AN engineering student from Bradford College has been named a "BrightSpark" of 2017 by leading industry magazine Electronics Weekly.

Chelsea Back was praised by the publication for being a champion for women in STEM – Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths.

Chelsea, from Batley, completed a HND in Electrical and Electronic Engineering at the College this summer having combined her studies with working for AB Open, a Halifax-based tech consultancy. She also writes a blog on the DesignSpark website, a community website for engineers, and runs a soldering workshop every year at the Wuthering Bytes technology festival in Hebden Bridge.

She said: "“What I enjoy most about engineering is the endless possibilities. “There are no limits to what you can do with engineering and I doubt there will ever be a point in my career where I can say I know everything because I will be constantly learning.”

Paul Hide of techUK was on the panel of judges that selected Chelsea. He said: “A female STEM ambassador. We need many more like Chelsea to address the severe gender gap in engineering graduates. It is encouraging to hear how Chelsea is giving her time freely to inspire others.”

Electronics Weekly launched the BrightSparks campaign to identify and promote the brightest and most talented young electronic engineers in the UK today.

Last year Chelsea was also profiled as an Engineer of Tomorrow by DesignSparkRS.