Alex Nicholson is Head of Nuclear Skills and Nuclear Supply Chain at the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, focused on ensuring we have the skills and supply chain to deliver our civil nuclear ambition. He is also currently acting Head of the Nuclear Sector Skills Team, the cross-government initiative stood up to deliver the Nuclear Skills Taskforce actions, in conjunction with the Nuclear Skills Delivery Group. Alex was previously Head of International Safety at the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, focused on the relationship between the UK and key international organisations, including the UN-IAEA, OECD-NEA and the G7 where he chaired the G7 Nuclear Safety and Security Group under the UK’s Presidency.

He previously held posts that saw him focus on digital economy policy, including by representing the UK at the G7 Digital and Science Tracks, G20 Digital Economy Taskforce and the OECD. Alex also sat as a Vice-Chair of the OECD’s Committee on Digital Economy Policy where he negotiated the OECD AI Principles and spent several years working in the European Parliament and in the private sector

Amy has specialised in workplace mental health for ~15 years.

She creates the conditions for individuals and teams to grow, ensuring positive change in respect of workplace mental health & wellbeing.  She has a background in business, mediation, coaching and theatre - bringing issues to life using drama for safe learning.

Anna Whitehouse is the trailblazing Sunday Times best-selling author of Parenting the Sh*t out of Life, Where’s My Happy Ending? And Underbelly, mother and campaigner behind the Flex Appeal movement (flexible working for all), the premise of which helped form the powerhouse Flex for All Campaign recently addressed in parliament.

Angus is expert in workplace mental health.

With an engineering background he has a proven track record in business creation and growth.  He previously worked in General Management, Engineering, Technical, and Commercial roles in multi-national companies including in the nuclear, medical, engineering and manufacturing sectors.

Beccy has worked in the nuclear sector in strategic skills and people development roles for the last 17 years, having previously worked within the people development field in the commercial and education sectors. 

Her particular specialism is developing and implementing skills and resourcing, people development, safety leadership, change and talent strategies in both private and public sectors.  Having previously worked at the operational side in these areas, her more recent roles have been orientated to towards developing appropriate strategy and plans, and then programme managing the delivery through others.  Her current role is Nuclear Skills Programme Director for the Nuclear Skills Delivery Group, the group responsible for delivering the National Nuclear Strategic Plan for Skills.    Beccy had key involvement in developing the UK Nuclear Skills Strategic Plan, and the skills element of the Nuclear Sector Deal.  She was involved in the Kingman and GBN sprint work, and most recently was part of the Nuclear Skills Taskforce, which developed the skills plan that the NSDG now deliver.

Beccy has responsibility for the nuclear sector’s labour market intelligence, producing a comprehensive account of the nuclear industry’s skills demand and supply between now and 2030.  Known as the Nuclear Workforce Assessment, this has become the single source of labour market data for the sector, and is refreshed annually.

Beccy regularly presents at national and international skills forums, promoting the UK’s position in nuclear skills leadership.  She leads the NEA subgroup on data and metrics, under the Gender Balance Task group.

Beccy has had the opportunity through her career to work with a number of significant organsiations, inside and outside of the nuclear sectors including:-  Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA), Magnox Ltd, Unilever PLC, Nelson Thornes Ltd, The Open University, Lloyds Register, and Barclays PLC.  

Clare Sharpe is the Transfer & Deconstruction Director for EDF UK, responsible for the seamless transfer and of EDF’s AGR stations to NDA and NRS once fuel-free and the deconstruction preparations. Prior to this Clare was the Business Performance and Transformation Director, where she established a new directorate with responsibility for the governance, risk and performance framework of the business, as well as embedding the transformational change within the business. In 2020, she was appointed as the Transformation Programme Director, where she successfully led the transformation of the central support functions. 

In 2013, Clare became the Head of Generation Information Systems, responsible for maximising the value of information and technology for the Generation business. Prior to this, Clare was the Nuclear Generation IT Projects Delivery Manager, which included the Programme Director role for the programme to upgrade the Enterprise Asset Management systems across all 8 Nuclear Power Stations. Before this, Clare was the Head of Partner Engagement for Corporate, with responsibility for the provision of all Company Shared Services to Corporate functions, including Corporate IT Projects. Within British Energy, which Clare joined in 2007, she led the Business Solutions team, with overall accountability for the business relationship and delivery of IT projects and services for the company. Clare’s previous experience is working in the Home Shopping industry, as a Project and Programme Manager, working across sectors such as Contact Centres, Financial Services and International Shipping.

Clare has an MSc in Pure Mathematics and Joint BA Hons in Mathematics & Philosophy.

Corhyn Parr is CEO of Nuclear Waste Services, the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority’s waste management organisation. She was previously Director of Integrated Waste at the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA), a role in which she brought together RWM Ltd and LLWR into a single waste organisation and creating a national programme for integration waste management to improve how waste is retrieved, treated, transported, stored, and disposed of.

She has worked within the nuclear industry for over 20 years since graduating as a mechanical engineer, supporting nuclear operations, generation, decommissioning and waste management across most nuclear licensed sites in the UK. She has also worked on nuclear projects internationally in Europe, Canada and USA.

A core passion of hers is to drive for a fully diverse and inclusive nuclear sector and as NDAs Sponsor for D&I is steering efforts across the group to deliver a step change.

Craig Hatch is Division President of Tetra Tech in the UK & Europe, having been instrumental in the growth of this leading provider of consulting and engineering services from 1800 people in 2019 to the current level of almost 6000. Based in Cockermouth, Cumbria, he is an award-winning business leader, with a successful track record over a 40-year period.  His experience is broad, working across many sectors, including significant time working in the commercial sector, with experience in both public and voluntary sectors.  This experience has been within businesses of various sizes, from his own SME practice, a larger SME, large charitable organisations, medium size PLC’s, a FTSE 50 PLC and most recently within a NASDAQ listed organisation. Craig is a long-time public supporter of new nuclear to decarbonise as part of the solution to global warming. His experience of building and leading partnerships of multi-disciplinary teams within multiple sectors, including nuclear, means he understands the skills gap challenges and what we can do to inspire the next generation of people entering the nuclear industry. Craig is currently a mentor to over 10 people, including 7 women at different stages of career, including various colleagues and contacts within Tetra Tech, Women in Nuclear (WiN), Nuclear Institute Young Generation Network (YGN) and Northern Power Women (NPW).

Craig has supplemented his professional experience through voluntary positions in areas he is passionate to support, currently including being Chair of WellChild, the national sick children’s charity and in his local community as Chair of the Clean Energy Panel for the Cumbria Local Enterprise Partnership which formed from the Centre of Nuclear Excellence (CoNE) on which Craig was a leadership member. Craig has also held positions within his professional organisations, formerly as Chair of the Faculty of Architecture and Surveying within the CIOB and as a member of the Professional Group Board for Building Surveying within the RICS.  Craig is a Fellow of the RICS, APM and the CIOB.

Craig has been recognised in several ways, reflecting the areas of interests he is involved in. He has recently been added to the inaugural Advocacy List of the YGN; also, this year he was awarded Inspiring CEO by The Inspiring Leadership Foundation.  He has previously been awarded Cumbria Businessperson of the Year, and other awards include West Cumbrian Carer of the Year Award. He was also part of a parent advisory group who won ‘Team of the Year’ at the prestigious national WellChild awards.  

Outside work, Craig’s time is dedicated to his family, his wife Ellis and his four adult children who are now young adults. Eleanor (27), Fraser (25), Ewan (22) and Alexander (21).  Fraser has acute and complex health needs requiring 24 hour care.  In his ‘spare’ time Craig is a runner, being a member of Cumberland Athletics Club and regularly takes part in fundraising events, which have included 6 Great North Runs and 3 London Marathons.

