International Women in Engineering Day 2025: Melissa Ahmed

It’s International Women in Engineering Day (INWED), and to celebrate we are highlighting the amazing efforts of a very special University of Salford alumnus, who as well as launching her own business, is also inspiring the female engineering leaders of the future.

Melissa Ahmed graduated from Salford with an Aeronautical Engineering degree and has since launched an engineering consultancy with her Mum, Melani, who is also a Salford graduate.

‘Techwuman’, specialises in design engineering and largely works within the security industry.

INWED celebrates its 12th year in 2025, once again promoting the amazing work that women engineers across the globe are doing. This year’s theme is #TogetherWeEngineer. INWED gives women engineers around the world a profile when they are still hugely under-represented, with 2021 figures indicating that in the UK only 16.5% of engineers are women. As the only platform of its kind, it plays a vital role in encouraging more young women and girls to take up engineering careers.

Melissa, who is from the city, described choosing Salford’s engineering course because of the generous practical work offered in comparison to other universities. Noting that the course felt “pretty perfect” to her, following completion of her degree, she then decided to embark upon a two-year knowledge transfer partnership (KTP), in parallel to a Master’s degree in Aeronautical & Mechanical engineering also at Salford.

Melissa described her time at Salford as an insightful experience, saying: “The collaboration between industry and academia was great because we could work on real life projects, and I got to bring that into my final year project. My supervisors would always support me and give me any guidance I needed to take the next steps into my research or academic skills. I was really lucky to get that support at university”.

Following the completion of her Master’s degree, the Engineering grad initiated her own business alongside her mother, who also graduated in IT from the University in 2006.

Techwuman actively advocates for women in STEM, visiting schools across the country to introduce children to all the facets of the STEM industries and what they can offer. During the STEM activity days they typically host between 6-7 classes during the day, delivering comprehensible, engaging, and energetic workshops sessions within the STEM fields.

Melissa described the dynamic workshops, saying: “I feel that the best way to learn something is by doing it. So, we don’t sit and explain it to the kids, we show them. It’s a very hands-on industry, so we try to replicate that through the classes. We want this to be a grass roots initiative, so that’s why we go into primary schools, to get them engaged in STEM activities from a young age”.

Melissa feels proud to be working in an industry which often under-represents women, and aims to keep promoting women in STEM, to lead the way for younger generations wanting to get involved and be a female role model in the engineering industry. This is something Melissa wishes she had to inspire her to explore the world of engineering.