Skip to main content

10 February 2021

Entrepreneur in Residence joins King's Engineering

Dawn Bonfield is the first Entrepreneur in Residence at King's Department of Engineering.

Dawn Bonfield

The Department of Engineering has welcomed its first Entrepreneur in Residence

 

Dawn Bonfield MBE joined the Department of Engineering at King’s in January 2021 through a Royal Society Entrepreneur in Residence award for one year. Dawn will be working with students within the Department, and more broadly through the King’s Entrepreneurship Institute, on projects and ideas which look at the use of innovation and technology to help address the Sustainable Development Goals. She will also be providing networking and mentoring opportunities for students and working with our teams to improve inclusivity.

Commenting on her role at King’s, Dawn said:

“I want to find ways to encourage our engineering undergraduates to think about how they can use their skills and talent to address some of our most pressing global issues. I also want to look at what it means to become an entrepreneur – is it just about making money, or can it be about creating change more broadly and in other ways? The skills needed for both are similar and complementary.”

Dawn Bonfield

The Department of Engineering opened in 2019 and welcomed its first cohort of General Engineering undergraduates in September 2020. Dawn added:

“I have been involved with King’s in the recent past at the time that the new Engineering Department was being set up, and I am excited by their vision of creating engineers for the 21st century, who are inspired to think creatively, translating ideas through engineering design to innovation that are of benefit to humankind and the planet. I am really pleased to be joining King’s as the Department is growing and becoming more influential in the engineering sector.”

Dawn Bonfield

Welcoming Dawn to King’s, Head of Engineering, Barbara Shollock, said:

“It is very exciting for our students and staff to be able to tap into Dawn’s vast experience as an engineer. The whole King’s approach to engineering is about addressing ‘real-world’ problems. Dawn is at the forefront of worldwide initiatives to harness the potential of engineers. She is a champion of gender equality and we are excited about her strategies for integrating this into our curriculum in the context of the UN SDGs. I’m delighted that she has joined us as King’s to work with our emerging generation of King’s engineers.”

Professor Barbara Shollock

In this story

Dawn Bonfield

Professor of Practice in Engineering for Sustainable Development