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Dame Ann Dowling is one for firsts: the first female professor of Engineering at Cambridge University, a department she has led since 2009, and the Royal Academy of Engineering’s first female president. She’s an expert on combustion and acoustics, having carried out ground-breaking work on reducing the noise of jet engines. (Incidentally, she also loves planes.)

Dame Ann is the third guest editor of the Woman’s Hour Takeover 2017. She talked to us about how she never planned to be an engineer, but why she loves what she does – and the importance of getting more women onboard.