The legacy of Verena Holmes: inspiring next generation of engineers

Verena Holmes was born in 1889 in Ashford, Kent, Verena became a pioneer for women in the industry as arguably the first female in the UK to have a full-time career as a professional mechanical, design and biomedical engineer. Verena was an advocate for widening participation in engineering and dedicated to the development of female engineers, she represented a breakthrough for equal rights in the early 20th century. As a creative and talented mechanical engineer, inventor and entrepreneur with own engineering business in Gillingham, Kent. In 1932, Verena Holmes filed a patent for poppet valve for fluid pressured systems, and in 2021 has provided the inspiration to students to conceive, design, implement and operate their own poppet valve. The poppet valve challenging first year biomedical, mechanical and product design engineering students to consider engineering materials, engineering manufacturing, standard components, fixes and fittings, and tolerances considerations into their poppet valve. This paper will provide qualitative analysis of the level of practical engineering learning, and the depth of student learning. Also, the quantitative analysis of the students’ evaluation of the learning opportunity to inspire, develop and stimulate them to be the next generation of engineers.

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