{"id":14375,"date":"2025-03-13T10:12:39","date_gmt":"2025-03-13T10:12:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/connected\/?p=14375"},"modified":"2025-04-22T10:32:46","modified_gmt":"2025-04-22T10:32:46","slug":"a-rising-star","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/connected\/2025\/03\/13\/a-rising-star\/","title":{"rendered":"A Rising Star"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Reading graduate Sophie Lupton has been celebrated as a rising star in telecommunications with a triple award win. She shares with CONNECTED her career journey and her passion for encouraging more women into STEM careers.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"SophieIn 2024, biomedical engineering<\/a> graduate, Sophie scooped three prestigious awards in recognition of her exceptional contributions to the telecommunications industry \u2013 she was crowned the Institute of Telecommunication Professionals Graduate of the Year, SCTE\u2019s \u2018Rising Star\u2019 and Virgin Media O2 Graduate of the Year<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Reflecting on her triple win, Sophie said: \u201cIt was definitely a surprise to win anything, let alone three awards in one week! It was a very emotionally chaotic but wonderful week.<\/p>\n

\u201cI felt very humbled to win. The best thing was having my colleagues there cheering me on and feeling part of one big community.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cI won these awards primarily for the voluntary work I do alongside my job, including with the Virgin Media O2 Women\u2019s Network. I felt empowered winning in recognition of these activities because it helped reinforce how important these initiatives are.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Finding the right course<\/strong><\/h4>\n

While Sophie is currently thriving in her career, things weren\u2019t always clear for her \u2013 and she shares that it\u2019s OK to feel uncertain.<\/p>\n

Sophie explained: \u201cI wasn\u2019t sure what to study at university so I didn\u2019t apply during the UCAS cycle, instead deciding to take a gap year. However, when my mum found the biomedical engineering degree at Reading \u2013 which didn\u2019t require a physics A-level \u2013 it looked like an ideal route into engineering for me.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cWhen I saw that clearing was still open I went for it. I already lived locally, so it was fairly easy to make a last-minute decision to start that year. In fact, I applied and started at Reading within a week.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\"Sophie\u201cMy degree was perfect for my interests \u2013 it covered a bit of electronics and a bit of mechanics, but all applied to healthcare systems, such as rehabilitation prosthetics and robotics.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sophie shared that she had a positive experience at Reading: \u201cWith the department being fairly small I got to know everyone really well and my tutor and my dissertation supervisor were both fantastic. Overall, I had a great experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

Getting the edge<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Sophie emphasises that studying a course with a placement year was key to her graduate career success.<\/p>\n

She explained: \u201cI did my placement year with Virgin Media O2 and my manager at the time motivated me to think about my career on a serious level \u2013 what do I want to achieve, where do I want to end up, and to feel confident on my journey.\u201d<\/p>\n

Towards the end of her placement Sophie successfully applied for Virgin Media O2\u2019s graduate scheme, and at the end of this scheme successfully applied for her current role. She said:<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cMy placement year really was critical in giving myself a step up the career ladder.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The placement year also helped Sophie with her final year at Reading. \u201cThe placement year taught me valuable skills,\u201d she reflected. \u201cI learnt to be more organised, to manage my time better when working independently, and to implement a 9-5 work schedule. This gave me a much better work\/life balance and this, combined with knowing I had a job waiting for me, made my final year much more enjoyable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Providing connectivity<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Sophie is currently working as a technologist \u2013 which she describes as being a technical project manager \u2013 with Virgin Media O2. She acknowledges that telecommunications can be a complicated industry to understand, but is one which everyone relies on.<\/p>\n

Sophie said:<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cOur wider company purpose is literally providing connectivity for people. What we do as an industry is really meaningful and hugely impacts on people\u2019s lives. Telecommunications is linked to everything even if it\u2019s not immediately obvious how.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The team Sophie works in focuses on government-funded trials, where different companies take part in competitions to encourage innovation within industries including telecommunications.<\/p>\n

Sophie explained: \u201cOne of our team projects is utilising Open Radio Access Network Architecture (RAN), which aims to open up the Radio Access network \u2013 which is part of the equipment needed to run our mobile networks \u2013 to more vendors. It currently relies heavily on Ericsson and Nokia. By opening up the network and creating standardised open interfaces we can encourage vendor competition and innovation, aiming to enable more efficient building of the network in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sophie\u2019s team also carries out proof of concept trials to assess technological ideas before potential roll out across the network. She explained: \u201cFor example, you might be in a stadium with 5G coverage, but because it\u2019s a really congested network due to high capacity at events, your mobile data experience may be poor. In these environments, we currently deploy trailers (temporary sites) to help improve capacity and customer experience.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of our current projects tests the Open RAN network architecture where all the components can be created by separate suppliers – as opposed to being all specific to one supplier as in traditional networks – within a trailer to improve customer experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

Changing perceptions<\/strong><\/h4>\n

\"SophieAlongside her technologist role, Sophie has thrown herself into extracurricular volunteering roles where she has really shone.<\/p>\n

She said: \u201cMany technology industries have a lack of young people and women entering them. I was lucky that both my parents were engineers and instilled in me the belief that I could succeed in this industry. But I\u2019m aware that not everyone has that support or confidence to step outside of their comfort zone.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt can be daunting to be the only woman in a room with 15 men, which was the ratio on my internship. I got involved with the women\u2019s network as I\u2019m passionate about bringing more women into technology and changing perceptions.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cTelecommunications might not appeal to many \u2013 it\u2019s not very sexy \u2013 but it can be really interesting. I want to give other women confidence and to spread awareness that we can do these jobs.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Another role Sophie has undertaken is President of the Future Careers Committee. This is a team dedicated to representing the voices of the early career employees of the company. Sophie took on this role to gain some leadership experience. She said: \u201cThis was 100% a great experience. It pushed me out of my comfort zone, I gained new skills, and I made connections which I wouldn\u2019t have made in my day job.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sophie\u2019s success is testament to her dedication and hard work. So where does she see herself in the future? \u201cI think that eventually I\u2019d like to give a leadership role a go,\u201d Sophie said. \u201cBut the most important thing to me is to enjoy the roles that I do \u2013 and maybe one day I\u2019ll take that gap year!\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more about the inspiring women in our alumni community<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Reading graduate Sophie Lupton has been celebrated as a rising star in telecommunications with a triple award win. She shares with CONNECTED her career journey and her passion for encouraging more women into STEM careers. In 2024, biomedical engineering graduate, Sophie scooped three prestigious awards in recognition of her exceptional contributions to the telecommunications industry […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":170,"featured_media":14382,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[3],"tags":[165,205,156,216,162,45,47],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nA Rising Star - Connected<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Reading graduate and rising star in telecommunications, Sophie Lupton shares her passion for encouraging more women into STEM careers.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/connected\/2025\/03\/13\/a-rising-star\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Rising Star - 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