My Fellowship was on the broad theme of women in science and engineering – specifically women in the construction industry. I travelled to Canada and the USA to look into why women were much better represented in the construction industry there than in the UK. As a civil engineering graduate working as a site project engineer, I was interested in the factors affecting how the industry differed for women in Canada and the USA.

Since then, circumstances and life choices led to me moving abroad for around a decade. During that time, although I worked in the industry for a further five years, my career path changed radically and I now work in IT and technical administration. I've set up as a freelancer, offering my wide range of practical and technical skills. In addition, my long-term voluntary role in my synagogue community has since been formalised, so I also now work part-time as a services manager and lay leader.

My Fellowship experience gave me a sense of achievement and independence. It was also an early exercise in networking, which has proved a useful life skill that I advocate and pass on whenever I can.