Lisa Davies, a former pupil at Monmouth School for Girls, has been presented with the IMechE Land Rover Spen King Sustainability Award. 

She was among 30 gifted young people from across the country who received awards from the Institution of Mechanical Engineers at a special ceremony in Westminster. As part of her award, Lisa will have a work placement at Jaguar Land Rover and an £8,000 scholarship during her university studies.

“It’s so exciting because I will be given a work placement at Jaguar Land Rover as well as some funding during the course of my university studies. It's such an incredible opportunity,” said Lisa, who holds an Arkwright Engineering Scholarship with the Haberdashers’ Company and was Deputy Head Girl at Monmouth School for Girls last year. She was crowned Junior Engineer of the Year in 2015 at the Big Bang Fair after designing Xorbit, an eco-friendly car dehumidifier in a cup, and was Young Entrepreneur at the Monmouthshire Business Awards 2018.

Lisa has just started her first year of a Mechanical Engineering degree at the University of Birmingham after excelling in Maths, Further Maths, Economics and Physics at A level. She has been working hard on her Xorbit business and, over the summer, reached the National Youth Market Young Traders’ finals.

“I have always been interested in engineering from a young age but it was probably in Year 9 at school when I entered the STEM competition that I realised engineering was what I wanted to do," she said. "There are lots of opportunities for women in engineering. Women are under-represented in the engineering sector so there are a lot of opportunities. I hope the next generation of girls coming through school will grasp the opportunities in STEM and make the most of them.”