STEM Returners update

In amongst the Christmas shopping and festive plans make sure you set some time aside to focus on your goals for 2018. If you are interested in transferring or returning to STEM #returntostem there is still time to register for the Kier programme. There are several other programmes being developed to kick off in the New Year so please watch this space!  Check out www.stemreturners.com

Launch of the WES Hardship Fund

Through support from Cirrus Logic, a WES Hardship Fund has been launched to provide financial assistance for two students in financial hardship. The funds provide financial support to current female engineering (or allied sector) undergraduates who have met unforeseen financial hardship during their studies, aiming to provide assistance to these students experiencing difficulty meeting their living costs. 

Find out more

WES London Cluster - Stronger and stronger!

The WES London Cluster held their first Committee meeting on 23 October 2017 at UCL. Members showed their support and enthusiasm at the meeting and an activity plan for 2018 has been drafted! The cluster's coordinators Francesca Donadoni (UCL Ph.D student) and Adriana Vargas-Colwill (KBR) welcomed the committee and chaired the meeting.  Committee members include Carolina Escudero (UK Power Networks) and Heather Daniell (LoGi Food Tech).   We hope to grow the committee and increase the participation of WES members, as well as including predominant figures from corporates and WES. 

The next meeting will take place on 18 December 2017.  For further information email:   [email protected]

During the student conference, the WES student groups got together over lunch for an informal meeting. As well as sharing what their group had been up to, they chatted about how they could best share resources and support each other, and how WES can support them. Student groups affiliated with WES can join this exciting network, which allows them to apply for funding up to £250 to support events, and get support  from the WES Student Groups and Universities Liaison  finding speakers and industrial contacts.

History of Women in Engineering at the IET
27 November 2017

The conference was a great networking opportunity for the plans around WES's 2019 Centenary celebrations.

At ICWES17 in Delhi, a new Board for the International Network of Women Engineers and Scientists (INWES) was elected and we said goodbye to various key WES members who had come to end of their term on the INWES Board: we thank Margaret Ajibode, exiting her role as Secretary General, who has been an INWES champion at WES for many years. Roseni Dearden, a WES trustee and International Director, has also sat on the Board for several terms leading Communications. In recognition of the hard work that has gone into creating and delivering 16 high quality INWES newsletters which go out to over 60 countries, Roseni with her daughter, Nina Dearden, received an INWES award at ICWES17.

The new Board includes: Dr Georgia Kremmyda, WES trustee and Education Director, who represents Warwick University at INWES, and Dr Sarah Peers, WES Vice President, elected as INWES Deputy President and formal WES representative at INWES.

For updates and news on INWES and the European regional network, follow on Twitter @INWES_Europe and @INWES_Global for the global INWES news, and on Facebook.

WES Council Member's company awarded top innovation accolade

IntelliDigest Ltd, a Biotechnology Start-up company founded and Directed by WES Council Member Ifeyinwa Kanu, was judged the winner of the Energy award in recognition of an intelligent and automated kitchen fitted anaerobic food waste digester in the Institution of Engineering and Technology's (IET) Innovation Awards winners for 2017. 

The winter edition of the WES journal is out now! Click here to read about: Leena Gade's fascinating insight into her career as a race engineer. She talks about being a woman engineer in a male dominated industry. Find out who the 2017 WES award winners were Become an active bystander and contribute to the culture of inclusion And more...

2017 WES Student Conference: Engineering Inspiration

On the 24 and 25 November 2017, 133 students gathered at Aston University for the ninth annual WES Student Conference: Engineering Inspiration. This year the conference theme was Engineering to Change the World.

Welcome addresses were given by Kirsten Bodley, CEO, WES; Prof. Alison Hodge of Aston University and Dr. Georgia Kremmyda of the University of Warwick and WES's Trustee and Director of Education. The keynote addresses the "Trials and triumphs of a career journey in engineering" by Dr. Andrew Tyler, Northrop Grumman and "Can You Choose a Career? Chocolate, Beer and Shopping" Dr. Rachel Cooke, Amazon (winner of the best title of the conference), were followed by an inspiring session on Engineers without Borders by Katie Cresswell-Maynard. The After-Dinner Speech on Seizing Career Opportunities was given by Dawn Childs, Group Engineering Director, Merlin Entertainments Group.

Day Two started with a WES Young Members Board Panel Discussion: "Getting on the career ladder: your questions answered" given by Dr. Jo Douglas, Kate Mactear, Maeve Higham, Caroline Carslaw & Deborah Harris. This was followed by CPD Workshops covering "You can "Walk the Walk" but can you "Talk the Talk"? The difference between good and great"; CVs and Applications; Unconscious Bias; and Global Dimensions in Engineering. The final panels covered Global Health; Renewable Energy; and Sustainable Infrastructures. 

Our thanks to all the speakers, sponsors, delegates and staff at Conference Aston for making the conference a success! Particular thanks to Eman Omairey of Aston University, and Sarah Kuklewicz and Caz Ingram from the Open University for their invaluable help. 

Supported by our sponsors,  32 WES bursaries  were awarded this year. As part of the bursary, students are required to submit a short article on a session of their choice, so look out for them on the WES website early next year and in the Spring issue of the Woman Engineer journal.

We would like to thank our conference sponsors and supporters:

16 January 2018, 12.00 - 13.00

London

The Women and Work APPG has been working all year to explore how to make the industrial strategy work for women. They have heard evidence on policy, innovation and best practice from organisations across the UK, allowing them to develop a series of recommendations for Government and for employers and showcase some of the best examples of how women can benefit from the changing nature of work.

