Dame Dawn Elizabeth Childs ( Elson; born 29 November 1970) is a British engineer who has moved between several engineering disciplines including mechanical engineering,

aeronautical engineering Aerospace engineering is the primary field of engineering concerned with the development of aircraft and spacecraft. It has two major and overlapping branches: aeronautical engineering and astronautical engineering. Avionics engineering is s ...

and civil engineering. She has been the first woman engineer in several posts in the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

(RAF) and the first female head of engineering at a major international airport. Childs has a track record of developing women within her organisation as well as working to bring more women and girls into the discipline. Childs is currently the chief executive officer o
Pure Data Centres Group Ltd
following her role as UK Change Director at

National Grid plc National Grid plc is a British multinational electricity and gas utility company headquartered in London, England. Its principal activities are in the United Kingdom, where it owns and operates electricity and natural gas transmission networks ...

Education

Childs was educated in Bedgebury Girls School and at the

University of Bath The University of Bath is a public research university in Bath, England. Bath received its royal charter in 1966 as Bath University of Technology, along with a number of other institutions following the Robbins Report. Like the University ...

where she read mechanical engineering. She continued with higher education on executive courses with a Master of Defence Administration from

Cranfield University Cranfield University is a postgraduate-only public research university in the United Kingdom that specialises in science, engineering, design, technology and management. Cranfield was founded as the College of Aeronautics (CoA) in 1946. Throug ...

and a Master of Arts in defence studies from

King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public university, public research university in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV ...

Career

Childs joined the RAF straight from school having been awarded a cadetship as an engineering officer. Whilst reading mechanical engineering at Bath University she was a member of

Bristol University Air Squadron Bristol University Air Squadron, commonly known as BUAS, is a University Air Squadron that recruits from the University of Bristol, University of Bath, University of the West of England, University of Exeter and University of Plymouth. Training ni ...

before officer training at

RAF College Cranwell The Royal Air Force College (RAFC) is the Royal Air Force academy which provides initial training to all RAF personnel who are preparing to become commissioned officers. The College also provides initial training to aircrew cadets and is respo ...

. During 23 years of service in the RAF she had numerous postings and was the first female officer to hold many of her appointments. Most notably Childs was the first female Senior Engineering Officer (SEngO) on 216 Squadron and the first female Officer Commanding Engineering Wing (OC Eng Wg) at

RAF Waddington Royal Air Force Waddington , commonly known as RAF Waddington, and informally known by its nickname 'Waddo' is a Royal Air Force station located beside the village of Waddington, south of Lincoln, Lincolnshire, in England. The station is th ...

where she was responsible for the operational maintenance and logistics of Intelligence, Surveillance, Target Acquisition and Reconnaissance (ISTAR) aircraft based there. Childs left the RAF in 2012 and moved to

Gatwick Airport Gatwick Airport , also known as London Gatwick Airport (), is the Airports of London, secondary international airport serving London, West Sussex and Surrey. It is located near Crawley in West Sussex, south of Central London. In 2024, Gatwic ...

where she was the first female to become the Head of Engineering at a major International airport. From Gatwick, Childs moved to Merlin Entertainments plc in 2016 and established a new central engineering function covering the governance and standards for the global portfolio of over 120 theme parks and attractions. In 2014 she became an Ambassador for

Alton College HSDC Alton, formerly known as Alton College, is located in Alton, Hampshire, England. In addition to offering A Levels, the college provides an adult education service to the local population. It was built in 1978 and was one of the first instit ...

. In 2015, she was appointed as a non-executive director fo
World Skills UK
In 2019 Childs departed Merlin Entertainments to take the role of UK Change Director at National Grid. In August 2021 Childs was appointed as the chief executive officer (Operations) a
Pure Data Centres Group Ltd
and became chief executive officer for th
Pure Data Centres Group
in May 2023.

Honours and awards

In 1997, Childs was awarded the Barrie Smart Memorial Award for her significant contribution to the RAF community and subsequently gained her pilot's licence. She won the CBI and Real Business First Women Award in Tourism & Leisure in 2013 for being the first female head of engineering at a major International airport. In 2014 she was bestowed with an honorary Doctorate of Science by

Staffordshire University The University of Staffordshire is a public research university in Staffordshire, England. It has its main campus in Stoke-on-Trent and four other campuses in Stafford, Lichfield, Shrewsbury, and London. History In 1901, industrialist Alfred ...

in 2014 in recognition of her notable contribution to mechanical and aeronautical engineering in her then-current role at Gatwick and throughout her career with the RAF. It also recognises her dedicated engagement with education by promoting the study of

STEM Stem or STEM most commonly refers to: * Plant stem, a structural axis of a vascular plant * Stem group * Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics Stem or STEM can also refer to: Language and writing * Word stem, part of a word respon ...

subjects. Her work to promote STEM subjects and engineering to children and young adults was further recognised in 2015 when she won the

Institution of Mechanical Engineers The Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) is an independent professional association and learned society headquartered in London, United Kingdom, that represents mechanical engineers and the engineering profession. With over 110,000 member ...

's Alistair Graham-Bryce Award for: "her significant contributions to campaigning for the promotion of engineering to children, students, young adults and particularly women". In 2016, Childs was named as one of the top 50 most influential women engineers in the UK by ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...

'' and

Women's Engineering Society The Women's Engineering Society is a United Kingdom professional learned society and networking body for women engineers, scientists and technologists. It was the first professional body set up for women working in all areas of engineering, pred ...

. Childs has been a Trustee o
World Skills UK
since 2015 and became Deputy Chair in 2022. Childs was the elected President of the

, between 2018 and October 2023. Childs was elected as a Fellow of the

Royal Academy of Engineering The Royal Academy of Engineering (RAEng) is the United Kingdom's national academy of engineering. The Academy was founded in June 1976 as the Fellowship of Engineering with support from Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, who became the first senio ...

in September 2020 in recognition of her contributions to the engineering profession and became a Trustee of the academy in September 2023. She was appointed

Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(DBE) in the

2023 New Year Honours The 2023 New Year Honours are appointments by some of the 15 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebratio ...

for services to engineering.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Childs, Dawn English military engineers 1970 births Living people Alumni of Cranfield University Alumni of King's College London Alumni of the University of Bath Royal Air Force wing commanders Presidents of the Women's Engineering Society British women engineers Fellows of the Royal Academy of Engineering Female fellows of the Royal Academy of Engineering Women in the Royal Air Force English mechanical engineers English civil engineers Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire