Find your Space Series 3: Design Engineer and Founder of Boomerang
Find your space: Abi Way
Abi Way is a design engineer, space enthusiast, and the founder of the charity Boomerang. Born with Oculocutaneous Albinism and Nystagmus, she broke major industry barriers as the first student with a significant visual impairment to graduate with a Bachelor's degree in Product Design Engineering from Queen’s University Belfast.
She is currently pursuing her Master's degree in Design Engineering. Abi has worked across the aerospace sector and grassroots educational innovation. During an industrial placement with Airbus Defence and Space, she pioneered tactile aerospace tours for visually impaired children. Her efforts to eliminate barriers in STEM education earned her the inaugural National Trust Time + Space Award in the science category, granting her official mentorship under renowned space scientist Dame Dr. Maggie Aderin-Pocock.
In 2025, she won the national Enactus Spark program to fund and launch Boomerang, an organization providing tactile science exhibitions, online resource forums, and mentorship to inspire blind and visually impaired children to pursue technical careers. Alongside her postgraduate studies, she continues to collaborate with global aerospace organizations to engineer a more accessible future in the space industry.
"To anyone else in a similar position, if you want it, go and get it. I'm not going to lie, it is very difficult. There are a lot of challenges and barriers in the way, but I think those are skills that when you overcome them, you will have fantastic problem-solving skills, you'll be used to speaking and sharing your ideas confidently and those are all things that will send you a long way in your career development."