Dame Dervilla Mary Mitchell

FREng Fellowship of the Royal Academy of Engineering (FREng) is an award and fellowship for engineers who are recognised by the Royal Academy of Engineering as being the best and brightest engineers, inventors and technologists in the UK and from arou ...

FIEI (born August 1958) is an Irish engineer and a director and joint deputy chair of

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

. She led the management of the design for London Heathrow Airport's Terminal 5, and as of 2019 was project director for Arup for a 2-billion dollar airport terminal development in

Abu Dhabi Abu Dhabi is the capital city of the United Arab Emirates. The city is the seat of the Abu Dhabi Central Capital District, the capital city of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, and the UAE's List of cities in the United Arab Emirates, second-most popu ...

. She is a Fellow of two national engineering academies, and the holder of an Honorary

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

Early life and education

Mitchell was born in August 1958 and grew up in

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

, Ireland. Her father Thomas Austin was an architect, and her grandfather Tony Woods and three of her uncles were engineers. She was educated at Pembroke School and

St Conleth's College St. Conleth's College is a private co-educational Catholic school in Ballsbridge, Dublin, founded on 4 September 1939 by Bernard Sheppard. The current principal of the senior school is Donal Ó Dúlaing. History The school was named after Conl ...

. She gained a degree in Civil Engineering from

University College Dublin University College Dublin (), commonly referred to as UCD, is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a collegiate university, member institution of the National University of Ireland. With 38,417 students, it is Ireland's largest ...

in 1980, and later a Diploma in Project Management from

Trinity College Dublin Trinity College Dublin (), officially titled The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, and legally incorporated as Trinity College, the University of Dublin (TCD), is the sole constituent college of the Unive ...

Career

Mitchell joined

in Dublin after graduating. She moved to Massachusetts in 1984 to work with

Weidlinger Associates Weidlinger Associates, Inc., was a U.S.-based structural engineering firm that designs and rehabilitates buildings, bridges, and infrastructure and provides special services in applied science, forensics, and physical security. Weidlinger's client ...

and then returned to Arup's London office in 1986. She has worked on projects including

Portcullis House Portcullis House (PCH) is an office building in City of Westminster, Westminster, London, England, that was commissioned in 1992 and opened in 2001 to provide offices for 213 members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom and their staff. The pu ...

at Westminster, Action Stations for the

Portsmouth Historic Dockyard Portsmouth Historic Dockyard is an area of HM Naval Base Portsmouth which is open to the public; it contains several historic buildings and ships. It is managed by the National Museum of the Royal Navy as an umbrella organization representing ...

, the London 2012 Olympic Village, and

Heathrow Terminal 5 Heathrow Terminal 5 is an airport terminal at Heathrow Airport, the main airport serving London. Opened in 2008, the main building in the complex is the largest free-standing structure in the United Kingdom. Until 2012, the terminal was used ...

where she was Head of Design Management for the project. Mitchell joined the board of Arup in 2014 and was then described as "the most senior female in the business". In 2017 she became Chair of Arup's UK, India, Middle East and Africa (UKIMEA) Region, and in 2021 joint deputy chair of Arup Group.

Recognition

Mitchell is a

Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering Fellowship of the Royal Academy of Engineering (FREng) is an award and Scholarship, fellowship for engineers who are recognised by the Royal Academy of Engineering as being the best and brightest engineers, inventors and technologists in United K ...

, a Fellow of the

Institution of Engineers of Ireland The Institution of Engineers of Ireland () or the IEI, is an engineering society primarily representing members based in Ireland. The institution is Ireland’s recognised organisation for accreditation of professional engineering qualificat ...

, and a Fellow of the Irish Academy of Engineering. In

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

, she was appointed an

Honorary Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(CBE) - honorary because she is not a British or Commonwealth citizen. In 2016,

awarded her an honorary Doctorate of Science. In 2020, she was awarded the RAEng President's medal.

Personal life

Mitchell is married and has three children, has been a local school governor, and enjoys cycling. She lives in

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies in a loop on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea, London, Chelsea ...

References

1958 births Living people Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire Fellows of the Royal Academy of Engineering Female fellows of the Royal Academy of Engineering Ove Arup Alumni of University College Dublin Alumni of Trinity College Dublin Engineers from Dublin (city) 20th-century Irish engineers 21st-century Irish engineers 20th-century Irish women engineers 21st-century Irish women engineers {{Ireland-engineer-stub