Dawn Childs

Dawn Elizabeth Elson née Payne MA MDA BEng CEng FRAeS FICE FIMechE FWES (born 29 November 1970) is a British engineer who has moved between many engineering disciplines including mechanical engineering, aeronautical engineering and civil engineering. She has been the first woman engineer in several Officer posts at the RAF and the first female head of engineering at a major international airport. Elson has a track record of developing women within her organisation as well as working to bring more women and girls into the discipline. Elson is currently the Group Engineering Director at Merlin Entertainments plc

Dawn Elizabeth Elson
Dawn Elson at Thorpe Park
Born	(1970-11-29)29 November 1970
Nationality	British
Scientific career
Fields	Engineer

Education

Elson was educated in Bedgebury Girls School and at the University of Bath where she read mechanical engineering. She continued with higher education on executive courses with a Master of Defence Administration from Cranfield University and a Master of Arts in defence studies from King’s College London.

Career

Elson joined the Royal Air Force straight from school having been awarded a cadetship as an Engineering Officer. Whilst reading mechanical engineering at Bath University she was a member if Bristol University Air Squadron before her officer training at RAF College Cranwell. During her 23 years’ service in the RAF she had numerous postings and was the first female officer to hold many of her appointments. Most notably she was the first female Senior Engineering Officer on 216 Squadron and the first female Officer Commanding Engineering Wing at RAF Waddington where she was responsible for the operational maintenance and logistics for 5 fleets of Intelligence, Surveillance, Target Acquisition and Reconnaissance (ISTAR) aircraft. Elson left the RAF in 2012 and moved to Gatwick Airport where she was the first female to become the Head of Engineering at a major International airport. From there Elson moved to Merlin Entertainments plc in 2016 and established a new central engineering function covering the governance and standards for the global portfolio of over 120 theme parks and attractions. In 2014 she became an Ambassador for Alton College. In 2015 she was appointed as a Non-Executive Director for World Skills UK.

Awards and honours

In 1997 she was awarded the Barrie Smart Memorial Award for her significant contribution to the RAF community and subsequently gained her pilot’s licence. She won the CBI and Real Business First Women Award in Tourism & Leisure in 2013 for being the first female head of engineering at a major International airport . In 2014 she was bestowed with the award of Honorary Doctor of Science by Staffordshire University in 2014 in recognition of her ‘notable contribution to mechanical and aeronautical engineering in her current role (Gatwick) and throughout her career with the RAF. It also recognises her dedicated engagement with education by promoting the study of STEM subjects.’ Her work to promote STEM subjects and engineering to children and young adults was further recognised in 2015 when she won the IMechE’s Alistair Graham-Bryce Award for: ‘her significant contributions to campaigning for the promotion of engineering to children, students, young adults and particularly women.’ In 2016 Elson was named as one of the top 50 most influential women engineers in the UK by the Daily Telegraph and Women's Engineering Society (WES)