My ChemEng Career Path: Emma Robinson

Graduate engineer, Nestle

I GRADUATED from the University of Birmingham in 2023 with an integrated master’s degree in chemical engineering. I’m currently a graduate engineer about to enter the second year of my graduate scheme at Nestle, so that’s in food and drink manufacturing.

What attracted you to your role?

The thing that attracted me to my current grad scheme is that it’s rotational. So, I’m able to gain different experiences across all the different sites in the UK and it’s also really exciting to see all the products that you’ve worked on on the shelves.

What does your typical day or week involve?

My current role that I’m rotating out of, we’re designing bespoke and innovative solutions for R&D problems. So, most of the time I’m drawing process and instrumentation diagrams for new processes or designing parts and solid works using CAD and it’s really, really interesting, lots of new, different ideas and it allows Nestle factories to receive tailored solutions to manufacturing issues or bottlenecks.

What do you enjoy most about your job?

Something I really like about my job is that I’m able to learn new things that weren’t covered in my degree. I’m not restricted in the types of work that I can be involved in just because it wasn’t covered in a chemical engineering degree, and I get to see all different sides of making products and different sides of engineering.

What advice would you give to chemical engineering students who are interested in joining your sector?

I’d say to those who are or aren’t considering joining the food industry to just be open minded with what you want to do post-graduation. I didn’t imagine that I would be entering the food industry when I was doing my degree, but I didn’t let the fact that I hadn’t chosen to do food modules in university stop me from applying for my current role.

What's the most exciting development or opportunity in your field that you wish more people knew about?

My current rotation is in confectionery. There are many new developments and new products and the industry’s really fastpaced and it’s something that I really love about it. We had new flavoured Kit-Kat tablets hit the shelves recently – it’s really exciting to be in the same space as the people with bright ideas who can make stuff like that happen.

What IChemE resources do you recommend students use to help them take the first steps in their career?

I’ve really enjoyed being part of the National Early Careers Group committee. It’s connected me to lots of other engineers in their early careers, and I’m a bit more aware of the variety of careers that are available to us. And it’s also allowed me to have a say in what sorts of things would have been useful for us to know when we were looking to start our early careers.

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Click this link ​for the full interview with Emma.