Who's Who

Darren Capes CEng FIET FIHE is Head of Road Infrastructure Technology at the Department for Transport (DfT) and focuses on the adoption of emerging vehicle, infrastructure and data technologies by the UK’s highway authorities.

Darren has over 30 years’ experience working in Local and Central Government. A qualified civil engineer, Darren’s career has encompassed most areas of municipal engineering with particular emphasis on design, construction and evaluation; transport planning, and technology development and implementation. In his previous role as Transport Systems Manager for City of York Council he led the operation and development of the City’s intelligent transport systems and the delivery of numerous research and innovation projects. His current role, leading ITS policy at the Department for Transport focusses on supporting local authorities in engaging with the Future of Transport agenda and ensuring the UK’s road authorities are prepared for the challenges to come. Darren has a particular interest in emerging transport technologies and the readiness of local highway authorities. He is a Fellow of both the IHE and IET, is currently managing the UK’s Transport Technology Forum on behalf of the DfT and is heavily involved in groups including ITS(UK) and LCRIG. He speaks regularly in the UK and internationally on subjects around transport and highways and is passionate about the opportunities new technology will bring.

Rebecca works for 4way Consulting as the Urban ITS Discipline Lead and a Senior Traffic Signal Engineer within the Smart Cities sector. Her expertise spans from feasibility studies to detailed design, site testing, and validation for a variety of Local Authority and private sector clients.

Beginning her career as a trainee technician in 2002, Rebecca accumulated experience while pursuing a BSc (Hons) in Civil Engineering at the University West of England, graduating in 2008. Post-graduation, she continued to gain experience in the traffic signal field, delivering a range of successful projects. Before joining 4way Consulting in 2019 Rebecca held positions at Mouchel and Atkins.

In 2021, she achieved Incorporated Engineer status with the Institute of Highway Engineers, earning the 'Best IEng Submission of the Year' award post her professional review. In addition to her professional roles, Rebecca currently holds the position of Joint Vice Chair for the Women in ITS Forum of ITS UK.

Beyond her professional commitments, Rebecca enjoys spending time with her family, running to explore the local trails and beekeeping.

Katharine Kelly, CEng FIHE is an Infrastructure Development Manager for Arcadis, based in their Glasgow office. She works as part of Triskelion, on the Scape Scotland Infrastructure Consultancy Framework, where she collaborates with public sector clients and organisations on projects aiming to make a difference to communities.

She began her career in the bridges department of JMP Consultants before moving to the Highways team of Halcrow Group Ltd in 2005. She spent 18 months in the UAE with Halcrow, where she lived in Abu Dhabi and worked on the infrastructure design of Yas Island, the purpose-built island created to host a new Formula 1 racing circuit and other major developments. Back home in Glasgow, she was lead Highways Designer for the 2014 Commonwealth Games, with her team being responsible for getting the Games’ athletes and officials around Glasgow with minimum disruption to the public. In 2013 Katharine established an apprenticeship scheme within her office, subsequently recruiting over twenty apprentices into the business.

In 2020, after 16 years in design consultancy, Katharine moved to Transport Scotland to spend some time in a client role. She worked as part of the Major Projects team, dealing with the procurement of advisory services for the A9 project, as well as managing the training and development of all Civil and Transport Planning graduates within Transport Scotland. She returned to the private sector in July 2022, joining Arcadis.

Born and raised in Durham, Katharine headed to The University of Edinburgh where she completed a BEng (Hons) in Civil Engineering with Construction Management in 2003. After her degree she took a year out, which she spent working in Sri Lanka, teaching English and Music at a school in Mount Lavinia.

Andrew is an Incorporated Engineer and a Fellow of the IHE having been a member since the mid 1990’s. He is passionate about the IHE driving the industry forward and helping the technicians and engineers of the future. He was recently South Western Branch Chairman from June 2020 to June 2022, and took the branch through the turbulent covid years. Andrew was elected on to the National Council in June 2022.

In his day job Andrew is Traffic Team Leader at Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council (BCP) having previously been at Dorset Council for a number of years in various highways and traffic roles.

Paula Claytonsmith is a government, independent industry adviser, and former chief executive of Local Council Roads Innovation Group (LCRIG) with extensive experience operating across public policy, infrastructure, innovation and regulation. She has held executive, board and advisory roles across the highways and transport sector, advising ministers, senior officials and industry leaders on risk, governance and the adoption of emerging technologies.

Paula is trusted by government departments, regulators and industry bodies to provide independent, evidence‑based challenge where innovation, risk and public accountability intersect. Known for her calm, proportionate challenge and strong ethical compass.

