Sillem attended Godolphin and Latymer School.^[3] She earned a master's degree in biochemistry from the University of Oxford in 1998.^[4] She completed a PhD funded by Cancer Research UK at University College London in 2002 investigating the JAK-STAT signaling pathway supervised by Ian M. Kerr.^[1][2]

Sillem joined the Royal Academy of Engineering in 2002 as an Engineering Policy Advisor "despite, if I’m honest, not knowing anything about engineering or policy”, she says.^[5] She joined the Department for International Development 2005. In 2004 she became a Committee Specialist to the Science and Technology Select Committee, and later as a Specialist Adviser to the House of Commons Science & Technology Committee.^{[6][7][8][9][10]}

In 2006, Sillem joined Royal Academy of Engineering as Head of International Activities.^[11] She led the Academy's partnership with Africa.^[12] In this role she published Engineering Change: Towards a sustainable future in the developing world.^[13] She went on to publish Engineers for Africa: Identifying engineering capacity needs in Sub-Saharan Africa, a summary report.^[14] The report identified the capacity needs of engineering that are felt across Sub-Saharan Africa, and developed approaches to meeting these needs.^[15]

Sillem was appointed to Director of Programmes and Fellowship in 2011.^[16] She is interested in how science and engineering can help with humanitarian admin, and how engineering can drive international development.^[17][18] She published Investing in Innovation in 2015.^[19][20] In May 2016, Sillem was appointed Director of Strategy and Deputy Chief Executive of the Royal Academy of Engineering.^[21][22] In March 2017 she was appointed a Fellow of the Institution of Engineering and Technology.^[23] She spoke at the launch of Angela Saini's book Inferior: How Science Got Women Wrong and the New Research That’s Rewriting the Story in June 2017.^[24]

Sillem co-founded the Royal Academy of Engineering enterprise hub.^[25] She hosted the 10th Young Arab Women Leaders STEM conference in London in December 2017.^[26] She was appointed CEO of the Royal Academy of Engineering in January 2018.^[27][6][28] She is a champion of the Government's Year of Engineering, looking to increase diversity amongst the UK's engineering workforce through the campaign This is Engineering.^[29][30][31]

In 2019, Sillem was 31st in Computer Weekly's 50 'Most Influential Women in UK Tech' shortlist.^[32]

She is a trustee of the London Transport Museum.^[33] She is a judge for St Andrews Prize for the Environment.^[34][35] She has written for The Huffington Post.^[36]

Awards and honours edit

Sillem was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2020 New Year Honours for services to international engineering.^[37][38] In 2021, Sillem received an Engineering and Physical Sciences Suffrage Science award.^[39] In 2022, Sillem was awarded an honorary doctorate in engineering from Newcastle University.^[40][41]