Professor Eileen Harkin-Jones (OBE FREng, FIAE, FIMechE) was appointed to the Royal Academy of Engineering-Bombardier Chair in Composites Engineering at Ulster University in 2014. Prior to her current role, she held the Boxmore Chair of Polymer Processing at Queen's University Belfast. Prior to joining the academic world she worked in the plastics industry as a Research & Development engineer.Eileen has been involved in plastics processing and materials research for over 20 years and has published over 200 papers in this area. She has particular experience in optimizing processes for new materials, developing new thermoplastic composite and nanocomposite materials and in sustainable manufacturing of polymers and composites. She has extensive experience of technology transfer to the plastics industry, winning two national awards for excellence in this regard. She was appointed to the All-Party Parliamentary Manufacturing Group in December 2014. She is currently the Chair of the Royal Academy of Engineering Materials & Mining membership committee.Eileen is involved in the promotion of gender equality in STEM at an international, national and local level and is the Athena SWAN Coordinator in the School of Engineering. She has a keen interest in STEM education at primary and secondary school level and is a member of the Royal Academy of Engineering Connecting STEM Teachers Programme. She served as a panel member for the UK Research Excellence Framework, REF 2014 and is a member of the ETA panel for the 2018 New Zealand PBRF (Equivalent to UK REF). She is Deputy Chair of the REF2021 Engineering panel.