Jessica Leigh Jones (born 22 July 1994) is a Welsh engineer and astrophysicist from

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

. She is credited with becoming the first female to win the UK Young Engineer of the Year Award in 2012 for her work designing a portable uterine contraction monitor which cut manufacturing costs by 99%. She was later rewarded for her efforts to commercialise the technology, receiving the

Institution of Engineering and Technology The Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) is a multidisciplinary professional engineering institution. The IET was formed in 2006 from two separate institutions: the Institution of Electrical Engineers (IEE), dating back to 1871, and ...

(IET) Intel Inspiration Award for Entrepreneurship in the same year.

Early life and education

Jones was born in Cardiff on 22 July 1994. As a young child, her father worked at

MOD St Athan Ministry of Defence St Athan or MOD St Athan (Welsh: Maes awyr Sain Tathan), formerly known as RAF St Athan, is a large Ministry of Defence unit near the village of St Athan in the Vale of Glamorgan, southern Wales. It was the designated site fo ...

Vale of Glamorgan The Vale of Glamorgan ( cy, Bro Morgannwg ), often referred to as The Vale, is a county borough in the south-east of Wales. It borders Bridgend County Borough to the west, Cardiff to the east, Rhondda Cynon Taf to the north, and the Bristol C ...

, as an aircraft electrician. Jones attended

Willows High School Willows High School ( cy, Ysgol Uwchradd Willows) is a secondary school located in the Tremorfa area of Cardiff, Wales. It caters for pupils aged 11 to 16 and is English-medium. As of September 2015, the headteacher is Chris Norman. He succee ...

Tremorfa Tremorfa (Welsh for ''Tre'' town + ''morfa'' coastal marsh) is a district and (since 2016) community of the city of Cardiff, Wales. It falls into the Splott ward of Cardiff. Transport Tremorfa is served by the Cardiff Bus 11 route (was 61 for ...

, Cardiff until age 15, where she was taught electronics at

GCSE The General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) is an academic qualification in a particular subject, taken in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. State schools in Scotland use the Scottish Qualifications Certificate instead. Private sc ...

level by Keith Allen, whom she described as one of her role models. She studied

Astrophysics Astrophysics is a science that employs the methods and principles of physics and chemistry in the study of astronomical objects and phenomena. As one of the founders of the discipline said, Astrophysics "seeks to ascertain the nature of the h ...

Cardiff University , latin_name = , image_name = Shield of the University of Cardiff.svg , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms of Cardiff University , motto = cy, Gwirionedd, Undod a Chytgord , mottoeng = Truth, Unity and Concord , established = 1 ...

graduating with a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...

degree in 2015.

Career

From January 2016 Jones has been employed at the

Sony , commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...

UK Technology Centre,

Pencoed Pencoed ( cy, Pen-coed) is a urbanised community and town in the county borough of Bridgend, Wales. It straddles the M4 motorway north east of Bridgend and is situated on the Ewenny River. At the 2011 census it had a population of around 9,166. ...

, Wales, leading the development of advanced manufacturing technology with Japan for which she was recognised in The Telegraph Top 50 Women in Engineering under 35 list 2017. She also holds positions as Director, Engineering Education Scheme Wales and Patron, Alton Convent School,

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. Jones is a Liveryman (by Servitude) of the

Worshipful Company of Scientific Instrument Makers The Worshipful Company of Scientific Instrument Makers is one of the 110 livery companies of the City of London. It ranks 84th in the order of precedence for the livery companies. History The Company was originally formed in 1956 when sc ...

, the 84th Livery Company in the

City of London The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London fr ...

. In 2020, Jones left Sony to create iungo Solutions, a technology

startup company A startup or start-up is a company or project undertaken by an entrepreneur to seek, develop, and validate a scalable business model. While entrepreneurship refers to all new businesses, including self-employment and businesses that never intend t ...

aiming to help people affected by

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

to upskill, retrain and secure re-employment. In 2020 she was appointed as a

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 ...

Visiting Professor at the

University of Wales Trinity Saint David , image = Crest of TSD.png , image_size = 200px , caption = Coat of armsUniversity of Wales Trinity Saint David , established = 2010 (Saint David's College, Lampeter founded 1822 and opened 1827; royal charter 1828) , ...

. In February, 2021 she was awarded a place on the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

's Entrepreneur in Residence Scheme. She serves on the

board of directors A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit organiz ...

of the

Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education The Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (IfATE) is an employer led organisation that supports technical education and apprenticeships in the United Kingdom, through qualifications such as T Levels. It is funded by the Department ...

. In May 2021, Jones was appointed Global Focal Point for Upskilling Migrants for Employment at the

United Nations Major Group for Children and Youth Established in 1992, the Major Group for Children and Youth (UN MGCY) is the United Nations General Assembly mandated, official, formal and self-organised space for children and youth to contribute to and engage in certain intergovernmental and a ...

. She is the youngest Welsh citizen under the age of 30 to receive this diplomatic honour.

Awards and honours

Jones was appointed

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(MBE) in the

2020 Birthday Honours The Queen's Birthday Honours for 2020 are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. The Birthday Honours are awarded ...

for services to women in engineering in Wales. Other awards and honours include: * 2011 – Wales Young Engineer of the Year * 2012 –

Research Councils UK Research Councils UK, sometimes known as RCUK, was a non-departmental public body which coordinated science policy in the United Kingdom from 2002 to 2018. It was an umbrella organisation that coordinated the seven separate research councils tha ...

Experience Prize * 2012 – UK Young Engineer of the Year * 2012 –

Duke of York Duke of York is a title of nobility in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. Since the 15th century, it has, when granted, usually been given to the second son of English (later British) monarchs. The equivalent title in the Scottish peerage was Du ...

's Award for Creative Use of Technology * 2012 – Wales Young Achiever Award * 2012 – Leonard Landon Goodman Award for Excellence in Engineering * 2012 – The

Intel Intel Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California. It is the world's largest semiconductor chip manufacturer by revenue, and is one of the developers of the x86 seri ...

Inspiration Award for Entrepreneurship * 2016 –

American Express American Express Company (Amex) is an American multinational corporation specialized in payment card services headquartered at 200 Vesey Street in the Battery Park City neighborhood of Lower Manhattan in New York City. The company was found ...

everywoman in Technology Rising Star 2016 * 2016 – Freeman of the

* 2016 – Top 35 Under 35 Professional Business Women in Wales 2016 – youngest on the list * 2017 –

St David Awards The Saint David Awards (Welsh: ''Gwobrau Dewi Sant'') are an annual government awards scheme which recognizes exceptional achievements by Welsh citizens within Wales, the UK and globally. They are the highest accolades that the Welsh Governmen ...

Finalist in Science, Technology & Innovation Category 2017 – Jones lost out to Meena Upadhyaya but was described as a "potential winner of the award in the future" * 2017 –

Freedom of the City The Freedom of the City (or Borough in some parts of the UK) is an honour bestowed by a municipality upon a valued member of the community, or upon a visiting celebrity or dignitary. Arising from the medieval practice of granting respected ...

of London (2017) * 2017 – ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was fo ...

'' Top 50 Women in Engineering under 35 2017 * 2017 – Liveryman of the

* 2017 – Top 35 Under 35 Professional Business Women in Wales 2017 * 2017 – The Manufacturer Top 100 EXEMPLAR Figure (top 20) * 2017 –

AVIVA Aviva plc is a British multinational insurance company headquartered in London, England. It has about 18 million customers across its core markets of the United Kingdom, Ireland and Canada. In the United Kingdom, Aviva is the largest general ...

Woman of the Future for Technology & Digital * 2017 – WeAreTheCity TechWomen50 Award * 2018 – ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...

'' 30 under 30 Europe Industry List *2018 – ''

'' 30 under 30 Europe Youngest List *2018 – Management Today 35 under 35 One to Watch *2020 – Listed in ''

Who's Who ''Who's Who'' (or ''Who is Who'') is the title of a number of reference publications, generally containing concise biography, biographical information on the prominent people of a country. The title has been adopted as an expression meaning a gr ...

'' *2020 – ChwaraeTeg Womenspire Board Member of the Year *2020 – WeAreTheCity TechWomen100 Award *2020 – WalesOnline 35 Under 35: The top young business and professional women in Wales 2020

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Jessica 1994 births Living people Welsh engineers Women astrophysicists Alumni of Cardiff University British astrophysicists 21st-century women engineers Members of the Order of the British Empire