An exciting world in which you have to keep learning

“Diversity is really important and the male/female ratio is becoming a significant part of that because the right balance helps to come up with better solutions."

Stimulating interest at an early stage is the key to attracting more women into the engineering sector, believes Selin Tur.

Engineering has historically been a male-dominated environment but the sector would only benefit from a better and more inclusive balance, says Selin, managing director and Chief Technology Officer at Williams Grand Prix Technologies.

She encourages all women and girls who are considering a new career or a career switch to think seriously about engineering. The sector offers a broad range of opportunities and they are every bit as available to women as they are to men.

Selin is happy to endorse Warwickshire County Council’s ‘Women in Engineering 2025’ campaign to support women who have the skills to thrive in the sector.

“The career and the life that you can build for yourself in engineering is very good and I think a generational shift is starting to take place,” she said. “I have never seen any negative attitude towards female engineers or mechanics and the expectation now is for the sector to be more diverse.

“Diversity is really important and the male/female ratio is becoming a significant part of that because the right balance helps to come up with better solutions. I think in Warwickshire and across the Midlands, with the universities and major businesses like Jaguar Land Rover, that really helps. The UK engineering sector is recognised as welcoming towards women.

“There is a desire to have more and more female engineers in the sector and if you are talented and work hard, I don’t believe there are any barriers. I think we just need to stimulate that interest at very early ages, at family and parental level. I fell in love with Formula One very early on and my parents encouraged me and my career flowed from there.

“Perhaps some females just think this is a male-dominated environment so don’t consider going into it. Hopefully that is less the case now because we now have plenty of female engineers and technicians within Williams, as well as in other areas like marketing and HR within the organisation.”

Selin reflects upon her long career with justifiable pride – and pinpoints as a key component of success the constant thirst to keep learning, 

“Engineering is an exciting world but it is not enough to just become an engineer,” she said. “You need to stay on top of it and keeping learning and updating yourself. Especially in the most cutting-edge businesses, the most important thing is to never stop learning because technology keeps moving. It is really rewarding to stay on top of that and I am proud of what I have achieved. I was part of the team that won the first Formula One grand prix with a hybrid F1 engine - that was one of my dreams come true. Then there was the battery pack for the first-generation Formula E cars, a concept which I came up with on a piece of paper and evolved into an enabling technology for a new racing series that now employs thousands of people.

“Electrification is established now but I was working on my first electric car in 2000. Now I am leading a new area in the engineering group led by digital engineering technologies. I see this as my last big run. I think this is the last technological evolution that I will be leading and it excites me very much.

“I would wholeheartedly encourage young women to think about pursuing engineering as a career. It is hugely rewarding. If you look around the world so many advances and created and driven by the engineering sector and it is very fulfilling to be part of that.”