If you can’t see it, can you really not be it?

“I didn’t grow up knowing engineers,” says Alise Germova, a civil engineering technician at consultancy Stantec.

“I came to the UK as a child with my single mum, and stability was always something we worked hard for. Engineering wasn’t something I saw around me.”

A lot of us are familiar with the phrase “if you can’t see it, you can’t be it”.

Role models certainly have a big part to play in showing people what’s possible, but what do you do if they’re not readily available?

Inspiring LGBTQ+ engineers

This year, LGBT+ History Month invited us to celebrate LGBT+ scientists and innovators, while acknowledging that it can be a struggle to name them.

It's not that LGBT+ individuals haven’t been doing incredible work throughout history. It’s more likely that they didn’t share this aspect of their identity openly.

Given the historical context, that is hardly surprising. It was only in 1967 that England and Wales decriminalised homosexuality. It’s still criminalised in 65 countries today.

But things have changed, and workplace cultures are shifting to allow people to bring their full selves to work.

Future LGBTQ+ role models are in the infrastructure industry today. We caught up with a few of them to discover how they found their way into their careers.

1. Education: understanding why engineering matters

Never underestimate the role of education.

It was what showed Alise what was possible within engineering. As soon as she saw the type of impact she could have, she knew it mattered.

Now a few years into her career, she’s seen this first hand.

“The defining moment for me was working on AMP8 (asset management period 8) storm overflow schemes,” she says.

“Seeing the reality of river pollution and climate pressure made me realise this isn’t just technical work. It’s moral work.

“We have a responsibility to do better than previous generations. And we can.”

Tara Fraser, director at Aniso Structures, a structural engineering practice, was given a career list book when she was 14. She found civil engineering in it and didn’t change her mind from that point.

“I grew up in a very small village in the north-east of Scotland where it was farming or fishing, neither which appealed to me.

“The option of studying engineering gave me the ability to move around and potentially find somewhere I belonged,” she explains.

Tara is also the co-founder of Talk to the Rainbow, a team of LGBTQ+ therapists in Bristol.

Teachers

For Sam Blanchard, a senior planning engineer working on the Lower Thames Crossing (LTC), it was a teacher who planted the idea in her head.

As her strongest subjects were maths and physics, her product design teacher suggested civil engineering.

“He told me about a module he'd studied at university where they'd built a canoe out of concrete! The thought of using a construction material like that in such an unconventional way really sparked something in me,” she explains.

2. Family and friends: ‘a sense of pride and satisfaction’

For Sam, the story continued as it turned out she had family connections to civil engineering.

“They were all more than happy to give me old ICE journals and show me projects of mega projects they’d worked on throughout their careers.

“The sense of pride and satisfaction they took from their work was abundantly obvious and I knew that was something I wanted to get from my career too,” she says.

Ten years later, she’s working on the LTC, one of the most innovative projects in the UK, which is the first substantial highways project to gain PAS 2080 accreditation.

“I know I'll be showing photos of [the LTC] to any budding engineers in a few decades time!” Sam adds.

David McAulay, civil engineer at consultancy Mott MacDonald, had an open discussion with his dad, an electronic engineer, on what to study at university.

“As part of this discussion, he talked to me about civil engineering. I liked, and still do, that civil engineering forms the basis for everything in the built environment,” he says.

“The projects I have worked on aren’t always the flashiest, but I like that in flood alleviation we get to help people.”

3. Infrastructure projects: a source of local inspiration

As a child of the 1970s, Jessica Patterson grew up in the back streets of Newcastle and was inspired by the construction of the Tyne and Wear Metro.

Building Britain’s first light rapid transit system meant new bridges and tunnels for the city and surrounding areas, creating new connections for the existing rail lines.

Watching this project unfold, Jessica “knew then that a career in civil engineering would be for me”, she says.

Jessica is now a buildings and cities social outcomes leader at Mott MacDonald.

“In engineering, I found a safe space,” she says. “One where I could be valued for what I contribute and where different perspectives bring strength and resilience to the work that we do.”

“Social outcomes focus on placing people and communities at the heart of the projects we develop. This moves beyond purely technical solutions and focuses on accessibility, inclusion, empowerment, and wellbeing,” she explains.

Hopefully these projects will inspire new engineers for years to come!

The role models of the future

As our members show, even if you can’t see it, you can still be it.

In doing so, they’re laying the path for all who will follow.