Award winning Kristy leads with logic

Kristy Ireland, a Systems Engineer at aerospace engineering company Leonardo, has been announced as the winner of the Royal Aeronautical Society’s (RAeS) Young Person’s Lecture competition held in Stevenage.

The UK’s top emerging talent in aerospace converged to deliver their presentations at the RAeS competition held at the Airbus site in Stevenage. Young people account for approximately one third of RAeS members, so the Young Persons Lecture competition allows them to compete at a high level, to demonstrate their technical knowledge. Kristy impressed the judges with the depth of her understanding of Future Combat Air capability. Kristy has developed her knowledge and expertise in this domain while working on the new Tempest fighter jet, which involves developing some of the most advanced aerospace technologies to emerge from the UK.

Although the technology she works on in the programme is very diverse, there is a common thread that runs through her approach to her work that she credits for her success, her love of logic.

Kristy said: “Since school, I have always loved using logic to overcome challenges and even now each day I’m using it in different ways to create clear solutions for this programme. Everyone thinks of logic as being very rigid when in fact, it can be one of the most flexible and innovative elements to engineering. Sometimes we can be tempted to venture down a path of creating solutions before really understanding the problem. Applying logic is the “Does this solution make sense?”, “Is this the answer we really want?” and “Why can’t we do something different about it?” parts of the equation which can lead to changing the outcome altogether!”

Kristy Ireland with her RAeS award

She added:“I had a wonderful evening talking all things Sixth Generation Combat Air and meeting some fantastic new people. I work in Leonardo UK’s Future Combat Air business in the Physical Integration & Test area. Right now, we are working with the UK Defence Science and Technology Laboratory and 2Excel Aviation on the ‘Excalibur’ Flight Test Aircraft. This will provide the equipment teams with a means to demonstrate and test their technology in the airborne environment. We have to ensure that everything is on the aircraft when it needs to be and integrated to test it so we can gather the most accurate data possible.”

Her mentor Duncan McCrory, Future Combat Air Chief Engineer, said: “I have been supporting Kristy with her journey towards achieving professional registration as a Chartered Engineer with the Royal Aeronautical Society and it has been fantastic to see the way she applies herself on highly complex engineering challenges. Kristy’s latest achievement reflects her drive, passion and commitment to her profession, which she has demonstrated consistently in her work at Leonardo, in collaboration with our partner organisations across government and industry within Team Tempest. I am extremely proud of Kristy and I have no doubt that she has a very bright future ahead of her.”

While Kristy received a first in her degree in Aeronautical Engineering, it was only when she found a role within the engineering industry that her enjoyment of the subject grew exponentially. Suddenly, she was no longer in lecture halls and was observing real world engineering unfold at close proximity on live technology, an enthusiasm that she successfully transmitted during her RAeS presentation.

Kristy’s application of logic extends to her career development, since she thinks everyone can take logical action to make it happen, rather than assuming it will unfold on its own.

Kristy said: “You can apply logic when thinking about where you want to go next in your career. The more you talk about your aspirations and your plans, letting them be known to others, the more likely you will be able to move to where you want to be and get opportunities to do different things. I collaborated with my mentor Duncan to find a way to work in the test area for Future Combat Air, as I knew that was where I wanted to go next. To me, the logical step was to have that conversation and think, ‘Right, what makes sense to do next and how do I do it?’"

Kristy is continuing her work within the Physical Integration and Test team and is looking forward to getting more experience with flight trials and flight-testing.