“We can create a world that is designed for everybody, by everybody”

- Felicity Furey

Some people appear destined from a young age to be an engineer, but it was only in year 12 that Felicity Furey first considered it. Inspired by her year 12 physics teacher, Mr Adamson, she decided to study civil engineering.

Felicity fell in love with engineering when she saw the connection between theory and practice, observing the tangible manifestation of her designs in reality. "People think engineering is all about hard hats and maths, but actually you're designing and creating things for people, and that often gets missed."

She noticed however, a distinct lack of diversity in the people responsible for the design process. In particular, there were very few women involved.

She first observed this discrepancy in the classroom at university, where she was one of only 12 females out of 120 students. This trend continued throughout her career as she progressed through a variety of roles with the Brisbane City Council, AECOM and Arup. She was often one of few female engineers in any given meeting, if not the only one. So in 2012, only 25 at the time, Felicity decided to do something about it.

Alongside her friend and fellow civil engineer, Dr Jillian Kenny, she created Power of Engineering, an organisation designed to encourage students in grades 9 and 10 (particularly female and rural students) to pursue and think differently about a career in engineering.

Her vision is that ultimately, a more diverse workplace will lead to improved outcomes for communities. Engineers are responsible for designing the world around us, but if certain demographics are lacking in the design process, their input is not accounted for. Diversity of thought enables outcomes that are desirable for more people. By incorporating a wider range of perspectives, "we can create a world that is designed by everybody, for everybody."

It was only once she saw the real world applications of engineering, she came to love it, and so she hopes to emulate her own experience by bringing industry and speakers from a diverse range of engineering backgrounds to talk to the kids. She aspires to be a role model like Mr Adamson, and inspire the next generation of engineers.