Dr Freeha Azmat

Associate Professor, WMG

“My interests were always in maths and engineering. Growing up in Pakistan, it was the men who became the engineers, and the women doctors or teachers.”

“After some, let’s just say challenging, conversations with my family I took the step to study for a degree in Information and Communications Systems Engineering at National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST) in Pakistan. An unusual step for a woman but I’ve always been about turning challenges into opportunities.

After graduation I won a fully funded scholarship to take my master’s in advanced Distributed Systems. Here was the next problem, it was at the University of Leicester, and I had to convince my parents that it was the right thing for a single woman from Pakistan to travel to the UK alone. I think I made the right decision.

I’ve been very lucky and over the years have received a lot of recognition and awards. I strongly believe in giving back and mentoring future generations. I’d like to show the young girls there that there is a world of possibilities for them in the engineering and technology sector. And now I have a family of my own, its’s no surprise that my son is also a young engineer in the making.”