Female engineering duo celebrates first-class degree success
Two talented female engineers from Cygnet Texkimp have graduated with first-class degrees from the University of Salford this week.
Software Engineer Sophie Warburton completed a degree in Control & Automation, delivered by Siemens in partnership with the University of Salford, and R&D Assistant Bradie Zimmer-Collins graduated with a degree in Physics.
Sophie’s degree was sponsored by Cygnet Texkimp after she joined the company 18 months ago with an HNC in Electrical Engineering and a desire to continue her professional training.
“I was keen to do the Siemens degree and Cygnet Texkimp made it possible for me to study alongside my job,” says Sophie, whose final work-based R&D project focused on our dual-controlled filament winding machine.
“At Cygnet Texkimp I’m part of a supportive and generous team of engineers who are happy to share their knowledge and experience, so studying while working in this environment has been ideal for me.”
Bradie has worked part-time at Cygnet Texkimp since May 2024 when, at the end of her second year at the University of Salford, she undertook a 12-week live R&D project to analyse the energy requirements of our carbon fibre recycling solution, DEECOM®. Following the success of that project, she was employed in a part-time role at the company alongside her third-year studies.
“It’s been a really busy year of work and study, but I’m so happy with what I’ve achieved,” says Bradie, who hopes to continue her studies in September while at the same time taking up a new role within Cygnet Texkimp’s R&D department.
“I’ve learnt so much at Cygnet Texkimp and it’s been great to apply my university learning to a real-life engineering operation.”
Andy McCampbell, Cygnet Texkimp Operations Director, said:
“We’re extremely proud of Bradie and Sophie who have demonstrated enormous tenacity and commitment to achieve such excellent results. I hope that their achievements will be an inspiration for other women and girls to pursue studies and careers in engineering.
“By supporting our employees’ professional aspirations in this way, we’re also generating new skills, ideas and ways of thinking that stimulate progress and innovation within our business, and that’s really valuable and exciting.”
