Karen Holford

PROFESSOR OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING, DEPUTY VICE-CHANCELLOR OF CARDIFF UNIVERSITY

Brought up near the Welsh border in the Forest of Dean, Karen Margaret Holford was the first in her family to attend a higher education institution. Deciding to pursue an engineering apprenticeship against the wishes of her career advisor (who declared it a man’s career) Holford worked as an engineer for BMW, Jaguar and Rover, before starting her academic career at Cardiff University in 1990. She has since led pioneering research projects in the technique of acoustic emission, and became Deputy Vice-Chancellor of her university in 2017.