NEWS | Aerospace Engineer Wins Sainsbury Management Fellow Mentoring in #INWED 2023 Competition

Twenty-five-year-old Space Engineer, Samrudhi Inamdar won the WES and Engineers in Business Fellowship competition which was run to celebrate International Women in Engineering Day 2023 (#INWED 2023) and mark its 10th anniversary.

Samrudhi’s prize is mentorship by a Sainsbury Management Fellow (SMF). SMFs are distinguished engineers who were awarded a Sainsbury Management Fellows MBA scholarship to enable them to study at the world’s leading international business schools. This has enabled the SMFs to use their combined business and engineering skills to further the economic growth of UK and global companies.

Samrudhi will commence her mentorship with insights and support from SMF Sinéad O’Sullivan who is an Aerospace Engineer of note and now works with Professor Michael E. Porter at the Institute of Strategy and Competitiveness (in Complex Systems).

Samrudhi has an impressive career already: she has a Bachelor of Electronics and Telecommunications Engineering from Savitribai Phule Pune University, India; a Masters in Astronautics and Space Engineering from Cranfield University in the UK and is currently working as a Project Engineer at ALTEN, UK on a Rolls-Royce Aero Engine project. Previously she worked with Tata Communications in India.

Samrudhi’s passion for engineering is evident - holds a number of voluntary roles including Vice President - Internal Relations at the European Young Engineers; is a Chapter Director (UK) of the Global STEM Initiative and is associated with Space Generation Advisory Council (SGAC); UK Students for Exploration and Development of Space (UKSEDS). She also volunteers as a citizen scientist at NASA in the GLOBE programme, an initiative that researches the global environment.

In 2022, she was awarded the Bright Sparks award which recognises 30 young and most talented engineers in the UK. She was also chosen as a delegate at the 67th session of the Commission on the Status of Women, which was held in the UK and hosted by UN Women, as well as an ambassador for the Women of Future Programme to mentor and assist young schoolgirls as they prepare for their future careers.

Samrudhi said “I am excited to have an SMF mentor, especially to be supported by someone so prominent as Sinead O’Sullivan. I too am considering studying an MBA programme and I’m sure that this mentorship will help me with that endeavour, as well as helping me to fully immerse myself in in the UK Aerospace Industry. I am very grateful to WES and Engineers in Business Fellowship for this unique opportunity.”

In addition to the SMF mentoring prize, Samrudhi also won a free place at the WES Annual Conference 2024, sponsored by Engineers in Business Fellowship.