel Aldred that provided an insight into active travel behaviour and how to improve it.

Looking forwards, I’m keen to enrol on CIHT courses and I’m particularly interested in ‘Sustainable Transport – Introduction’ and ‘Sustainable Transport - Planning for Cycling’ which again will support my role in Traffic Project engineering.

In conversation with Pamela Cahill.

Recognise Yuli’s story? Back in 2019, CIHT Hong Kong hosted a presentation by Yuli entitled ‘Cash, time and carbon savings when using geogrids in pavement construction’ at the University of Hong Kong.