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Women's Engineering Society eNewsletter
 
September 2009
Greetings!
 
Welcome to this month's newsletter. The WES annual conference took place earlier this month, we will be bringing you news of what took place next month. Featured this month is the first Doris Gray Student Conference. If you know any female students that may be interested in attending please forward the newsletter to them.
Don't forget you can also follow WES on twitter, WES1919.
 
from the WES eNews team
In This Issue
Doris Gray Student Conference
ETB welcomes increases in maths and physics
Engineering Sector needs radical overhaul to address continuing staff shortages
Lady Finniston Award
Doris Gray Student Conference
 
The first female engineering student's conference will take place in
Edinburgh on the 14 and 15 November 2009 at the Barcelo Carlton Hotel.
This is an excellent opportunity to meet other female engineers, to hear
from inspiring, award winning women and to connect with industry.
Training sessions will be provided as well as an interactive fun session
and an optional ghost hunt.
Dinner is provided on the Saturday evening with Fiona Hyslop MP as the
after dinner speaker.
The conference is open to all female engineering students. A non
refundable registration fee of �40 is required to book a place. The
total cost is �250, however, grants are available for many delegates to
cover the additional conference costs.
For more information and to register  
click here
ETB welcomes A Level increases in maths and physics - Now the focus must be on pace of change and encouraging more women.

The Engineering and Technology Board (ETB) today congratulated students on their  excellent A Level results in science and maths subjects but warned that science, technology, engineering and mathematics communities must remain at the top of their game and continue to encourage students from all backgrounds and in particular women, to take key subjects such as physics and maths.
 At 19 % and 14% respectively, there has been a positive and significant increase in the number of women studying physics and maths, although women still represent only 22 % of Physics students, 30 % of Further Maths students, and 40% of Maths students overall.
With engineering and manufacturing set to play a key role in the economic recovery, it is vital that the UK continues to address this issue by ensuring that students of both genders and from a diverse range of backgrounds take crucial subjects such as maths and physics.
For more information on the ETB click here
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Dates For Your Diary  

17 September - Transport09: QEII Conference Centre

 
13 November - Surviving a a Woman in Science - Welwyn Garden City
 
14-15  November - Doris Gray Student Conference, Edinburgh 
 
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And finally....
If you have any articles you would like to have featured please contact the WES office  by clicking here.
We'd love to hear your stories of your schools outreach activities or ideas to inpsire young people that we can share across our community.
 
Don't forget to forward on our e-newsletter to your friends and contacts, male and female and help to inpsire more young women to consider engineering and technology as a career.
 
With good wishes
 
the e-News team. 
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WES 2009
ANNUAL CONFERENCE
WES logo
THE POWER OF CHANGE
 Inspiring the next 90 years 
Surrey University, Guildford
11-13th  September 2009
 
BULLETIN
 
The conference was held over the 11-13th September 2009. Next month we will be bringing news and pictures of a very inspirational and exciting event.
Engineering sector needs 'radical overhaul' to address continuing staff shortages
 
A new survey of companies in the engineering sector has found employers still struggling to fulfil their staffing needs despite the general economic downturn. The poll of nearly 120 heads of HR at organisations across the UK established that over 80% felt sourcing suitably qualified engineers was either 'difficult' or 'very difficult'. However only 18% of those questioned believed that they currently had strategies in place to successfully deal with the shortfall.
 
According to Damien Stork of the talent management consultancy, Ochre House), which commissioned the survey, the engineering sector needs a radical overhaul of recruitment and development processes to deal with the problem. "The sector faces an immediate problem because the general climate of uncertainty means many of the brightest and best engineers are simply not moving at the moment," he says. "This has made the long-term shortage of engineering specialists even more acute."
 
Stork argues that engineering companies need to stop relying on traditional methods of sourcing staff, such as conventional advertising campaigns and recruitment agencies, and instead start building communities of potential future employees, whilst also ensuring their talent programmes are innovative and connect with their existing staff.
 
"Instead of just reaching out to the engineering community when they have a specific role to fill, recruiters need to be building long-term relationships based on advice, information and technical knowledge," he says. "That means serious use of tools such as networking sites, online forums and blogs. Managed properly they have the potential to create candidate communities with their brand sitting at the heart. This in turn offers the chance to build internal and external pipelines of talent that could largely eliminate the problems employers face now."

 
 

 
Lady Finniston Award
 
 The Lady Finniston Award is given to students entering their first year of engineering study. One award is specifically for an electronics student as the funding comes from a sum originally donated by the now defunct National Electronics Council. Any other awards are funded through donations raised that year and will be awarded for appropriate study.
 
The selection team consists of the Award Manager, who is also a member of WES Council, and a couple of volunteers. Depending upon how many are received, the selection process begins with drawing up a short list of about 10 people, then deciding which of those we want to interview. The interview takes place either by phone or in person, if possible. We are looking for candidates with a financial need and a strong interest in engineering, as well as potentially helping WES in the future.
 
The awards are named in honour of Sir Monty Finniston's wife.  Monty Finniston, a British industrialist, once chair of British Steel and well-known promoter of engineering education, was a supporter of WES and our aims.   Lady Finniston herself has a keen interest in the scheme and attends the award ceremonies whenever she is able.
 
Applications are often available at universities or can be made through the WES website.

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