I want to play my part in tackling our resourcing gap, as I understand the impact this is having on our ability to deliver on our commitments.

Unless we can inspire students to consider a career in nuclear, we will not get the C.Vs through the door that we so desperately need.

As with any campaign, the message needs to be Targeted, Engaging, Relevant and Measurable for long-TERM success. 

Come join us in our workshop to learn from our experiences of engaging with the future generation of nuclear workers. 

Elina is a physicist with over 20 years of experience in fusion plasma physics research, who has worked at several national laboratories across Europe and is currently the Scenarios Team Lead in the Plasma Science and Fusion Operations Division of the UK Atomic Energy Authority. She recently joined Destination Nuclear, a UK-wide recruitment campaign to provide the Nuclear Sector with the workforce required to deliver the sector’s ambitions and growth. Before that, Elina was leading a highly complex modelling project to improve the understanding of how to optimise the fusion energy production of ITER, a critical next-step multi-billion international fusion experiment that is being built in France.

Elina is a mum of two and as WiN UK Network Executive (job share), she is taking positive actions across the nuclear sector to create workplaces in which everyone can thrive and reach their true potential.

Gemma is a Chartered Engineer and Project Manager and has been with Bechtel for over 11 years, working across the Mining, Energy and Infrastructure Sectors. She has spent most of her career leading diverse teams in Engineering and Construction Projects, most recently as Delivery Director for a major tunnelling package for Sydney Metro. She is currently the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Project Manager supporting Bechtel’s goals to attract, retain and develop diverse talent

Hannah is the Operations Director for Risk, Safety & Human Factors at Assystem and re-joined the Nuclear Industry in March 2023. Her career began in Nuclear Engineering and Project Management at Cavendish Nuclear after completing her Nuclear Science and Technology Master’s degree in 2011. Hannah’s specialism is Commercial and Operations leadership, having spent 7 years out of the industry in a manufacturing SME and a digital creative start-up business. She is a Fellow of the IMechE, completed an MBA with Durham University in 2022 and is currently studying the Saïd Business School Oxford Executive Leadership Programme. Hannah is passionate about gender balance in the Nuclear sector and broader STEM industries, which she champions through mentoring on the Assystem EmpowHER programme, STEM outreach, public speaking and influencing positive change in her own organisation. Last year, Hannah won the national Nuclear Institute Young Generation Network (YGN) speaking competition on this topic.

Jack Gritt is a Chartered Mathematician and a Member of the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications. With 39 years’ experience in the nuclear industry, Jack has held a number of positions including executive management, director of operations, programme and project management, transformation and change management, safety case management and performance and quality.

In addition she is a champion for inclusion and diversity in the work place with a keen focus on the performance benefits that can be achieved via outstanding leadership in this field.

It was in the early years of her career that she formed a passion for encouraging people in the nuclear industry, especially women. She currently sits on the WiN Global Executive, is the UK representative on the WiN Global Board as well as retaining a role with WiN UK as a Board Member. Through these roles Jack believes she can continue to build a future for the nuclear industry and create an environment where women can thrive in this exciting sector which offers endless opportunities. 

Jack has championed women in the industry throughout her career, as well as working in her local community as a councillor and school governor. She has always had a keen focus on helping women to manage their work/family balance, remain in employment whilst raising a family and to have the confidence to consider transferrable skills to explore new opportunities. More recently she has devoted her time to motivational speaking, menopause awareness, inclusion consultancy as well as dipping her toes into writing her first book! Her lifelong passion for inclusion, lifting women and the nuclear industry led her to becoming a founding member of WiN UK and is what continues to drive her commitment today.

Environmental Compliance Specialist at EDF and is the Support Project Manager for the WiN NED programme supporting Sarah Macdonald as Project Manager. Jess has supported the programme for the last year helping to set up, onboard, and continue the successful running of the programme.

