Alicia Buck

"I think my personality types (Innovator, Investigator, and Manager) really help me in my job role. Often when we first look at engineering problems, there can be a range of solutions, or none at all! This means we need to understand the situation and the desired outcomes fully, so that we can coordinate and manage the required work, to ensure we get to the correct solution. Investigator – Problem solving is a very important part of being a Process Engineer, quite often, as a team or individually, we are presented with a new problem that we need to investigate to find the most appropriate solution. Innovator – This leads on from the Investigator type, sometimes we need to think outside the box to find a creative solutions to a problem. This is particularly relevant for the Fusion industry that I work in. Manager- As an engineer you will always be working as part of, or leading a team. Being open minded and encouraging will allow for others to follow suite, resulting in the team coming to the best solution. In addition, being organised has always been a personality trait of mine, which helps when working to tight deadlines and budgets. "

"I am a Process Engineer at the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority, based in the Oxford region. In my role, I get to work on a wide variety of different tasks including calculations, design work, system modelling, safety analyses, project managing external contracts and projects within the team. I like the variety of what I do and how each day is different. It’s satisfying to be presented with a problem and then go on to solve it, and I really enjoy working together with people from different backgrounds and job titles to do this. "

"When I was at school, I always enjoyed science and maths, in particular Chemistry. I was originally planning to do Chemistry at University, but after taking a Morrisby Careers test, one of the suggestions was Chemical Engineering which sounded very interesting, as applying the theory to solve a real world problem appealed to me, so I chose that for my degree. I did a Masters degree in Chemical Engineering (or can also be referred to as Process Engineering). During my degree I had a lot of great opportunities, doing different lab projects and design projects. After I finished University, I started a role at an Oil and Gas Consultancy as a Process Engineering Graduate, followed by a role as a project analyst in a Green Hydrogen company. I moved to my current role around a year ago, and it I really enjoy it as it allow me to do both process engineering and project management. "

"In my spare time I like to be outside, whether that be running, swimming, or hiking. I also enjoy spending time in the garden and growing vegetables and fruit in the summer – this year my sweetcorn was particularly successful! I also like to travel to other countries to experience new cultures and places. "

"My typical day of work is very varied. I usually start the day responding to emails. But from there, it can be either attending meetings about different things I am working on, general team catch ups, site visits, managing contracts and general project work or a mixture of all five! I also spend my time modelling different processes in excel or on other programmes, to see how a system can be optimised. "

"A-Levels: Biology (A*) Chemistry (A) Maths (A) and Physics (B) Degree: MEng(Hons) Chemical Engineering"