Elizabeth Dawson

"Elizabeth is the Major Projects Manager in a company that makes fuel cells. Elizabeth describes herself as friendly, empathic and out-going. She is a real people-person and has realised that all her personality types are very much people-focused! Her job involves liaising with customers, understanding their needs, and supporting teams to work together to reach a common goal. Elizabeth finds that she can bridge the gaps nicely between different viewpoints and get everyone working together towards a shared goal and she really draws on the ‘Trainer’, ‘Campaigner’ and ‘Coach’ types to do this."

"Elizabeth is the Major Projects Manager in a company that makes fuel cells. The fuel cells provide energy where mains power may not be available i.e. weather stations, wildlife cameras. Fuel cells are clean, quiet and provide no exhaust gases.In her role as Major Projects Manager, Elizabeth contributes to the ideas-board for potential new products and processes, alongside other senior team members. She then tries to match up funding opportunities (commercial or funded programmes) with the chosen new products or processes and writes bids. When the project kicks off, she keeps everyone to the project timeline, sets up meetings and writes reports, making sure changes to the plan are defined and agreed. This involves understanding customer and market-place requirements, liaising with customers and funding bodies, and bringing teams together to efficiently reach a common goal.Day-to-day, she contacts people by email and phone to persuade them to buy, or to ask for funding or support. She also has meetings, both internal and external, about current or upcoming projects. She identifies actions that she needs to follow up on and writes bids, supporting documentation and reports."

"Elizabeth had a tough upbringing, but held on to the knowledge that she could create her adult life however she wished! At school she had an excellent Chemistry teacher who primed her love of science. She went on to study a BSc in Human Nutrition at university. She then worked in administration initially, before moving into sales and then into project management for her current company. The starting salary for a project manager nowadays is about £22,000."

"In her spare time, Elizabeth loves reading, especially award-winners and best-sellers. She also likes socialising with friends and family, dancing, nature walks, and watching films. She is also a site administrator for an online charity group. Elizabeth was a successful finalist in the 2016 'Women in Innovation' awards run by Innovate UK. Since this, she has talked at a few conferences and even got to speak at the House of Commons on International Women's Day 2018!Elizabeth would like to stay in her current job as she finds it really interesting and fun. She is saving to try and buy a house one day and she would really like to get some pets and go on some interesting holidays!"