The Women in Engineering Mentoring Programme is powered by our parent company, the Morson Group and is a new mentoring initiative to cater for a select group of female students in their last year of study in engineering subjects in the School of Science, Engineering and Environment (SSEE) at the University of Salford.

The programme will run from February 2021 to May 2021 and aims to connect the University’s final year female students with industry professionals to:

  • Gain greater insights of the industries of their chosen subjects
  • Obtain greater knowledge about their career prospects and have focus on the future
  • Acquire broader skills for personal and/or career development
  • Build understanding for communication and a range of interpersonal skills
  • Discover good practices and understand how to enter the industry with confidence

Anna, Ana and Maria will be matched with students in order to offer valuable one-to-one mentoring sessions and will also take part in group webinars, providing guest talks alongside the other mentors.

The three women will be joining other mentors from across the industry as well as two other colleagues from within the Morson Group:

  • Sam Price, Head of Client Engagement, Morson Group
  • Sagal Rooble, Digital Specialist, Waldeck

Dr. Maria Stukoff, Maker Space Director shared:

“The aims of ‘Go Beyond’ are to help our students to focus on the future, gain broader skills for personal or career development. The expectation is that the knowledge and influence of the mentor will assist the student in planning career objectives and help with gaining insight about how to step confidently into the industry. The focus is on developing the mentee professionally with the aims to achieve self-awareness, more confidence and to feel equipped to Go Beyond the University to get a job in industry.

“We welcome a phenomenal number of industry mentors who registered their supporting to the programme and are dedicating their time and expertise to help promote our graduate talent to encourage and upskill more women into engineering roles.

“It’s a real testimony to our partnership with the Morson Group, and our collaborative investment to developing our talent pipeline and creating employment routes for the next generation of women in engineering, to have five of their team from across the Group onboard with the programme.”

Anna Davanzo, Aerospace Engineer at Morson Projects shared:

“Helping to inspire young people and in particular young women to pursue careers in STEM based disciplines is so important for the future of our industry. ​​​​Taking the first tentative steps into the workplace can be daunting, and having a mentor who understands this can make the transition from university into work much less intimidating.

“I’m really excited to be a part of the mentoring programme at the University of Salford, to be able to share some of my knowledge and experiences with future engineers, and help them to enter the industry with confidence.”


Ana Meek, Chemical Process Engineer at Morson Projects also shared:

“I am very excited and honoured to be part of Go Beyond Programme. As a mentor, I am looking forward to engaging with young engineers, and understanding their drivers, ambitions for their emerging careers and supporting, guiding, and encouraging them through the initial stages of the professional development.

“Mentoring allows me an opportunity to reciprocate the guidance, kindness and support given to me by others when first starting out, giving something back to the engineering students and cohorts of tomorrow.”


Maria Williamson, Lead Design Engineer within the Morson Projects Marine team added:

“To give these young women the best chances of success in this industry, it is important that time, advice and guidance is provided from the offset. It is a great responsibility being asked to help these young aspiring engineers, this is our chance to share experiences and discuss how they see their career progressing.

“These engineers have already chosen this path by going to university and studying so I’m looking forward to exploring what they want to get out of their career and hopefully make the transition a little more comfortable for them.”