Lee McDonough is Director General, Net Zero, Nuclear and International at the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ).

She is responsible for the delivery and implementation of the UK’s Net Zero programme as well as leading on international climate policy.

Lee was Director General, Net Zero, Nuclear and International at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) from November 2022 to February 2023. Before this she was Director General, Net Zero Strategy and International at BEIS from June 2021 to November 2022.

Lee has previously held roles in the Department of Health and Social Care as Director General, NHS Policy and Performance Group and as Director General, Acute Care and Workforce.

Director General, Net Zero, Nuclear and International

The Director General is responsible for the following areas:

• net zero strategy
• international net zero: climate finance, energy and trade
• science and innovation for climate and energy
• nuclear protection, development and decommissioning

Department for Energy Security and Net Zero

Lee joined Rolls-Royce & Associates in August 1989 as an apprentice and after being sponsored by the Company into Higher Education, his first substantive post-graduate role was as a Stress Engineer. Lee then progressed through various roles from Team Leader, Assistant Chief Engineer, Chief Engineer as well as a 5-year period of Head of Engineering for reactor cores. Lee took on secondments into BAES and Babcock before, In November 2021, being appointed to Director of Engineering & Technology, with accountability for developing engineering capability to meet business and customer requirements, head of the Technical Authority for RRSL products and leading the R&T and US/UK Exchange programmes.

Linda is the Chief Finance Director at NTS and has worked in various finance leadership roles in the nuclear industry for more than 25years. Linda joined the WiN UK board in 2020 to help the establishment of WiNUK as a separate legal company and has, alongside Gareth Davies and Maria been instrumental to designing and implementing the WiN UK NED Programme, supporting the cohort with training and essential mentoring skills.

Lisa is a passionate and dedicated professional with strong creative and communication skills, currently working as the Head of Social Impact for Cavendish Nuclear.

With over 20 years’ experience in the nuclear industry, Lisa has held a variety of roles across marketing, business development and tendering.

In her day to day role as Head of Social Impact, Lisa’s primary focus is to manage the company’s Social Impact Strategy and work with external bodies and other social impact leads to build relationships and deliver strategies that benefit local communities and help them to thrive. In delivering this role, Lisa also leads on the development and delivery of social impact programmes through the company’s tendering and bid process, from opportunity identification through to proposal submission and into delivery, ensuring that social impact strategies are managed to successfully deliver positive benefits.

In addition to her social impact role, Lisa also manages Cavendish Nuclear’s brand awareness strategy, promoting the company’s key products and services to new and existing customers through targeted marketing campaigns.  Leveraging a range of communications channels and messaging, Lisa delivers impactful marketing activities which support the company’s business strategy.

As a long standing member of the industry and a mum of two, Lisa passionately advocates for Equal Opportunities in the work place.  The WiN mission is close to her heart and in her role as the WiN UK Events Lead, Lisa strives to help WiN deliver key events to raise awareness of the opportunities available and help attract and retain more women into the industry. 

Passionate about promoting diversity and inclusion, I co-lead the Women in Nuclear (WiN) branch in Central England. Our mission is to empower women professionals in the nuclear industry. Through networking events, mentorship programs, and knowledge-sharing sessions, we create a supportive community that fosters growth and leadership. Together, we break barriers and inspire the next generation of leaders.  As a STEM ambassador, I engage with schools, colleges, and community groups to ignite curiosity and enthusiasm for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. Whether it’s delivering interactive workshops, participating in career panels, or mentoring young minds, I’m committed to nurturing the STEM talent pipeline. By encouraging diverse participation, we shape a brighter future for innovation and progress. I firmly believe in being the role model I never had. My goal is to inspire young individuals—especially young women—to pursue their passions fearlessly. Let them see that they can thrive in traditionally male-dominated fields. Together, we’ll create a legacy of empowerment, resilience, and positive change.

