‘Stand up for what you believe in’: meet the students making the world safer for women

From our streets to construction sites, graduates of Sheffield Hallam University are working hard to improve women’s welfare

When Nahla O’Rourke felt intimidated by a stranger while travelling in Thailand, it left her wondering how she could help other women who find themselves in similar situations. So when she was told to design something she was passionate about for her final-year product design project at Sheffield Hallam University, she knew what she wanted to do. She spent the next six months designing a bracelet that allows wearers to call for help if they are being harassed, by pressing a secret button inside.

“As a woman, you kind of get this spidey sense that you want to get out of there, sooner rather than later,” she says. “But if you use your phone to make a call, you’re aware that that might escalate the situation. It’s a way to get help without alerting attention.”

O’Rourke got away safely, but the incident stuck in her mind. That, along with her awareness of rising levels of violence against women and girls, led her to want to make a difference in the world with the bracelet she has since called the Venus Project.

“The facilities at university and the teachers were absolutely fantastic and really supportive,” O’Rourke says. “[My lecturer] would recommend me books and show me different examples of textures and jewellery, and help me design something that really appealed.” O’Rourke adds that her year working in industry in Denmark before her final year also helped give her confidence.

Today, O’Rourke is running her own business and working hard to get her product to market. “I’m working on financial projections and audience analysis and looking at venture capital firms and angel investors, as well as talking to manufacturers,” she says. “So I’m turning it into a real-life adult thing.”

Katy Robinson, 27, who studied construction management at Sheffield Hallam, is also passionate about women’s safety – but her target is construction sites. Robinson spearheaded a successful national campaign to call for better personal protective equipment (PPE) in construction, such as high visibility clothing, safety boots, hard hats, gloves and safety goggles. While PPE across industries is usually marketed as gender neutral, the vast majority is designed based on a male body. Robinson says she wanted to change that and make it inclusive for everyone.

“I reflected on my experiences with ill-fitting PPE, and how that impacted my job,” she says. “I wanted to make a change so that people can come into the industry and have a good experience and want to stay in it, and then they can progress.”

For example, Robinson says that when she was working on site, she often had an issue with safety boots. “I’d have to wear four pairs of socks just to get them to fit, and I’d have to deal with blisters and discomfort and pain,” she says. “That used to put me off wanting to go to the site.” Robinson also struggled with high visibility trousers that were not designed to fit over women’s hips. “I couldn’t even get them done up,” she says, “which for an 18-year-old does definitely impact self-esteem.”

As well as affecting confidence, ill-fitting PPE on construction sites is dangerous and can prevent people from doing their jobs effectively. “Boots that are oversized increase your risk of slips and falls, and some of the most common incidents in construction are related to that,” Robinson says. “When clothes are oversized there’s a high risk that they can get entangled in machinery, or snagged on things.”

So Robinson got to work. She started to speak up about the issue and dug into it for her dissertation project. Her research helped reveal how widespread the problem is, with 94.1% of women reporting ill-fitting PPE. “That really helped to fuel the campaign,” she says. “My dissertation tutor was brilliant. She helped so much. She’d worked in the construction industry and it absolutely helped to have a female mentor and lecturer to talk the issues through with, because she gave me ideas that I didn’t even think of because this had impacted her.”

Since finishing her dissertation, Robinson’s campaign has played a role in changing the industry. The British Standards Institution (BSI) has introduced a new standard for more inclusive PPE and a proposed bill was brought to parliament in March this year. Robinson was also named the UK’s Most Influential Woman In Construction at the national 100 Most Influential Women In Construction Awards 2025.

Robinson has now turned her campaigning eye to a new target – toilets. “It’s called Release the Bogs,” Robinson says. The new campaign targets toilets on construction sites, which Robinson says are often either not clean or don’t lock. “Toilets on site are, frankly, disgusting, as you can imagine,” she says.

O’Rourke and Robinson’s work exemplifies exactly what Hallam is about as a university: addressing societal challenges and having a real-world impact, as well as building stronger communities, which is one of its three key impact areas. Liz Mossop, vice-chancellor at Sheffield Hallam, says the university is proud of them both: “They are two good examples of really bright students who are going to go and do great things.

“It’s incredibly inspiring,” adds Mossop. “It’s great to see students contributing to debates that we are having in today’s society and challenges that are so difficult to overcome.”

Sheffield Hallam has laid out a seven point “career promise” to help prepare students for life after graduation. For example, promising to help with industry placements and to set coursework fitting for professional portfolios, as well as guaranteeing internships for those not in employment 12 months after graduating. “All of that is underpinned by how we encourage and facilitate our students to connect with employers and how we support them,” Mossop says.

Both O’Rourke and Robinson say that the work they did at university, as well as the support they received and confidence they gained, enabled them to do what they’re doing today. Now they are excited for the future and want to encourage more students to take on projects they’re passionate about.

“I’m really proud of ‘past me’,” O’Rourke says. “I’m really excited to see where I am a year from now.”

“My advice would be to stand up for yourself,” Robinson says. “Stand up for what you believe in. And have fun while you’re at it.”

Find out more about Sheffield Hallam at shu.ac.uk