Amelia takes the title for helping to inspire children

Amelia Gould was presented with the Promotion of Gender Diversity title at the Women in Defence awards.

It was in recognition of the ex-weapons engineering officer’s contribution to the advancement of women in engineering.

Her citation read: ‘She has helped a failing school improve its Stem results and helped primary school teachers improve their understanding of the new computing curriculum.

‘Within BAE she has been working to improve the percentage of female engineers in Portsmouth dockyard and identified new ways of creating a better working environment for women.

‘She is actively launching the WISE (Women in Science, Technology and Engineering) People Like Me pilot scheme within the Portsmouth area for BAE.’

Amelia, who now works at Portsmouth Naval Base as a combat systems leader with BAE Systems, said: ‘I think it’s so important to get the message out that there are a huge range of opportunities for women in engineering, science and technology.’

Vaughan Meir, also from BAE Systems, was named a runner-up in the same category. He has worked in the defence industry for more than 30 years and is head of engineering and operations at Portsmouth’s Naval Base.

John McCollum, BAE Systems’ head of engineering, said: ‘At BAE Systems we believe it’s vital to promote positive role models in the industry and we are especially proud that Amelia and 
Vaughan have been recognised for their work.’

The awards were launched in September at the Ministry of Defence’s Memorial Courtyard, with some 200 nominations being received this year.