Princess Anne has been talking to Loughborough College space students Abi Burton, Katie West and Hannah Coleman about raising the profile of science and engineering amongst females.
The Princess Royal is patron of the Women in Science and Engineering Campaign (WISE) and joined a master class where Abi, Katie and Hannah were sharing their experience from the unique Space Engineering programme launched by Loughborough College in association with the National Space Academy.
The trio, who all study A-levels in Physics and Maths as well as Engineering in a space context for their Loughborough College course, were supporting groups of year 10 female students from local schools throughout the day-long class to launch an ongoing WISE initiative.
Her Royal Highness was visiting the National Space Centre to learn more about the initiative and heard from the three College mentors as the school pupils tackled an engineering problem which involved designing and testing solutions for a thermal protection system used on rockets.
Princess Anne talked to the students about their course, how they got into engineering and about their aspirations for the future.
Abi told BBC East Midlands Today: “I want to show that I can be as good as the boys.
“I can do something science-ey and I don’t have to do something that girls would typically do. I can be a powerful woman in science.”
The government has declared 2018 as the year of Engineering with a drive to raise its profile and increase diversity in the sector.
Pictured: HRH Princess Anne watches Loughborough College Space Engineering student Katie West test a thermal protection system at the launch of an initiative to raise the profile of science and engineering amongst females. The process is explained by the National Space Academy’s Sophie Allan, who teaches physics on the Space Engineering course