In January 2026, Dame Fiona Rayment was awarded a Damehood in the King’s New Year Honours for services to nuclear engineering.
It was recognition decades in the making.
Dame Fiona has spent over 30 years in the nuclear sector, working her way from the laboratory bench to the highest levels of government advice, international policy, and industry leadership. She built her career at the UK National Nuclear Laboratory and its predecessors, ultimately serving as Chief Science and Technology Officer and Special Adviser to the CEO, before stepping into a broad portfolio of non-executive, advisory, and academic roles.
She is a chartered Chemist and Engineer. She holds a PhD in Chemistry from the University of Strathclyde and an MBA from Manchester Business School. She is a Fellow of five learned societies including the Royal Academy of Engineering and the Royal Society of Edinburgh. In 2025 she received the Royal Academy of Engineering Sir Frank Whittle Medal for engineering leadership and technical expertise in the nuclear sector.
The credentials are formidable.
But the thread running through all of it is people.
Dame Fiona has spent just as much energy on who gets into nuclear as on the technology itself. She was the first ever chair of the UK Nuclear Skills Strategy Group, a body created to address cross-government and industry workforce needs in the sector. She chaired the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency’s High Level Group on Gender Balance. She served as Patron of Women in Nuclear UK. She has co-chaired workshops for school students on International Women’s Day, sat with young women weighing up careers in science and engineering, and made the case again and again that a 40 per cent female nuclear workforce by 2030 is not just a nice idea. It is a necessity.
Her honours reflect that dual commitment:
- DBE in the King’s 2026 New Year Honours for services to nuclear engineering
- OBE in 2017 for services to UK nuclear research and innovation
- French Légion d’Honneur in 2020 for her contribution to Franco-British nuclear partnership
- Royal Academy of Engineering Sir Frank Whittle Medal, 2025
- Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, Royal Society of Edinburgh, Royal Society of Chemistry, UK Nuclear Institute, and the American Nuclear Society
Today Dame Fiona works across an extraordinary range of roles. She is a Non-Executive Director of Nuclear Restoration Services, a member of the Office of Nuclear Regulation Independent Advisory Panel, and a member of the DESNZ Science and Technology Advisory Council. She chairs the Scientific Advisory Committee of the CEA Energy Division in France, serves as Vice Chair of the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency Steering Committee and Bureau, and holds professorships at the Dalton Nuclear Institute at the University of Manchester and the University of Bangor.
As the UK builds towards a nuclear-powered future, including Hinkley Point C, Sizewell C, and a new generation of small modular reactors, Dame Fiona is one of the people helping to make sure that future is both technically excellent and genuinely inclusive.
On Women in Engineering Day, her story is a reminder that the best engineers do not just build things. They build the pathway for others to follow.
At Novi, we celebrate women who lead with both excellence and purpose. Know a woman who is changing the game in her field? Nominations for the 2026 Novi Awards close 30th June.
