Welcome

The last couple of weeks have marked quite a significant change for me personally and professionally.

I’ve recently started a new role as Director of Health, Safety & Security at HS2, joining the Executive team at a fascinating point in the programme’s journey. Inevitably, the first few weeks have involved a lot of listening, learning and getting to know the people behind such a huge and complex organisation.

What I’m enjoying is the opportunity to bring together so many strands of my career. I started out as a safety engineer, and over the years my work has expanded into inclusion, culture, psychological safety and leadership. In many ways, this role brings those threads back together at a completely different scale.

It also gives me a new perspective to bring to the work we continue to do through EqualEngineers and The SAFE Leader. There’s a big difference between talking about culture change and being responsible for helping shape it from within an organisation – and I’m looking forward to learning from that experience.

There’s a huge amount for me still to understand, but that’s part of what makes a new chapter exciting. For now, I’m listening, asking plenty of questions and getting stuck in.

EngineeringLondon: The Thames Barrier

This week, EngineeringLondon ventured a little further away from central London for one of my favourite pieces of engineering in the capital: the Thames Barrier.

It might not attract the crowds of St Paul’s, Big Ben or the London Eye, but its importance to London is enormous.

Standing beside it, you really appreciate the scale and elegance of the structure. It’s also a surprisingly peaceful part of London to visit and walk around.

But behind that striking design is a critical purpose: protecting millions of people, homes, businesses and vital infrastructure from tidal flooding.

For me, it’s a great reminder that some of our most important engineering isn’t necessarily the engineering we notice every day.

🎥 Watch Episode 6 of EngineeringLondon now.

And if you’ve missed any of the previous landmarks, you can catch up with the full series too.

Seek, Speak & Listen: Building Psychological Safety in Engineering

We’re continuing our programme of events with our Professional Engineering Institution partners, and next up we’re joining forces with the Royal Aeronautical Society.

📅 Tuesday 2 September
🕧 12:30pm

Seek, Speak & Listen: Building Psychological Safety in Engineering will explore what psychological safety actually looks, sounds and feels like in an engineering workplace.

Elliott Russell, Senior Manager for Learning & Development at Boeing Global & Corporate Functions, will open with an interactive session before joining Kat Culyer from EqualEngineers for a fireside conversation.

They’ll explore the relationship between physical and psychological safety and, importantly, the practical habits that help create teams where people feel able to speak up, challenge decisions, ask questions and contribute their ideas.

Everyone is welcome, and there’ll also be an opportunity to put your questions to the speakers.

Eko 25/26: Reaching More Than 8,000 Young People

The numbers are in from this year’s Eko STEM engagement programme, delivered by EqualEngineers and STEMAZING, and they demonstrate the scale of what has been achieved across Scotland.

Across 60 primary schools, secondary schools and cluster transition events, more than 8,000 pupils took part in assemblies, workshops, practical activities and interactions with STEM role models.

The results included:

• 👧 50.4% female pupils

• 🧠 37.4% pupils with Additional Support Needs

• 🌍 15.6% pupils from ethnic minority backgrounds

• 📈 29% increase in pupils strongly agreeing they know what STEM is

• 👩‍🏫 99% of teachers said the engagement increased pupils’ awareness of STEM careers

But statistics only tell part of the story.

One pupil told us: “I knew women could be scientists, but I didn’t know they could be engineers too!”

That’s exactly why this work matters.

A huge thank you to Kat Culyer and Michelle O'Donnell, as well as all the schools, teachers, pupils and role models who helped make Eko 25/26 such a success.

This Week on The SAFE Leader Podcast

This week’s podcast is a little different, and one I particularly enjoyed as a fellow author.

I’m joined by dystopian fiction writer T.A. Thompson, author of The Mark. His debut novel imagines a world in which a biological catastrophe causes people to die at just 22 years old, removing generations of accumulated knowledge and experience. Interestingly, his background in commercial insurance and risk assessment has heavily influenced how he constructs these fictional worst-case scenarios.

We also get into something I could relate to personally: what it actually takes to write a book. We talk about balancing writing with a career, getting something out of your head and onto the page, the brutality (and value!) of feedback, and the discipline and persistence required to finally publish something you've worked on for years. T.A. finished The Mark in 2020 but didn't feel ready to pursue publication until the end of 2025 – a reminder that creative work doesn't always follow a neat timeline.

There’s also a fascinating conversation about knowledge transfer between generations, something with obvious parallels for engineering as experienced professionals retire and organisations think about how knowledge, experience and wisdom are passed on.

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!