Nicola Dinsdale: Flying the chemical flag

By Daniel Johnson2013-11-01T13:37:00

Nicola looking at a test tube with a florescent liquid in

Daniel Johnson finds out about the chemistry behind aerospace engineering and life as a ‘test tube pilot’

A passion for chemistry can lead you in many different directions, and Nicola Dinsdale is living proof of this. Always someone who enjoyed the practical challenges of the lab, Nicola studied at the University of Leicester before going on to do a PhD at the University of Bristol. This led her not to pharmaceuticals, or a research career as you might expect, but to a job in aerospace engineering. Nicola explains: ‘I hadn’t really given aerospace any thought to be honest. I thought it might be more pure engineering than chemistry.’

Now, aged just 32, Nicola is nearing the top of the tree at BAE Systems, a multinational defence, security and aerospace company. As a senior materials engineer in the company’s Military Air and Information sector, she is responsible for the chemistry that drives the production and maintenance of their fleet of fighter jets. ‘There are two aspects really, keeping production going and future development,’ explains Nicola. She is part of a team who provide services to the company’s whole military aerospace division. ‘It could be flight support, in-service support, people who are actually building the aircraft, or it could be the final aircraft and a customer coming back to us.’

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