A rising star of the nuclear industry was recognised for her contribution to the sector at the 13th annual Engineering Construction Industry (ECI) Training and Development Awards in London.
Fallon Campbell, who works on the NRS Dounreay nuclear power station near Thurso, North Scotland, was named Apprentice of the Year at a prestigious ceremony at Glaziers Hall to honour the very best of engineering construction talent in Great Britain.
The event, organised by the Engineering Construction Industry Training Board (ECITB) and hosted by Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock, brought together industry leaders, as well as the rising stars of tomorrow, for a celebration of excellence in training and development in the ECI.
The ECI spans sectors that focus on the construction, maintenance and decommissioning of heavy industry, including nuclear, oil and gas, power generation, renewables, carbon capture and storage, hydrogen, chemicals, food and drink, pharmaceuticals and water treatment.
The nuclear industry was well represented in the winners on the night. As well as the apprentice award, the Herne Group (SME of the Year) and Sellafield Ltd (Excellence in ED&I) were also recognised for their work in the sector around training and development.
Fallon, 21, who is responsible for the maintenance, repair, installation and testing of electrical systems across the nuclear site, was recognised for completing her electrical apprenticeship programme six months ahead of schedule.
In particular, the award submission highlighted that she was chosen to represent NRS Dounreay at Nuclear Parliament Week in London; was a lead apprentice on a STEM outreach project; and has become a role model promoting women in engineering.
Fallon, who was handed the trophy by award category sponsor the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA), grew up just 10 minutes away from Dounreay. She said:
“There are so many engineering opportunities in our area. I suppose I always wanted to work at Dounreay and hoped I would get a job there. It feels great to win and to have been recognised as a role model. It feels really nice to be promoting engineering, especially for young women in the area. Any other young women thinking of doing the same, I’d just say ‘go for it’. There’s so much opportunity and it’s not as scary as it seems, everyone is so lovely.”
SME and ED&I award success
The Herne Group, a Wigan-based project consultancy in the nuclear sector, received the Small/Medium Employer (SME) of the Year award a year after one of its employees, Lewis White, won the prize for apprentice of the year at the event.
Judges recognised the company’s commitment to developing young talent through training, mentoring and hands-on project experience.
Mike Preston, Director at the Herne Group, was handed the trophy by award category sponsor NUVIA. He said:
“It feels great. Lewis’ success last year gave us, as a company, that belief in ourselves and the way that we do business, the way that we train our new entrants and all our staff. As the company has grown, we’ve been able to support projects in a different way, which has allowed us to bring our new entrants on quicker. We get them in front of our clients, get them supporting on projects and that just gives them hands-on experience nice and early.
“Around a year ago, we created some scenario-based training that replicates the projects we have worked on. We made sure all our new entrants carry out a number of months of training on that. They build a work breakdown structure (WBS), develop a schedule, and work through risks and progress updates, giving them a flavour of the work planners do on projects. That’s really worked well.”
Sellafield, the nuclear site in West Cumbria, received the Excellence in ED&I Award in recognition of the impact of the programmes it has embedded across the organisation to help promote a culture of equity, diversity and inclusion (ED&I) through education, training and mentoring.
Judges highlighted the seven-year D&I Strategy it developed in 2020, which has included initiatives such as the development of 17 employee support networks; a reverse mentoring programme for senior leaders; mandatory e-learning completed by over 13,000 colleagues; and the introduction of reasonable adjustment passports (RAPs) to enable hundreds of colleagues to perform better at work.
Sellafield was handed the trophy by award category sponsor, Sizewell C. Alan Rankin, who is Diversity and Inclusion Lead at Sellafield, said:
“We’ve been on a real journey over the last few years as a large and complex organisation and it’s really good that’s been recognised. Sellafield has such an important part to play in the future of nuclear, so it’s great that we can be seen as an employer of choice and a really inclusive workplace. More than 10% of our workforce are in the early careers bracket, so by being recognised as an inclusive workplace, hopefully we’ll attract, recruit and retain the skills that we need.”
See the full list of winners from the ECI Training & Development Awards 2025 at www.ecitb.org.uk/eci-training-development-awards-2025/
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