Women in Sustainable Aviation presented at WISE Conference

The Women in Sustainable Aviation initiative was presented at the WISE Conference 2026 by Dr Ashley van Bruygom (Loughborough University) and Dr Alicia Torres Gomez (University of Oxford). Their poster was among those selected to be viewed and discussed with Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal, Princess Anne, giving Ashley and Alicia the opportunity to introduce the initiative and talk about the role of women in the transition towards more sustainable aviation.

The initiative is being developed as part of the EPSRC Programme Grant, Making Hydrogen Work in Zero Carbon Jet Engines, and aims to bring together women working across sustainable aviation, from engineering and scientific research to industry and policy.

The WISE Conference, held at IET London: Savoy Place on 28 September, brought together people from across science, technology, engineering and mathematics to discuss gender equity in STEM. This year's programme focused on active allyship, young professionals and collaboration across sectors.

For Ashley and Alicia, the conference was also an opportunity to share their work within the Programme Grant and to discuss how the technical challenges involved in developing hydrogen-powered aviation can go hand in hand with supporting a more diverse and inclusive research community. Aviation's transition towards lower-carbon technologies draws on expertise from many different areas, including propulsion, hydrogen and cryogenic fuels, aircraft design, infrastructure, operations and policy.

Women in Sustainable Aviation was developed to bring some of those communities together and to create stronger connections between women working in the field. Through this initiative, Ashley and Alicia hope to make their own contribution to supporting women pursuing careers in aviation, while also drawing attention to the opportunities for women to take part in emerging areas of sustainable aviation research.

The selection of the poster for discussion with The Princess Royal gave the team an opportunity to explain why they felt such a network would be useful and what they hope to achieve through the Women in Sustainable Aviation event to be held in Oxford this December. It also connected with one of the main themes of this year's WISE Conference: moving beyond discussions of gender equity towards practical action.

Dr van Bruygom says, “It was a real privilege to present our plans at WISE and to have the opportunity to discuss the poster with The Princess Royal. Sustainable aviation is a huge engineering challenge, and we want to make sure that women working across the field are part of that conversation.”

“One of the things I enjoyed most about the WISE conference was meeting people who are trying to make practical changes in their own organisations and fields. There is still work to do to ensure women can enter, stay and progress in STEM careers, and networks like this can be one useful part of that.”