You are invited to  attend a reception to launch the Women and Work All-Party Parliamentary Group's annual report.  The Minister for Climate Change and Industry, Claire Perry MP and Shadow Minister for the Industrial Strategy, Chi Onwurah MP will be at the launch to share their thoughts on the recommendations.

If you would like to attend please RSVP to Isabella Hunter-Fajardo on 020 7592 9490 or email [email protected].

Cyber Careers Show

17 January 2018 [Free] IET London: Savoy Place Ethical Hacker? Digital Forensics Expert? Cryptographer? Which one could be you? Have you ever thought about a career in the emerging and in-demand profession of cyber security? With demand for cyber security skills set to rocket in the next five years, there's an increasing and wide range of varied and lucrative roles on offer. Come and find out how your skills and talents can make a world of difference, and discover the breadth of opportunities available by attending our one-day careers show. Register here

WES are invited to the evening session (6.30pm - 9.30pm) aimed at experienced professionals already in the industry and those seeking a career transition. If you have a cyber background and would like to promote WES at the event please contact Cath Heslop: [email protected]

More Upcoming Events

To find out more about these previously advertised events   visit the WES website:

• Leadership Conference for Women in Energy, 17-18 January 2018
• 2018 Everywoman in Tech Forum, 8 February 2018 [10% discount code DP10 book before 31 December]

Call for participation: academic study on the frontier of women in leadership

Demyst Consulting is helping Birkbeck College, University of London, with a study headed 'Advancing Women in Business Organisations: New Insights and Practices'. This study forms part of an international call for papers for a US conference to be held next year.

We are looking for female candidates at mid-career to take part in the study at levels below executive committee, drawn from both line and staff positions.

This study will be interview based - but the results will be anonymised to insulate individual organisations. This is an excellent opportunity to project influence externally and to affirm values internally. It will also add to corporate reporting and brand positioning.

If you would like your organisation to get involved, or if you would like participate yourself or to nominate someone else, please email  [email protected].

International Women's Day 2018 is coming!

How will you be celebrating women engineers? And what will your International Women's Day #PressforProgress campaign look like? Have you ordered your International Women's Day Event Packs yet?  Search events, secure speakers, contribute resources and more at   www.internationalwomensday.com - And watch this space, 2018 Partnerships announced soon!

And there is WES' International Women in Engineering Day (INWED) on 23 June

 
CIPD (Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development) has released a new report ' The graduate employment gap: expectations versus reality.' Worryingly, it found that despite an increased government focus on STEM education, STEM graduates are more likely to be unemployed than other grads, six months after graduation.
 
Unemployment figures are lower than ever before but compared to a national unemployment rate of 4.9%, CIPD found STEM unemployment rates are 8.6% for computer science graduates, 6.5% for physical science graduates, 6% for engineering and technology graduates, and 6.5% for mathematical science graduates.
 
How can we address this gap to ensure talented Engineering graduates have the vital employability skills needed to make it into the labour market more quickly? A critical element of the solution is access to quality work experience for undergraduates to ensure that, alongside their education, they obtain the knowledge and skills needed to become workplace ready. 
  

Placer's new matchmaking tech enables businesses of all sizes to reach a diverse young talent pool of digitally native university students with key skills, far beyond their word-of-mouth networks with just one, free, post. Leading employers in the Engineering space are already signed up to Placer to improve work experience opportunities for university students. Sign up now at placer.co.uk/employers

Hanna Rose, a student at Oxford Brookes University, is conducting research as part of her undergraduate thesis which aims to analyse and evaluate the current debates surrounding the reasons for gender imbalance within the engineering sector, with the intention of proposing effective strategies to improve this issue. She is looking for female engineers and engineering students to participate in her questionnaire which should take 3-5 minutes to complete. 

Complete the questionnaire here

Faith Wainwright appointed 2018 President of The Institution of Structural Engineers

Faith is a Director of Arup and an expert in skill-based communities. She is a champion of education who established the Arup University Masters Programme. In 2012 she was awarded an MBE for her significant contribution to the Built Environment and Engineering Professions.

Read more and register here to attend her inaugural address on 11 January 2018

Award-winning company culture for women engineers

Congratulations to prime employers for women, Schneider Electric and AECOM on recent Business Culture Award 2017 wins. Schneider Electric's Francesca Stone and Kristen Baker won the Business Culture Ambassador award, with the company highly commended in the Diversity and Inclusion category which was won by AECOM. Karen Britton from AECOM was highly commended in the Ambassador category. Get insight into these progressive companies and more at www.wherewomenwork.com.

All-Female Team Compete in Land Rover World Finals 

The first-ever all-female engineering team have smashed their fundraising target to enable them to take up their well-deserved place in the Land Rover 4x4 in Schools Technology Challenge in Abu Dhabi. The Denbigh School Sixth Form team 'Epsilon Engineers', secured their place with their impressive engineering skills at the UK Nationals, held at Silverstone in March this year.

One of only four UK teams to travel to Abu Dhabi, the Denbigh students are the only all-female team to take up the challenge to design and build a special scale model 4x4 vehicle, which will be tested on a tough obstacle course. In a bid to become World Champions, the team's work will be judged against 24 teams from 17 countries.

You can follow their progress here

Back2back Productions seek great STEM communicators

'Stunt Science' is all about analysing as well as showcasing some of the best user generated stunt videos on the internet. The series will include video clips of the most awe-inspiring stunts and challenges from around the World, followed by interviews with the daredevils and stunt people who have performed them, as well as a segment where we invite local experts to watch the stunt videos. The experts will analyse the clips and explain the STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) involved in the stunt, whether it be the forces involved in a skydive / base jump or the biological effects on someone who has performed a gruelling challenge.

If you are interested in this opportunity email:  [email protected]