Hayaatun Sillem (née Is’harc) is the chief executive officer (CEO) of the

Royal Academy of Engineering The Royal Academy of Engineering (RAEng) is the United Kingdom's national academy of engineering. The Academy was founded in June 1976 as the Fellowship of Engineering with support from Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, who became the first senior ...

Education

Sillem attended

Godolphin and Latymer School The Godolphin and Latymer School is an independent day school for girls in Hammersmith, West London. The school motto is an ancient Cornish phrase, ''Francha Leale Toge'', which translates as "free and loyal art thou". The school crest inclu ...

. She earned a master's degree in biochemistry from the University of Oxford in 1998. She completed a

PhD PHD or PhD may refer to: * Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), an academic qualification Entertainment * '' PhD: Phantasy Degree'', a Korean comic series * ''Piled Higher and Deeper'', a web comic * Ph.D. (band), a 1980s British group ** Ph.D. (Ph.D. albu ...

funded by Cancer Research UK at University College London in 2002 investigating the JAK-STAT signaling pathway supervised by Ian M. Kerr.

Career

Sillem joined the

in 2002 as an Engineering Policy Advisor. She joined the

Department for International Development , type = Department , logo = DfID.svg , logo_width = 180px , logo_caption = , picture = File:Admiralty Screen (411824276).jpg , picture_width = 180px , picture_caption = Department for International Development (London office) (far right ...

2005. In 2004 she became a Committee Specialist to the Science and Technology Select Committee, and later as a Specialist Adviser to the House of Commons Science & Technology Committee. In 2006, Sillem joined

as Head of International Activities. She led the Academy's partnership with Africa. In this role she published ''Engineering Change: Towards a sustainable future in the developing world''. She went on to publish ''Engineers for Africa: Identifying engineering capacity needs in Sub-Saharan Africa,'' a summary report. The report identified the capacity needs of engineering that are felt across Sub-Saharan Africa, and developed approaches to meeting these needs. Sillem was appointed to Director of Programmes and Fellowship in 2011. She is interested in how science and engineering can help with humanitarian admin, and how engineering can drive international development. She published ''Investing in Innovation'' in 2015. In May 2016, Sillem was appointed Director of Strategy and Deputy Chief Executive of the

. In March 2017 she was appointed a Fellow of the Institution of Engineering and Technology. She spoke at the launch of

Angela Saini Angela Saini (born in London, 1980) is a British science journalist, broadcaster and the author of books, of which the fourth, ''The Patriarchs: The Origins of Inequality'', was published in 2023. Saini has worked as a reporter and presenter fo ...

's book Inferior: How Science Got Women Wrong and the New Research That’s Rewriting the Story in June 2017. Sillem co-founded the

enterprise hub. She hosted the 10th Young Arab Women Leaders STEM conference in London in December 2017. She was appointed CEO of the

in January 2018. She is a champion of the Government's Year of Engineering, looking to increase diversity amongst the UK's engineering workforce through the campaign ''This is Engineering''. In 2019, Sillem was 31st in '' Computer Weeklys 50 'Most Influential Women in UK Tech' shortlist. She is a trustee of the

London Transport Museum The London Transport Museum (often abbreviated as the LTM) is a transport museum based in Covent Garden, London. The museum predominantly hosts exhibits relating to the heritage of London's transport, as well as conserving and explaining the h ...

. She is a judge for

St Andrews Prize for the Environment The St Andrews Prize for the Environment is a prestigious international environmental award funded and administered by the University of St Andrews in Scotland, United Kingdom. Prior to 2020, the American exploration and production company ConocoP ...

. She has written for '' The Huffington Post''.

Awards and honours

Sillem was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the

2020 New Year Honours The 2020 New Year Honours are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebration ...

for services to international engineering. In 2021, Sillem received an Engineering and Physical Sciences Suffrage Science award.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sillem, Hayaatun Living people Women chief executives Fellows of the Institution of Engineering and Technology British biochemists Women biochemists People educated at Godolphin and Latymer School Year of birth missing (living people) Commanders of the Order of the British Empire