About – Dr. Freeha Azmat

About Me

My early career

I grew up in Pakistan where my family was all teachers or medical doctors but my interests lay more in maths and engineering. It was challenging because engineering is seen as a male profession back home, therefore I had to think very carefully about the academic path I chose. I opted to study for a degree in Information and Communications Systems Engineering at the National University of Sciences and Technology (Pakistan) where I have been awarded a Merit scholarship over four years. After university, I was lucky enough to win a fully funded scholarship sponsored by Higher Education Council (HEC) which enabled me to undertake a Master’s in Computer Science at Leicester University (UK). As a single female, I had to work really hard again to convince my family that it was the right decision to allow me to go to the UK to study.

Best Student Award

Other than some family in Cardiff I knew nobody here in the UK. I got my head down, worked hard, and received the Best Student award overall on my course and the Best Theoretical/Research Project award for my dissertation. After my master’s degree, I worked at Bahria University Pakistan as a senior lecturer for three years and presented my research publications in California, Singapore, and Canada. This then paved the way for a Ph.D. at the University of Warwick funded by the Chancellor’s International Scholarship (CIS) scheme, where the Warwick CIS scholarship was only awarded to only 17 people across the globe in 2013.
In July 2017, my parents flew over from Pakistan to see me graduate. It was such a momentous day for us all. I had to fight so hard to get here, and I’m absolutely thrilled to be able to show everyone how worthwhile it was.

While studying for my Ph.D. I was an undergraduate lecturer at another local university and also collaborated with Monash University (Australia) by arranging summer school in machine learning. I’m very aware that I’ve done things differently, which helped me secure a position as an Assistant professor straight after my Ph.D. Then, I was promoted to Associate Professor after five years at WMG. I led the design and development of Degree Apprenticeship programs in Digital and Technology Solutions (DTS) and collaborated with top-tier organizations including Jaguar Land Rover, Goldman Sachs, Thales, Dyson, and Man Group. I am a Senior Fellow of the UK Higher Education Academy (HEA) and now working as Course Director for the DTS degree program. I was nominated for the 2021 Asian Woman of Achievement Award which is an award given to remarkable women in the UK making difference in society.

I am an elected member of the University of Warwick’s Senate and have received the 2018 WMG Star Award for Contribution to Undergraduate Education and the 2022 WMG Star Award for Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion. I am responsible for delivering the modules in the Applied Engineering Programme (AEP) and the Dyson Engineering Degree apprenticeship program and supervising undergraduate, postgraduate, and doctoral students.

I have been awarded the Lord Bhattacharyya Family Trust early career research scholarship worth £100K to support a Ph.D. student in engineering education who will analyze the learner journey from school to college to identify the facets that can attract young students towards engineering

I have organized the 2020 international conference on industrial informatics, the 2021 Industrial Cyber-physical systems, 2021 International conference for women engineers and scientists. I am on the board of governors of the WMG Academy for young engineers and an external examiner at king’s college London.

I love working here at WMG. I’m encouraged to be independent but still supported and encouraged to grow. WMG is expanding rapidly, every day is different and I’m proud to be part of such a thriving department. The sky is the limit and I feel honored to be surrounded by world-class research groups.

Dr. Freeha Azmat

She is working as Associate Professor at the Warwick Manufacturing Group (WMG), University of Warwick (UK). She joined WMG after completing her Ph.D. in Engineering funded by the University of Warwick Chancellors International Scholarship Award. She led the design and development of Degree Apprenticeship programs in Digital and Technology Solutions (DTS) and currently working as Course Director for the DTS degree programs. She was the Finalist in the ‘Digital & Tech’ Category of the 2021 Asian Woman of Achievement Awards.

She is a Senior Fellow of the UK Higher Education Academy (HEA) and a Warwick International Higher Education Academy (WIHEA) Fellow. She is elected a member of the University of Warwick’s Senate and has received the 2018 WMG Star Award for Contribution to Undergraduate Education. She is involved in different outreach programs related to using augmented and virtual reality in education. She also supervises undergraduate, postgraduate, and doctoral students.

She has done a master’s in computer science from the University of Leicester (UK) on a fully funded scholarship from Higher Education, Pakistan. She was given Best Student Award and Best Project Award for scoring the highest marks in her master’s course.

She has been awarded the Lord Bhattacharyya Family Trust early career research scholarship worth £100K to support a Ph.D. student in engineering education who will analyze the learner journey from school to college to identify the facets that can attract young students towards engineering as part of £2.5 million Lord Bhattacharyya Engineering Education Programme (LBEEP) supported by Royal Academy of Engineering.

She worked closely with WMG Automation Systems Group (ASG), to develop a roadmap and strategy for how Digital manufacturing technologies will be taught in the future where the pedagogy methods will be investigated which can equip engineers with not only disciplinary knowledge and skills but also excellent methodical, social and personal competencies to meet multi-perspectival demands of society and businesses. She secured funding of £329K for a “Digitalisation technology skills factory” which aims to reinforce key skills in the UK workforce to develop and deploy emerging Industry 4.0 technologies via a set of targeted short courses.

She organized the 2020 international conference on industrial informatics, the 2021 Industrial Cyber-physical systems, 2021 International conference for women engineers and scientists. She is on the board of governors of WMG Academy for young engineers and external examiner at king’s college London.

Dr. Freeha is passionate about girls’ education and has received the 2022 WMG star Award for Equality, diversity, and Inclusion. She believes girls’ education plays a vital role in developing sustainable and resilient communities

Degree Apprenticeships Idea

Degree apprenticeships (DA) are a new educational route, launched by the Government in England, which typically provides opportunities for apprentices to progress to membership of a professional, statutory, and regulatory body (PSRB). DAs are similar to higher apprenticeships (HA) but differ in that they provide an opportunity to gain a bachelor’s degree, i.e., level 6, or a master’s degree, i.e., level 7. DAs also combine higher education (HE), i.e., university-level study, and on-the-job (i.e., vocational) training to be constructively aligned in a previously difficult way. The apprentice is employed and trained to develop the requisite competencies and skills to undertake a defined occupational role. By the completion of a DA, an apprentice is equipped with a transferable set of critical skills and competencies to foster a level of personal and professional confidence that extends beyond their defined professional role. The occupational role defined by the DA is outlined in a document called an Apprenticeship Standard.

The key features of DA are given below:

Align university study at the bachelor’s or master’s degree level with occupational-based workplace learning;
Provide the apprentice with full-time occupational-based employment and receive at least an apprentice’s minimum wage;
Foster collaboration between groups of like-minded employers to ensure apprentices are equipped with the requisite skills and competencies demanded by the occupation role;
Provide tuition-free education for the apprentice but without access to student loans;

Giving back

I am also involved in Outreach Programmes with the aim being to reach out to youngsters and make engineering fun. I’ve taught maths for Outreach Brilliant Club, a charity that exists to increase the number of pupils from under-represented backgrounds progressing to highly-selective universities. I want to take the knowledge I have learned back to Pakistan one day. The education system there is very different and I’d love to change the way engineering is taught. I feel it’s my responsibility to give something back to my country, I am passionate about girls’ education and believe that girls’ education plays a vital role in developing sustainable and resilient communities. I want to encourage other girls to open their hearts to new possibilities, if I can do it then so can they.