Karen Burt


Karen Ann Hilsum Burt CPhys MInstP was a British engineer and campaigner for the recruitment and retention of women in engineering.

Early life and education

Burt attended Hillside School, Malvern and Worcester [Sixth Form College#History|Worcester Girl's Grammar School]. She studied at Newnham College, Cambridge and completed a PhD in electron microscopy at the University of Reading.
Her father is professor Cyril Hilsum, a physicist best known for research that helped form the basis of modern LCD technology. Her mother, Betty Hilsum, died at the age of 61 of cancer. Her parents had met while at University College London on Scholarships.
Her sister is the War Journalist Lindsey Hilsum.

Career

Burt joined British Aerospace as a project engineer for scientific satellites, and was eventually promoted to senior systems engineer. Subsequently, she developed an interest in management, becoming a Business Acquisition Manager.
Burt left British Aerospace and established her own consultancy. In addition, she helped University College London establish the Centre for Advanced Instrumentation Systems. She contributed to the Women's Engineering Society, Institute of Physics and Institute of [Electrical and Electronics Engineers]. In 1983 and 1984 Burt presented a Faraday Lecture, Let's Build A Satellite, on behalf of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and British Aerospace.
She was appointed to the London Branch Committee of the Women's Engineering Society in 1987. She was a campaigner for career breaks and gave advice to members of the Women's Engineering Society in how to manage returning to work. Burt was appointed to the Women's Engineering Society Council in 1991. She presented at the 1991 International Conference of Women Engineers and Scientists. Having just accepted a faculty position at University College London, Burt suffered a fatal stroke in June 1997. aged only 42.

Legacy

Since 1999, the Women's Engineering Society have celebrated Karen Burt with a memorial award for newly chartered women in engineering, applied science or information technology. Each year the Women's Engineering Society requests one nomination from each participating Professional Engineering Institution, and from these a winner is chosen. The award recognises significant potential in engineering and it was originally set up to encourage a greater number of women to aim for, and to celebrate, the achievement of Chartered Engineer status. Winners receive £1,000, at the bequest of her father, Cyril Hilsum.

Karen Burt Award Winners

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