Trio of women engineers honoured as prestigious Ada Lovelace Medal awarded

Ms Groves, who completed a Bachelor of Engineering (Petroleum Engineering) Honours degree at UNSW in 2003, has over 20 years of industry experience across a wide range of projects including Conventional Oil and Gas, CSG and Unconventional Operations.

She has held field and office-based roles such as Drilling and Completions Engineering Team Leader, Technical Development and Planning Team Leader, Senior Wells Engineer (Well Interventions), Staff Wells Engineer (Front End) and Drilling and Completions Engineer.

She was appointed Chief Executive Officer of Ingauge in April with a compelling vision for the company to continue to provide safe, reliable, and cost-effective energy project solutions while expanding its operating portfolio further into emerging energy markets.

In addition to her professional accomplishments, Ms Groves is committed to fostering inclusivity and diversity within the industry. She co-founded Queensland Women of Wells (QWOW) in 2022, a professional network for women in the energy and resource industry.

QWOW provides a safe space for women to build career confidence, elevate their professional profiles, and engage more fully in their careers and the industry. With more than 175 members, QWOW offers a collaborative platform for women across the sector to benefit from each other's skills and networks.

Innovation, collaboration and support

On receiving her award, Ms Groves said: “I'm deeply honoured to be standing here to accept the Ada Lovelace Medal for outstanding engineer.

“The recognition is not only a personal milestone, but a celebration of the collective efforts of my extraordinary network who have inspired, supported and guided me along the way.

“I passionately believe that the best solutions come from diverse perspectives. I'm excited about the opportunity to lead and make an impact within my company, my industry, my network and by promoting STEM in schools.”

Ms Groves also revealed her own young daughters have recently been learning about Ada Lovelace. 

“My children have a collection of the 'Little People, Big Dreams' book series, and amongst them is the story of Ada Lovelace,” she said.

“I love the fact that Ada, the daughter of Lord Byron who was one of the greatest English poets, was raised by a mother who nurtured her in science, mathematics and logic.

"That is, intentionally everything that was the opposite to her father's pursuits. So nature gave Ada a romantic heart, and nurture gave her a logical brain, resulting in a unique perspective.

“I believe the community plays a vital role in shaping success by providing a supporting network, resources, and shared knowledge and that's essential for individual and collective success.

“I hope that together, we can blend creativity and science to nurture a culture of innovation, collaboration and support to create brilliance to shape our world.”

The UNSW Women in Engineering Alumni Awards event also saw Belinda Virant receive the Judy Raper Award for Leadership.

Ms Virant, the managing director of Transportation & Mobility Australia at Arcadis, graduated with a Bachelor of Engineering (Civil Engineering) Honours degree from UNSW in 1996.

She has more than 25 years’ experience in the design and project management of major infrastructure projects, in Australia and the UK, and has successfully managed delivery project teams and business operations.

Ms Virant is passionate about bringing out the best in people, and providing them with an environment to succeed, leading to her advocacy for diversity in the workplace through the creation of an inclusive culture.

That was shown when she and her team were shortlisted for the 2024 Consult Australia ‘CHAMPIONS OF CHANGE’ Diversity and Inclusion award for their Women of Colour Program.

“It's such an honour to be here and receive this award from Judy Raper herself. I truly feel so privileged and I'm humbled because this really does mean a lot to me.

“To be honest, I don't feel like I've done anything amazing any more so than any of my peers. But one thing I do feel is that I have a great passion for engineering and for what I do.

“All the way through my career, from being a design engineer onto a design manager to a project manager, to leading teams, to being a business leader and now being the managing director, the one constant is solving problems.

“That's something I just love so much. The only problem I haven't solved is why we can't attract more women into engineering. So that's a challenge I'll definitely take on.”

Inspiring women engineers

The Maria Skyllas-Kazacos Young Professional Award for Outstanding Achievement was presented to Kaylee Verrier, Aeronautical Engineer at the Royal Australian Air Force.

Flight Lieutenant Verrier completed a Bachelor of Aeronautical Engineering in 2019 at UNSW Canberra and continued to graduate with a Master of Space Engineering.

She now specialises in space engineering in the RAAF and has worked with rocket systems, test launches, and helped project manage large-scale design, test and evaluation projects, including a high-profile joint Australia-US Aerospace development.

On accepting her award, Flight Lieutenant Verrier said: “I am absolutely blown away and very excited. Outstanding achievement in engineering doesn't start when you go to university, nor when you finish your degree or your research.

“It starts with a five-year-old realising you can make things from almost nothing.

“I didn't actively or consciously know I wanted to be an engineer when I was five or seven, or even necessarily at 18 when I started my degree. I was just hoping for the best.

“Potential isn't something you see in yourself. Potential is something that other people see in you. And outstanding achievement doesn't come alone. I've had one hell of a team supporting me to get here.”

These awards are part of an ongoing commitment by UNSW Engineering, by far the nation’s largest engineering faculty, to attract more women to the profession.

Professor Julien Epps, Dean of UNSW Engineering, said: “It is fabulous to see so many inspiring women engineers winning these awards.

“They were chosen from a very strong set of nominees and I’m sure the decision was not easy.”

Professor Rita Henderson, Deputy Dean (Societal Impact and Translation) at UNSW’s Faculty of Engineering, and a member of the selection committee, added: “Celebrating and promoting role models for our current and future students, as well as our alumni, to inspire the next generation of leaders in a field that, despite progress, is still dominated by men, is an incredibly important activity for UNSW Engineering.

“We are committed to providing equitable opportunities for women to progress their engineering career and delighted to be able to provide this platform to elevate the achievements of these women.”