Andy is an Incorporated Engineer and Fellow of the IHE. Having worked for Devon County Council for over 20 years starting in Public Transport then moving into Highway Engineering. Andy is currently the Network Operations Control Centre Manager of one the largest highway networks in the Country, a Winter Service lead officer and Winter Service decision maker. Having worked within Asset Management and policy development, Andy has been able to help and develop others both in his teams and across his service.

A keen Mentor and Reviewer Andy has supported others in achieving their ambitions and continues to promote routes to registration within both his own organisation and the Institute.

Andy has been represented the IHE at several events including Traffex and AIA Conferences on matters relating to Highway Inspections, Winter Service and the Risk Based Approach.

Andy is also past Chair and a current branch committee member for the South Western Branch whilst also chairing the IHE Highway Inspectors Board.

Gafoor Din IEng FIHE is an Incorporated Engineer and a Fellow member of the IHE since 1996 and he has over 20 years’ experience working at a senior level in traffic control, Intelligent Transport Systems, delivering highways improvement schemes, promoting active travel, project management, procurement, traffic management and transport planning. He is currently working toward gaining Chartered Engineering status with IHE.

Gafoor is currently employed as the Service Manager for Traffic Control & Information Systems by Warwickshire County Council, where he leads the Traffic Control and Information Systems team within Engineering Design Services, which is a business unit.

As the Service Manager he has to ensure that the key activities within the Service Plan are delivered safely, effectively and within the allocated budget; therefore his role fulfils a managerial role and an overseeing engineer’s role.

At the regional level, he chairs the Midland Highways Alliance Plus Traffic Signals Task Group; the Group comprises of 35 authorities and the aim of the group is to deliver best value through the sharing of best practice and benchmarking information.

At a national level, he is a Committee member of Traffic Signal Group; this is a sub-group of Association of Directors of Environment, Economy, Planning & Transport (ADEPT), the 14 members of this group consist of 8 local authorities, Department for Transport and National Highways. The aim of the group is to provide improve standards and guidance for highway authorities. He is also member of the national UK Lighting and Technology Board; this is a sub-group of the UK Roads Liaison Group (UKRLG); this group has 14 members and as the above this group provides guidance to highway authorities within this specialist area.

Kat Draper CEng FIHE is a Principal Civil Engineer at Mott MacDonald. She has been working in the construction industry for more than 15 years after completing a Masters degree (MEng) in Civil Engineering at the University of Southampton.

Kat first became Incorporated (IEng) before later becoming Chartered (CEng) in 2019. Her latest roles focus on management and co-ordination of design teams; including Team Leader, Project Manager and Design Manager.

Kat has a wide range of experience with projects ranging from Local Authority environments, network maintenance and also new infrastructure schemes, with major project experience both in the UK and UAE. She has worked on all stages of project delivery, from feasibility studies, preliminary design and detailed design, with extensive experience of collaboration with Contractors, Clients and various third parties and Stakeholders.

In 2023 she travelled to Rwanda, as part of a team working with a charity, to construct a 77m trail bridge to provide year-round connectivity.

Kat is keen to encourage others into the construction and highway industry and is passionate about creating a diverse, equitable and inclusive industry. She promotes engineering to others through mentoring, by being a STEM Ambassador and facilitating student work placements and attending career events.

As the subject representative of 1st Year Civil Engineers at Swansea University, I took it upon myself to create a sense of community among my cohort. Through hosting events, such as game nights, film nights and a Secret Santa, I facilitated the daunting task of finding friends and meeting course-mates.

I recognise the importance of the connections between students and industry, being keen myself to create a strong early relationship with companies. Having already contacted many large companies within Civil Engineering and become a student member of many institutions, I have already begun to establish good industry links and contacts and have personally arranged a site visit for my cohort. I am passionate about increasing interaction between students and industry and hope to be an advocate for student opportunities within my role as the CPD Officer of the Swansea Civil Engineering Society and on a larger scale within the IHE.

My name is Kelly Durham-Fliner. I am passionate about recruiting more women into engineering. I feel that particularly within all STEM careers and including highways engineering there are not enough women encouraged into the profession. I began my civil engineering journey much later than most, mainly due to the stigma surrounding women in engineering careers.

There is a continued need for strong engineers to be developed and shaped for the future and without actively encouraging women to join the profession we are effectively losing 50% of potential future engineers.

I feel a very strong connection to highways engineering as I believe my passion is transport infrastructure and engineering. I currently mainly work within integrated transport and aim to begin a rotation within my workplace to learn more about major projects and how they are implemented from beginning to end.