Lynne was appointed by the National Nuclear Skills Task Force In October 23 to head up Destination Nuclear, the UKs first ever cross sector communications programme. This Government backed ambitious programme was launched in February 2024 and aims to support the sectors aim to attract more people, particularly in the critical skills areas, and grow the workforce required to deliver the UKs nuclear ambition in defence and net zero energy.

The programme has gained future support and Lynne will continue her secondment from EDF to develop the national strategy and lead the team delivering the programme in collaboration with the whole sector.

Experienced in Marketing and PR, Lynne joined the nuclear industry as part of a start up team that developed British Energy’s B2B business and took it to market leading position. In a move to EDF Nuclear New Build she has lead on the development of regional and national skills capacity and capability solutions as a key part of project delivery and risk mitigation. EDF having successfully achieved approval and investment for Hinkley Point C, she moved on to lead the early socio-economic work on Bradwell B and supported the early work on the investment case for Sizewell C.

Lynne continued to work closely with Government and Industry as she moved to a short term secondment as Director for The UKs Nuclear Sector Deal. This involved identifying critical areas that required cross sector collaboration and bringing people together to work on solutions. This role included support to the Great British Nuclear Taskforce Capability and Capacity sprint team

Throughout her career she has worked on a number of global projects in Asia and Europe as an SME and Chair of various working groups for IAEA. 

Maria is the Global Transformation Director at Newcleo with over 18 years’ experience in the industry. Maria started her WiN journey as a lead for Southwest and then lead on the transition for WiN from Nuclear Institute to a standalone legal body alongside Linda, eventually becoming a member of the WiN board. Maria developed the initial stages of the programme alongside Linda and Gareth bringing the project team together and has been an excellent champion for the programme ever since.

Mick Gornall joined Cavendish Nuclear in June 2020. Cavendish Nuclear has approx. 2000 employees and provides a full range of engineering services to the nuclear decommissioning, power generation and defence markets both in the UK and internationally.

Mick has over 40 years’ experience in the nuclear industry having worked internationally across all aspects of the sector. Prior to joining Cavendish he worked for the Westinghouse Electric Company as Vice President for EMEA nuclear fuel.

Currently Mick is Managing Director of Cavendish Nuclear Ltd, a Director of Cavendish Nuclear USA Incorporated, Chairman of the UK Nuclear Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre Programme Board and a member of the UK Nuclear Industry Council.

Miriam Grigg is Deputy Director on International, Resilience and Regulation for Space as part of a jobshare partnership in the UK Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT). Miriam's Civil Service career has focused on international and EU strategic policy leadership in London, Brussels and Abuja. She has advised the UK Government across a wide range of sectors, including Nuclear Energy and Intellectual Property. Miriam has a passion for making positive change on diversity and inclusion. She lives in Oxfordshire with her husband and two young children.

Liv Thompson is the Director of Strategic Capability at NIRO and a senior advisor to the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero. NIRO provides independent strategic and technical advice to UK Government with the aim of de-risking investment, informing policy, and enabling maximum value for money to the UK taxpayer on all issues surrounding nuclear power, medical isotopes and fusion.  In her role at NIRO Liv supports the Nuclear Capabilities Commission to understand the skill, infrastructure and policy requirements needed within the UK to support the nuclear industry aspirations. She also provides strategic advice and guidance on future nuclear programme delivery.

She helped to found Women in Nuclear, serving on the first Executive Board.  She is a strategic advisor and advocate of Racial Equality in Nuclear and is a Trustee of the Primary Science Teaching Trust.

Liv is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute for Professional Development (CIPD) and the Nuclear Institute as well as being a Chartered Scientist. 

