Welcome

Another busy week for me and the team at EqualEngineers.

We’ve been out and about across a range of in-person events, from delivering The SAFE Leader training to postgraduate students (more on that below), to wider engagement activity across the UK. Kat Culyer has been supporting STEM engagement at Kinross High School in Scotland, while Fayon Dixon has been at UEL delivering an event alongside two of our Pathways Programme partners.

Alongside this, I’ve also been recording a number of podcast episodes that will be coming your way over the next few weeks.

The SAFE Leader with AURA CDT

This week I had the pleasure of delivering a tailored version of The SAFE Leader training to a cohort of PhD postgraduate researchers from the AURA Centre for Doctoral Training.

The group brought together students from the University of Hull, University of Sheffield, Loughborough University, Newcastle University and Durham University, all preparing to play a role in the future of the UK’s offshore wind sector.

With ambitions to reach 150GW of offshore wind capacity by 2050 and tens of thousands of roles emerging across the UK, this cohort represents a generation of future leaders entering a rapidly evolving industry.

It was a fantastic opportunity to adapt the SAFE Leader framework for an academic audience, and to revisit my own experience as a postgraduate researcher, reflecting on the transition from academia into industry and the role leadership, culture and safety play along the way.

A huge thank you to the AURA CDT team for the opportunity, and to the cohort for their openness and engagement throughout.

EqualEngineers Student Summit 2026

We’re now approaching the final deadline for applications to the EqualEngineers Student Summit 2026, taking place in April in Birmingham in partnership with the UCL Centre for Engineering Education.

This fully funded, two-day residential brings together students and recent graduates to explore safety, ethics, AI, and the transition from university into engineering practice.

It’s an opportunity to step back, reflect, and contribute to shaping what the future of engineering education and early careers should look like.

📅 Application deadline: Thursday 2nd April midnight

This Week on The SAFE Leader Podcast

This week I sat down with Anna Burgan for a powerful conversation about leadership, workplace culture, and what really happens when people are forced to choose between success and wellbeing.

Anna shares her personal journey through career change, motherhood and navigating systems that often say the right things about inclusion, but don’t always follow through when it matters most.

Together, we explore what it means to lead with humanity, challenge outdated workplace mindsets, and create environments where people can genuinely thrive both professionally and personally.

It’s a thoughtful and important conversation about culture, bias, parenthood, and the responsibility leaders have in shaping workplaces that truly work for everyone.

Let’s Connect!

Please reach out and connect with me on LinkedIn if we are not already connected.

I love helping organisations where the angle I take with the work I do might help in someway have you make traction in your culture.

Feel free to get in touch here.

Stay SAFE!