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In celebration of International Women in Engineering Day, we highlight the innovative research of Mona Jaber and Valentina Donzella.

Dr Mona Jaber is Head of the Centre for Networks, Communications and Systems. As a child, Mona was fascinated by how engineering could solve real-world problems and she knew then that she wanted to be an engineer. That early curiosity has grown into a lifelong passion that now drives her research in artificial intelligence and Internet of Things technologies. In this video, Mona discusses her research and explains how the Internet of Things—networks of connected devices and sensors—can help create healthier, more sustainable cities by improving the way we manage resources, services and urban infrastructure.

Professor Valentina Donzella is a member of the Centre for Intelligent Transport and the Deputy Head of the Centre for Advanced Robotics. Her research focuses on making intelligent technologies, such as robots and self-driving vehicles, safer and more reliable. She studies how sensors—including cameras, radar, thermal cameras and LiDAR—collect information about the world, and how factors such as bad weather, poor visibility or busy environments can affect the quality of that information.

Valentina develops new methods to improve and combine data from different sensors, helping artificial intelligence systems make better decisions in real-world situations. She is particularly interested in using computer simulations and AI-generated data to test and train intelligent systems, as well as developing ways to assess data quality and system performance.

Her work also explores how intelligent systems can operate safely using less data, helping to make future transport and robotic technologies both safer and more sustainable.