Hayaatun Sillem

Hayaatun Sillem
Dr Hayaatun Sillem, Chief Executive of the Royal Academy of Engineering, UK
Alma mater	University of Oxford Cancer Research UK University College London
Occupation	CEO of Royal Academy of Engineering
Employer	Royal Academy of Engineering
Known for	Creative leadership

Hayaatun Sillem (née Is’Hare) FIET is the CEO of the Royal Academy of Engineering.

Education

Sillem attended Godolphin and Latymer School.^[1] She earned a master's degree in biochemistry from the University of Oxford in 1998.^[2] She completed a PhD with Cancer Research UK at University College London in 2002.^[2]

Career

Sillem joined the Royal Academy of Engineering in 2002 as an Engineering Policy Advisor. She joined the Department for International Development 2005. In 2004 she became a Committee Specialist to the Science and Technology Select Committee, and later as a Specialist Adviser to the House of Commons Science & Technology Committee.^{[3][4][5][6][7]}

In 2006, Sillem joined Royal Academy of Engineering as Head of International Activities.^[8] She led the Academy's partnership with Africa.^[9] In this role she published Engineering Change: Towards a sustainable future in the developing world.^[10] She went on to publish Engineers for Africa: Identifying engineering capacity needs in Sub-Saharan Africa, a summary report.^[11] The report identified the capacity needs of engineering that are felt across Sub-Saharan Africa, and developed approaches to meeting these needs.^[12]

Sillem was appointed to Director of Programmes and Fellowship in 2011.^[13] She is interested in how science and engineering can help with humanitarian admin, and how engineering can drive international development.^[14][15] She published Investing in Innovation in 2015.^[16][17] In May 2016, Sillem was appointed Director of Strategy and Deputy Chief Executive of the Royal Academy of Engineering.^[18][19] In March 2017 she was appointed a Fellow of the Institution of Engineering and Technology.^[20] She spoke at the launch of Angela Saini's book Inferior: How Science Got Women Wrong and the New Research That’s Rewriting the Story in June 2017.^[21]

Sillem co-founded the Royal Academy of Engineering Enterprise Hub.^[22] She hosted the 10th Young Arab Women Leaders STEM conference in London in December 2017.^[23] She became CEO of the Royal Academy of Engineering in January 2018.^[24][25][26] She is a champion of the Government's Year of Engineering, looking to increase diversity amongst the UK's engineering workforce through the campaign This is Engineering.^[27][28][29]

She is a trustee of the London Transport Museum.^[30] She is a judge for St Andrews Prize for the Environment.^[31][32] She has written for The Huffington Post.^[33]

References