A materials engineer by profession, training and experience - having studied materials science at Bath University - Bonfield has worked at AERE Harwell, Citroen Research Centre (Paris), British Aerospace (Bristol), MBDA (Stevenage), and the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (London).
She also co-founded IncEng in 2017,[7] a platform to bring together under-represented groups in engineering.
Bonfield joined the council of the Women's Engineering Society in 2011 and was elected president in 2014.
[11] She is a STEM ambassador who regularly promotes engineering and materials in schools.
[15] She was made MBE in the 2016 Queen's Birthday Honours list[16][17] for 'Services to the promotion of diversity in engineering'.