Yewande Akinola (born 1984) is a Chartered Engineer who specialises in sustainable water supplies. She works as Principal Engineer for Laing O'Rourke and hosts television shows about engineering for

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

and

National Geographic ''National Geographic'' (formerly the ''National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as NAT GEO) is a popular American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. Known for its photojournalism, it is one of the most widely ...

Education

Yewande Akinola was born in 1984 in Nigeria. As a child she designed model-sized houses. Her father, J. M Akinola, was Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Works of the old Western Region in Nigeria. Yewande Akinola studied Engineering Design and Appropriate Technology at the

University of Warwick The University of Warwick ( ; abbreviated as ''Warw.'' in post-nominal letters) is a public research university on the outskirts of Coventry between the West Midlands (county), West Midlands and Warwickshire, England. The university was founded i ...

, which she completed in 2007. During her degree she was a

mechanical engineer Mechanical may refer to: Machine * Machine (mechanical), a system of mechanisms that shape the actuator input to achieve a specific application of output forces and movement * Mechanical calculator, a device used to perform the basic operations of ...

for

Thames Water Thames Water Utilities Ltd, known as Thames Water, is a large private utility company responsible for the public water supply and waste water treatment in most of Greater London, Luton, the Thames Valley, Surrey, Gloucestershire, north Wiltsh ...

, where she worked on clean water treatment sites. In 2007 she was employed by

Arup Group Arup (officially Arup Group Limited) is a British multinational professional services firm headquartered in London which provides design, engineering, architecture, planning, and advisory services across every aspect of the built environment ...

as a

Design Engineer A design engineer is an engineer focused on the engineering design process in any of the various engineering disciplines (including civil, mechanical, electrical, chemical, textiles, aerospace, nuclear, manufacturing, systems, and structural /buil ...

designing water supplies and water management systems. Whilst working for Arup, she earned a master's degree from Cranfield University in 2011.

Career

Yewande Akinola is interested in developing water and sanitation for underdeveloped countries. She has worked on projects in the UK,

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

, Middle East and East

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

. She is the founder of the Global Emit Project, which mentors young people who are interested in engineering. In 2010 Yewande Akinola presented Titanic: The Mission for

and

National Geographic Society The National Geographic Society (NGS), headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States, is one of the largest non-profit scientific and educational organizations in the world. Founded in 1888, its interests include geography, archaeology, and ...

. In 2012 she judged the

Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering The Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering, also known as the QEPrize, is a global prize for engineering and innovation. The prize was launched in 2012 by a cross-party group consisting of David Cameron, Nick Clegg, and Ed Miliband, then Prime M ...

competition to create a trophy. That year, she was shortlisted and won the IET Young Woman Engineer of the Year Award. She has also presented for CBeebies and Yesterday TV. Yewande Akinola has appeared on

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...

. In 2014 Yewande Akinola designed a Rainwater Harvesting System. Yewande Akinola is a prominent voice in the movement to increase diversity within engineering. In 2013 Akinola worked with Girl Guiding UK to encourage more young women into engineering. She featured in 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 ...

campaign "Designed to Inspire". She was featured on the QEPrize 2014 campaign "Create The Future". She delivered a keynote talk at the 2016

Ada Lovelace Augusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace (''née'' Byron; 10 December 1815 – 27 November 1852) was an English mathematician and writer, chiefly known for her work on Charles Babbage's proposed mechanical general-purpose computer, the A ...

day celebration. She featured in 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 ...

2017 campaign "Portrait of an Engineer". In 2021 she was elected an Honorary Fellow of the

Awards

1998 -

Nigerian Nigerians or the Nigerian people are citizens of Nigeria or people with ancestry from Nigeria. The name Nigeria was taken from the Niger River running through the country. This name was allegedly coined in the late 19th century by British jour ...

National Mathematics Award 2009 - UK’s Society of Public Health Engineers Award for Young Rising Star 2012 - Exceptional Achiever Award by the Association for Black Engineers (AFBE-UK) 2012 - Young Woman Engineer of the Year from the IET 2013 -

Management Today Haymarket Media Group is a privately held media company headquartered in London. It has publications in the consumer, business and customer sectors, both print and online. It operates exhibitions allied to its own publications, and previously on ...

’s top 35 women under 35 2014 - PRECIOUS Award for Outstanding Woman in STEM

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Akinola, Yewande Living people Nigerian women engineers Yoruba women engineers Alumni of the University of Warwick Alumni of Cranfield University Nigerian expatriates in the United Kingdom 21st-century women engineers Female Fellows of the Royal Academy of Engineering Yoruba women scientists 1984 births

Education

Career

Awards

See also

References