Dr Hayaatun Sillem CBE, named as one of the ‘Inspiring 50’ women in tech in Europe and one of the most influential women in both UK engineering and UK tech, is CEO of the Royal Academy of Engineering and Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering Foundation. She co-chairs with the Science Minister the government’s Business Innovation Forum and co-chaired with Sir Lewis Hamilton his Commission on improving Black representation in motorsport.

Hayaatun is a trustee of various charities, a member of the government’s Levelling Up Advisory Council and Digital Skills Council, and NXD at construction company Laing O’Rourke.

Hayaatun received her a Masters in Biochemistry (MBiochem) from Oxford, her PhD from Cancer Research UK/UCL, and is a Fellow of the IET, Honorary Professor at UCL and Honorary Fellow at The Queen’s College, Oxford. She has received honorary doctorates from UCL, Imperial College London, Newcastle, Brunel, Huddersfield and Southampton, as well as a Science Suffrage Award and the Engineering Professor’s Council President’s Medal.

A finalist for the Veuve Clicquot Bold Woman Award, Hayaatun was made a CBE for services to International Engineering in 2019. Prior to her current roles, she was Deputy CEO at the Academy, serving as Committee Specialist and, later, Specialist Adviser to the House of Commons Science & Technology Committee.