On Friday 8^th March 2024, RCNDE celebrated International Women’s Day by spotlighting some of the outstanding women professionals in its community of experts: Caroline Bull, RCNDE Director and Product Engineering Technical Outreach Lead for AWE; Pat Liddicott, Materials Science and Non-Destructive Evaluation Centre of Expertise Lead at Sellafield Ltd; and Dr Rachel Edwards, part of the Ultrasound Group in Physics and Associate Academic Director of the Warwick Institute of Engagement at the University of Warwick. In a series of posts, they are sharing with us their achievements, their experience in the field, and their reflections on the – often bumpy – road towards the greater representation of women in NDE and true gender equality. You can find their stories below and on our social media.

Caroline Bull, RCNDE Director and Principal Engineer, AWE

“I started work in Nondestructive Testing age 17 at UKAEA Harwell, completing key research and inspecting plant and infrastructure across industry sectors worldwide to support the safe running of plant. I have taken opportunities and stepped outside of my comfort zone numerous times, all of which has made me the person I am today.

I have been honoured to be the Director of the UK Research Centre for Nondestructive Evaluation (RCNDE) for nearly two years and lead the successful industry-academia collaboration which has been supporting world-class research, delivering industry benefits, developing NDE professionals for the future and delivering excellence with impact for over 20 years.

Along the way I have met some fantastic women from across the world, who like me, are doing their best to overcome the challenges they face. Often early in my career, this was being the only women working on an inspection.

On International Women’s Day I would like to recognise all women from across the world and encourage all of us to keep going, celebrate our achievements and make a difference in whatever way we can to the world we all live in.”

Patt Liddicott, RCNDE Management Board Industry Chair and Materials Science and Non-Destructive Evaluation Centre of Expertise Lead at Sellafield Ltd

Pat Liddicott is the Materials Science and Non-Destructive Evaluation Centre of Expertise Lead at Sellafield Ltd and manages a small team of materials specialists in the Spent Fuel Management Strategy and Technical team. She is a Chartered Engineer and a Fellow of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining and the current Industrial Chair of the RCNDE Management Board. Prior to joining Sellafield Ltd, Pat worked in the shipbuilding and engineering industries having started her career in the 1980’s as a student apprentice metallurgist and progressed to the position of Principal Engineer; during this time, she was the only female engineer in the section. Throughout her career, she has had an interest in how and why materials fail and the links between structure of materials and their properties and overall integrity and non-destructive test methods play a large part in this. Since joining BNFL (now Sellafield Ltd) Pat has been involved in recruiting the next generation of materials engineers and over the last decade a good gender balance has been developed within the materials community, and the Technical profession in general, at Sellafield Ltd. Non-destructive evaluation could be considered a niche career that is male-dominated, but it is encouraging to see a better gender balance of students undertaking PhDs and EngDs supported by RCNDE.

Dr Rachel Edwards, researcher at the Ultrasound Group in Physics and Associate Academic Director of the Warwick Institute of Engagement at the University of Warwick

“I am part of the Ultrasound Group in the Department of Physics at the University of Warwick. I research different applications of ultrasound in engineering and materials science, with a particular focus on non-contact methods of generating ultrasound, such as EMATs. My background is in physics and materials characterisation, so I am also using EMATs to measure new magnetic materials. I am also developing new methods for engaging different public audiences with Physics / NDT / STEM, and working to encourage more researchers to work with the public.

I got into NDT by accident – I was returning from a postdoc in physics in the US, and the postdoc position at Warwick seemed really interesting. It was good to be able to use physics to do something immediately useful.

The CDTs have been very effective at getting more diversity into NDT, and it is fantastic seeing some of the women from early cohorts now in leadership positions. There is still a lot more work still to be done to ensure NDT is more equitable, but things are definitely improved from when I started in the field.”

We would like to than Caroline, Pat, and Rachel for sharing their stories, as well as the rest of the fantastic women that contribute their knowledge and energy into making RCNDE a leading centre in NDE.