News

The Butterfly Effect

12 May 2021

"I discovered Arkwright while chatting on a ski lift when I was ten. We were about halfway up the mountain when Arkwright Alumna, then stranger, Sophie, told me that I should apply for the Scholarship. After that holiday, I kept the link to the Arkwright website saved in my favourites for six years before applying. As a result of that one conversation, I applied and won an Arkwright Engineering Scholarship sponsored by DS Smith.

The experiences gained from Arkwright helped me get an IMechE Undergraduate Scholarship and go on to study for my MEng in Engineering at the University of Cambridge. After a very tough first two years in general engineering, I specialised in manufacturing. This specialism combined the softer skills of managing people and organisational behaviour with more technical knowledge such as materials, control of production systems, and accounting.

My career began through industry experiences and internships throughout my degree. Here I experienced a wide variety of projects: automation feasibility in a sandwich factory; reviewing costing methodology and improving employee motivation at an insulation manufacturer; mapping processes to determine the cause of misaligned components at a car manufacture plant; and reducing inventory with a beverage producer.

Since I enjoyed projects like these and their variety I decided to find a job where I could capture this excitement every day! I now work for Stroud International, an operations consultancy that operates in Europe and North America, driving improvement in factories across Europe. I have been involved in many exciting projects including building Stroud International’s sustainability offering.

I am confident that I would not be where I am today without Arkwright and that first conversation."