Profile

One of my goals is to visit all the museums and art galleries in London. I love exploring the city and all its many statues.

In my spare time, I like to sew outfits for myself and crochet while listening to a good audiobook. I also can’t resist a good philosophy book or podcast, and one day I want to write a book as well about all I have learned.

I am on the autism spectrum, and I also have ADHD. This makes life a bit more tricky, and it means I have to be more careful with my time and energy. This means that the things I choose to spend time on are things that are important to me.

I am also a Christian, and my faith means a lot to me. As a scientist, I see God’s hand in nature, and it makes me believe in Him even more.

I grew up in South Africa, and we immigrated to the UK in 2020. I am so happy to be living in the UK, but I miss the sunnier South African weather, and our excellent beaches.

My dad is a civil engineer, and my husband is an industrial engineer, I am the best engineer, because I am a chemical engineer 😉

I am passionate about making processes more sustainable, and I try to learn from nature about how to make things in more efficient and smart ways (the technical term is biomimicry).

I have a master’s degree in Chemical Engineering and I am currently studying towards a doctorate in bioprocess engineering. I worked as a plant engineer for a petrochemical company for four years. I looked after their plant that made plastic and also the plant that cleaned the gas that they use to make the platic from.

My job at IChemE is to respond to questions that people from Westminster might have on topics related to chemical engineering, such as how we can be more sustainable as a nation, and what alternatives are there to fossil fuels, etc. I also use my position to try and campaign for better representation in the engineering world for marginalised groups such as disabled people and the LGBTQ+ community.

The best part of my job is that I get to use my science knowledge and combine that with my love for people to bring together experts and deliver good advice to parliament and government.

My day consists of doing research on specific topics of interest, and also building my network of experts; this means sending and receiving a lot of emails :). I will often spend time in the day strategising with my manager on how we can be more effective as a policy team, and looking through the newspapers to get an idea of current affairs. I often attend workshops or events where people share information on important topics such as pharmaceuticals and renewable energy.