Professor Elena Rodriguez-Falcon FREng PFHEA
Nominee Profile
Location: Newcastle upon Tyne
Elena Rodríguez Falcón is an internationally recognised higher education leader, engineer, and change maker whose 25 year career has transformed institutions and advanced diversity, inclusion, and social mobility in STEM. A Mexican born, openly gay mechanical engineer, she joined the University of Sheffield in 2001 and quickly became one of its most influential academic figures. She founded the University of Sheffield Enterprise, led Inclusive Learning &Teaching, directed Enterprise Education, and became the inaugural Director of Women in Engineering, reshaping the university’s culture of innovation & inclusion.
In 2017, Elena became the Founding President of NMITE, the UK’s first new higher education institution in 40 years, created to widen participation & develop diverse, work ready engineers. She went on to serve as Deputy Vice Chancellor at the UWTSD & now serves as the Provost at Study Group, providing global academic leadership across 16 international study centres and numerous global partnerships, overseeing the academic standards of 1000s of students from across the world.
A Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering and one of the first twelve Principal Fellows of Advance HE ever, Elena chairs the Engineering Development Trust & Industrial Cadets, doubling the number of IC in 12 months to 500K, and leads the International Advisory Board of Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León. She is also Editor in Chief of Ingenia, the Royal Academy of Engineering’s journal.
Her honours include the Princess Royal’s WISE Lifetime Achievement Award, Woman of the Year in Technology, Executive Leader of the Year, and recognition as one of the Top 101 Global Mexicans.
Her positive impact as an LGBT role model. 25 years of being a visible, outspoken, continued and ongoing LGBT+ role model, she has led campaigns such as #ILookLikeAnLGBTEngineer, and It Gets Better, and is a sought after international speaker and advocate for inclusive, socially impactful engineering education.
In 2017, Elena became the Founding President of NMITE, the UK’s first new higher education institution in 40 years, created to widen participation & develop diverse, work ready engineers. She went on to serve as Deputy Vice Chancellor at the UWTSD & now serves as the Provost at Study Group, providing global academic leadership across 16 international study centres and numerous global partnerships, overseeing the academic standards of 1000s of students from across the world.
A Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering and one of the first twelve Principal Fellows of Advance HE ever, Elena chairs the Engineering Development Trust & Industrial Cadets, doubling the number of IC in 12 months to 500K, and leads the International Advisory Board of Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León. She is also Editor in Chief of Ingenia, the Royal Academy of Engineering’s journal.
Her honours include the Princess Royal’s WISE Lifetime Achievement Award, Woman of the Year in Technology, Executive Leader of the Year, and recognition as one of the Top 101 Global Mexicans.
Her positive impact as an LGBT role model. 25 years of being a visible, outspoken, continued and ongoing LGBT+ role model, she has led campaigns such as #ILookLikeAnLGBTEngineer, and It Gets Better, and is a sought after international speaker and advocate for inclusive, socially impactful engineering education.