BSc Design Engineering graduate, Gemma Field, is launching her career with the UK’s leading provider of air traffic control services.
Gemma, who graduated in 2017, completed her placement with NATS and has since joined the company’s graduate scheme. The role sees Gemma working as part of a team providing air traffic control services to 14 UK airports and managing all upper airspace in the UK.
Gemma was drawn to the career by a natural interest in aviation – having held a private pilot’s licence for four years. She said: “I really enjoyed my placement year, which gave me the opportunity to get involved in live projects affecting the future of the aviation industry. I hadn’t necessarily considered it as a career route, but as the placement came to an end I was successful in gaining a place on the graduate scheme. It was good to return to my final year knowing that I had secured my first job. It freed me up to focus on completing my studies and I returned with a renewed sense of confidence from having taken on new challenges in the workplace.”
On returning to BU, Gemma was one of the few chosen to exhibit her final year project – a lift to help disabled people in and out of vehicles – at New Designers. She said: “I took my project all the way through to creating a prototype, which is probably what helped it to get chosen. For me, it was the best way to understand whether the design would work in reality. The process of developing the product, and being selected to showcase it at New Designers, was a real confidence boost as well as an opportunity to build professional networks.”
