Pearl Agyakwa

Job title

Senior Research Fellow

What does your job entail?

I’m a researcher within the Power Electronics Machine Control research group (PEMC). My work is focused on developing theoretical and experimental approaches to understanding creep and fatigue degradation mechanisms and failure physics of power electronics packaging components, such as Al and Cu bond wire interconnects, solder and sintered nanosilver die attachments.

I have built expertise in exploring, quantifying and mapping microstructural damage evolution using nanoindentation and 3D x-ray tomography. I am co-investigator and lead the Nottingham activities of a multi-institutional EPSRC-funded project. I also currently steer a Knowledge Transfer Partnership project in collaboration with Littelfuse Group. Recently, I have been asked to lead the PEMC Triad of the Nottingham Energy Institute.

Outside research-related activities, I am a member of Senate. I have also been recently appointed as Engineering faculty rep (or champion) for the BAME staff network, alongside my colleagues Rachel Gomes and Sobia Qazi. Our role is to offer friendship, support and solidarity with BAME staff in all job families and from all backgrounds, as we navigate the unique challenges we face in the work place together. We also hope to support all faculty members to be aware and proactive about issues affecting BAME staff.

Courses studied

Materials Science BSC (Brunel, 1999)
Materials Science PhD (Nottingham 2004)

What made you want to become an engineer?

I first heard about materials science from a friend when I was an A-levels student and was very intrigued. I knew fairly little about it at the time, but I liked that it involved stress-strain curves (yes, I’m a nerd!). I also liked the fact that it was happy medium between learning science theory and applying the knowledge in an engineering context. My A-level exams were a disaster, but I was really glad to get into Brunel University and my personal tutor Prof Michael Folkes really inspired me. I had one or two industry-based jobs, but nothing has quite matched my love of research.

Why is Black History Month an important celebration for you?

It’s a chance to celebrate and honour those upon whose shoulders we stand, who have blazed a trail for us, who endured unimaginable hardship and suffering at times, to afford us with the rights and privileges we do have. It’s an opportunity to educate ourselves and others, to shine a light on systemic injustices which still exist in education, health and all other spheres of society, and to take action to restore justice.

It’s a chance to remember and reflect on forgotten and erased histories, and to consider how our shared histories have shaped our present and potentially our future. It’s a chance to remind ourselves and each other of our common humanity. We’re not there yet, but I live in hope for the day when there will no longer be a need for Black History Month.

What are your experiences as a person of colour in the UK?

Overall, my experience of life in the UK is a very positive one, and there’s so much I love about it. It’s my home. However, I also have had some negative experiences at school; work, in the healthcare system and with the police.

Although being minority in a space like our university can appear to be beneficial, as you stand out and get noticed, it also has huge drawbacks and can be burdensome. I often dread networking at conferences, as these spaces can be pretty bad for some regularly occurring microaggressions (e.g. being assumed to be a student, being mistaken for restaurant staff by other delegates, etc.).

In all this, I am mindful of my own privilege as a fluent English-speaking daughter of an academic, lucky to have spent my formative years in Ghana and Nigeria, where I was surrounded by Black teachers, doctors, etc as role models. But I’m all too aware that this not the same for everyone, and so many others face challenges that I don’t. I am also saddened that this will not be my children’s experience, as they are growing up in the UK. It has been painful observing their own negative experiences of being racialised as Black, even though they are only 9 and 4.

Who would you say your role model is?

My parents are undoubtedly my biggest inspiration.

My dad was a philosophy academic (in epistemology), who got where he did despite incredible odds. He was passionate about education as a fundamental right for everyone, and was really interested in science communication. He gave me a love of learning from a young age and showed me that Black people could succeed in academia despite being told by his own PhD supervisor that black people were less intelligent than white people.

I am in awe of my mum’s courage and motivation, which led to her arrival alone at Liverpool Docks from Ghana after a 12-day voyage on ship, aged 22, to train as a nurse and work in the NHS. (With no google maps or trip advisor in 1961 to give her a heads up on what to expect!). Despite experiencing horrendous racism, she topped her class and went on to work in midwifery and psychiatric nursing. She showed dedication and commitment to a long career in the NHS despite almost no recognition of her talents and contribution.

There’s so much more I could say about my parents. I feel both proud and humbled to be their daughter.

How do you think the faculty and University can further progress inclusion and diversity?

I’m really encouraged to see the high profile given to EDI by our faculty. However, we need to do more. I would like to see racial justice be more highly prioritised in our EDI strategy. To genuinely deal with structural racism, a root-and-branch examination of everything we do is needed, from recruitment and retention of students and staff, diversifying and decolonising the curriculum (yes this applies to engineering too!).

This will require understanding of all the ways in which our everyday structures, procedures and activities act to harm and/or marginalise Black staff and students. It can sometimes be frustrating to see policies in place but little or no evidence of their implementation. I would also like to see more action addressing impacts of structural racism on staff and student wellbeing.