Women at Imperial Week: Meet our panellists

To celebrate International Women's Day and Women at Imperial Week, the Department of Materials will host a panel discussion with students and alumni.

The theme of International Women's Day 2024 is 'Inspire Inclusion', recognising how women are underrepresented in Science and Engineering. As stated by the UN, despite a shortage of skills in most of the technological fields, women still account for only 28% of engineering graduates.

Our panel discussion, chaired by Professor Sandrine Heutz, Head of the Department of Materials, aims to inspire attendees with conversations from our panellists about their start-ups, current careers or research projects. Find out more information about our event and we look forward to seeing you there!

Meet our panellists: 

Anjali Devadasan

Co-Founder and CEO of Treeva, and current Undergraduate student in the Department of Materials.

"I’m the co-founder of Treeva, and currently in my fourth year studying Materials, with previous internship experience at Rolls-Royce.

I was inspired to start Treeva as my family were affected by flash floods in Kerala - I’m determined to help mitigate Climate Change to prevent future disasters. I came across the WE Innovate program at Imperial in 2021, and applied with an idea - but I had little to no knowledge about start-ups. Since then, through masterclasses, networking and learning from mistakes, we developed into a team and formed our new start-up.

"Believe in yourself and venture outside of your comfort zone as much as possible. The most difficult part was to take the first step" Anjali Devasdasan

My advice to women aspiring to be entrepreneurs is to believe in yourself and venture outside of your comfort zone as much as possible. The most difficult part was to take the first step. You’ll never truly be “ready” so take that first leap of faith now and you might start learning lots of new, exciting things about yourself!

Everyone should also be able to pursue the careers they enjoy, regardless of their backgrounds, and the low numbers of women in science and entrepreneurship represent the huge strides we need to take to move things forward. As I’m incredibly passionate about this, I enjoy doing outreach with students and young people to encourage diversity and women in STEM/entrepreneurship."

Dr Shakiba Kaveh

Co-Founder and CEO of Mitra Bio and MEng Materials Science and Engineering Graduate 2010.

"I studied my undergraduate in the Department of Materials at Imperial College London and completed a PhD at the University of Cambridge, followed by internship at L’Oreal Paris, management consultancy and then started my own start-up in 2021. 

I had great mentors who coached me. You do not need business education to start your own start-up. You have everything you need to do it and you will learn along the way! Dr Shakiba Kaveh

My father was the biggest source of inspiration for being an entrepreneur and coming from an Entrepreneurial family, I knew being an entrepreneur was my calling! My aim is to lead my start-up to success and make an impact in the skin health field, seeing our product being used and benefiting the development of better skin treatment and diagnostics.

In the start-up world, inclusion is so important - only 2% of female founders receive venture funding and lower number of women embark on entrepreneurial journeys. I’d like to increase that number by supporting woman founders who wish to start their journey. Having great mentors is also so important - coming from a science background, I did not know much about venture start-ups or fundraising nor any finances. I had great mentors who coached me. You do not need business education to start your own start-up. You have everything you need to do it and you will learn along the way!"

Alice Robinson

Metallurgist at Rolls Royce, and current PhD student in the Department of Materials. Alice also completed her MEng in the Department of Materials, graduating in 2018.

"I grew so much during my four years at Imperial and I’m super grateful for it. During my time at university, I started to interact with Rolls Royce through a number of pathways, eventually joining them on their graduate programme in 2018 before moving into my first proper role early in 2020. Since then, I’ve moved a couple of times within the business and have started a part time PhD back in the Department.  

You are inspired by what you see around you and so proper representation is what’s needed in science and in engineering, as well as more generally, to ensure we are more inclusive as a society.

You are inspired by what you see around you and so proper representation is what’s needed in science and in engineering, as well as more generally, to ensure we are more inclusive as a society. Alice Robinson

Engineering can be a very male-dominated space and when I first joined Rolls Royce, I was one of the youngest people in the Department. It has changed a lot but I’ve never been phased by a challenge - if someone tells me I can’t do something I will go to every length to show them that I can!

One defining moment for me, was when I was told that ‘Rolls Royce won’t want a young women student as an intern’ during my second year as an undergraduate. Things have come a long way since then, and depending on the type of person I was, that could have ended my career in engineering before it had even started! However I'm always up for a challenge, so it sparked something in me to prove them wrong!

Know your worth and don’t let other people’s opinions get to you and hold you back. If you believe you can achieve something, you will, regardless of what those around you are saying!"

Dr Francesca Tallia

Research Associate in the Department of Materials and MedTechOne Translational Fellowship Recipient.

"I'm a Biomedical Engineer as background, with my Undergraduate and my Masters both completed at Politecnico di Torino in Italy. After this, I joined a spin-out company from the same Department where I did my Masters, working on developing a new injectable cement for vertebral surgery based on a patent of which I was co-inventor. In 2012, after three years of tasting life outside academia, I took the opportunity to come to Imperial College London to study a PhD funded by an EU Marie Curie ITN and supervised by Professor Julian Jones.

During my PhD, I invented a new biomaterial, that we call Bouncy Bioglass. This is a new hybrid material that combines bioglass and polymer components at the molecular level, resulting in a tough, bioactive and biodegradable material that has shown unprecedented and promising results for cartilage and bone regeneration – so after completing my PhD, I stayed on as a postdoc and now as a MedTechOne Translational Fellow to work on translating the material into a device to be implanted in the knee to treat focal cartilage defects. My advice is to be resilient, you won’t succeed unless you have tried and often it can take multiple attempts to achieve your dream job!

The last five years have opened my eyes about inclusion related to motherhood or more generally women with caring responsibilities - statistics regarding women leaving the workforce after having children are staggering!  Dr Francesca Tallia

Bioengineering is an outlier in the engineering world regarding women representation, with averagely more than 40% of bioengineers being women in Western countries. At the beginning of my career in Italy, I was lucky enough to work with incredible female professors, with inspiring personal stories. They were role models for me as successful academic women and played an important role in my choice to work on Biomaterials.

The last five years have opened my eyes about inclusion related to motherhood or more generally women with caring responsibilities - statistics regarding women leaving the workforce after having children are staggering! At Imperial, I have found a supportive environment for parents, and my supervisor is very flexible with my working arrangements. However I know this is not the same in many other workplaces and it is a topic that I feel strongly about. Mums know how to get things done, so they should not be disadvantaged in the workforce."

If you'd like to find out more about our panelists and ask your questions, join our panel discussion this Friday at 3pm in RSM G20 - see you there!