Rich Deakin was appointed as UKRI’s Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund (ISCF) Low Cost Nuclear Challenge Director, April 2020 having served as a policy advisor in BEIS immediately prior to this. In his role he has delivered the business case for the UK Small Modular Reactor programme securing £235M of HMG funding and matched private investment in excess of £258M through Rolls-Royce SMR. The project launched in November 2021 and now employs the over 750 staff directly and the supply chain. Rich has 35 years of industry experience in nuclear in the USA , UK and Japan. He has lead operations in senior roles delivering oxide fuels, reactor design and manufacturing, engineering delivery and supply chain development. He is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Nuclear Institute and an Advisory Board Member of the Resource Adequacy Group of the Energy System Operator (ESO). Rich is the proud son of a Yorkshire Miner

After completing a Masters in Nuclear Science and Technology from the University of Manchester, Sarah went on to start a career in nuclear waste and decommissioning starting on the nucleargraduates scheme sponsored by Nuclear Restoration Services (NRS). After completing the graduate scheme, Sarah joined NRS, playing a major role in what was Europe's largest land remediation project at the time, and managing legacy waste. In 2021, Sarah joined Nuclear Waste Services (NWS), using her operational experience to support customers in Waste Services,  to identify, procure and deliver successful waste management projects which are of value to the taxpayer and reduce waste disposed of to the Low Level Waste Repository. Sarah has volunteered with the Nuclear Institute's Young Generation Network (YGN) since 2020; their mission is to encourage and develop the UK's early career professionals and ensure their voice is heard in shaping the future of our sector. Sarah is proud to be the Chair of the NI YGN for 2024.

An Engineer with over 35 years in the nuclear sector. Formally a submariner, He worked as both an Operator and in Fleet support roles before joining Civil Nuclear Generation. Initially based at Torness in the Scottish Borders he worked in Safety and Regulation. He now works in People development within a diverse team spread across the UK.  Although Engineering has always been his passion – current roles involve people rather than plant! He mainly works across companies (and sectors) drawing on His experiences to look at future skills strategy. He has three Daughters in their 20’s and a Grandson too! He has been in WiN exec since 2017 and is currently WiN UK Network Executive as Job Share with Dr Elina Militello Asp from UKAEA.  From years working in the sector He firmly believes that diverse teams make better decisions and wants to break down the barriers that prevent that happening.

Simon was appointed as the Nuclear Industry Advisor to the Prime Minister and the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy in May 2022 to lead the formation of Great British Nuclear which he now Chairs.

He retired from full time executive work in December 2021 following 6 years with Babcock International where he was the Chief Executive of the Civil and Defence Nuclear businesses.  He remains as the Chair of Devonport Royal Dockyard and recently left his role as a Non-Executive Director with Rolls Royce Submarines. Simon was recently elected as a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering and an Honorary Fellow of the Nuclear Institute.

Simon started his career as an engineering officer in the Royal Navy serving on a number of submarines. He has extensive experience in the nuclear, renewables, petrochemical and defence sectors.  His commitment to improving safety performance has dominated his business results with a focus on developing strong people leadership and a depth of employee and contractor engagement.  His passion for all things maritime led him to join the RNLI as a member of the Technical Committee and he has been recently elected to join the RNLI Council.   

Simon is married with 3 children and 5 grandchildren all of whom share his passion for surfing (most of the time!).

Tania Celani is Deputy Director, International, Resilience and Regulation for Space in the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT). She has been doing this role as a jobshare since January 2022.

Her current portfolio includes providing leadership on a clear and effective strategic approach to international collaboration on space. This includes overseeing implementation of the international commitments in the National Space Strategy, working closely with other government departments. 

Tania has worked in the UK civil service since 2003 with experience in strategy, policy and programme, and international leadership roles across numerous government departments. Prior to her current role, she was Head of International Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Security, where she oversaw the HMG relationship with the International Atomic Energy Agency. Previous roles include Head of Strategy on Euratom Exit, and immigration attaché in the UK Permanent Representation to the EU in Brussels. She has championed diversity and inclusion throughout her career and is the SCS champion in DSIT for flexible working.  Tania lives in London with her partner and two young daughters.