International Women in Engineering Day 2021: Juliette Parisi
Juliette Parisi is a senior engineer at HR Wallingford, and an expert in hydrodynamic modelling, who joined us in 2012. Her job involves a combination of numerical modelling and managing complex marine projects.
I’ve loved the sea ever since I was very young, and spent all my holidays swimming and surfing. At school I was drawn to physics because of the applied nature of the subject, so Oceanography was a great option for me. I did the equivalent of a Masters in Marine Engineering in France, before applying for a job as a graduate engineer at HR Wallingford.
I’m now a senior engineer, and my job involves numerical modelling and managing complex marine projects, including marine renewables, ports and coastal developments. I get to work with colleagues across many different disciplines which is fantastic - they are all incredibly passionate people and I love the diversity of the work.
It’s so important to celebrate women in engineering and we make sure we’re visible to girls and young women making their subject and career choices.
When I was at school it never crossed my mind that being a woman would be any kind of an issue in my career, and from the age of around 15 or 16 I started to become aware that the number of girls in class started to decrease. The lack of role models may have been partly the reason, which is why it’s so important to celebrate women in engineering and we make sure we’re visible to girls and young women making their subject and career choices. It’s hard to be what you can’t see.
I try to make sure I do my bit to represent women at HR Wallingford. I’ve recently got involved in our Women’s Network, and I’m also part of our Staff Council. It’s amazing to be able to have that impact and see change happening. My message to all organisations is that they need to encourage women to express their views, positive and negative, and most importantly they need to listen. Often things that appear to be quite small on paper can have great impact. We’re not there yet, but I’m optimistic that things will change dramatically in the industry over the next decade.
I think INWED is really important. A lot of girls may see themselves as scientists but not necessarily engineers, so raising awareness of the diversity of career opportunities available is vital. In terms of my own heroes? Generally I think engineers deserve more recognitions, and for me any woman who makes it to the top of any corporation is a hero!