Greetings!
Welcome to this months newsletter, a little later than normal due to summer holidays! We hope you have been enjoying yours.
Don't forget the WES AGM is in September and all are welcome, it is followed by the 'My Sparkling Career' event. See the article below for more information. It would be great to see you there. In the meantime don't forget you can follow us on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn, just click on the links below. |
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Loughborough University WES
Just before the stress of exams bore down, the Loughborough University WES (LUWES) Committee decided on some much needed stress relieving fun! One Wednesday afternoon, the committee invited 15 members of the society to go to a karting social just outside Loughborough.
Arriving in a convoy the girls suited and booted (or rather gloved up) into the appropriate gear and got ready to race. The friendly staff advised that it was done in two sessions to enable us to get some racing done! A safety brief informed us of rules and what the flag colours indicated. And then the race began...
The first few laps round were tentative with the girls getting used to the controls and the race course, but soon the competitive sides began to creep out and all courtesy forgotten as a lot of cutting up and unlady-like manners were adopted! A number of crashes occurred- especially with the more rowdy second session!
At the end of 30 minutes the checkered flag was waved and the karts were brought in and to a bumpy stop. The race times posted prompted more friendly competitiveness amongst everyone there as well as many jokes!
LUWES tries to encourage the society members (who automatically join when they register at the university) to socialise with each other, doing activities that they otherwise may not get the chance. In addition, the committee prove to the girls that just because we do a tough, time demanding course, it doesn“t mean we can“t have some serious fun too!
Emily Cheung, LUWES Committee Chair 2009/10
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Nottingham - a global leader
in aerospace research
The University of Nottingham's status as a global leader in aerospace research has been underlined with a new grant of £3.6m.
New funding from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) will help to establish the Institute for Aerospace Technology, which will drive the development of cutting-edge technology in one of the University's key research areas.
It will help to fund construction of a new research facility at the University of Nottingham Innovation Park (UNIP) - the Aerospace Technology Centre, a dedicated facility housing around 100 staff which will be the biggest of its kind in the UK.
The new investment, administered by the East Midlands Development Agency (emda), will strengthen strategic links with partners in industry, and help to bring new inventions to the marketplace more quickly.
The University already has a portfolio of aerospace research worth £35m, with more than 70 separate projects focused on key challenges in power electronics, electromagnetics, advanced manufacturing, polymer composites, non-destructive evaluation, thermo-fluids and many other areas. This portfolio includes two Rolls-Royce University Technology Centres (UTCs), in gas turbine transmissions and manufacturing, and a strategic partnership with GE on advanced electrical power & actuation systems, co-funded by EPSRC.
All of this is underpinned by five Platform Grants, awarded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council to world-leading research groups - the highest number at any UK university for aerospace technologies.
Nottingham academics work in partnership with most of the world's leading aerospace companies, including Rolls-Royce, GE, Airbus/EADS, Boeing, BAE Systems, Bombardier, GKN and Goodrich.
Professor Andy Long, Associate Dean for Research in the Faculty of Engineering, said: "This is wonderful news. The new Institute for Aerospace Technology will allow us to develop and deploy new technologies and processes that are crucial to supporting the aerospace sector's ability to meet stringent environmental targets set by the Advisory Council on Aeronautics Research in Europe (ACARE) and other additional challenges such as decreased waste.
"Research undertaken will also ensure a good supply of highly skilled people with expertise in areas of immediate interest to the sector."
Aerospace is very important to the UK's economy - it has the second largest aerospace industry in the world, after the USA. It is equally important at a regional level, with aerospace accounting for around 60 per cent of East Midlands' employment in transport equipment.
The East Midlands accounts for around 15 per cent of the UK aerospace industry by value and numbers of people employed in the sector - 25,000 people within 250 companies.
Diana Gilhespy, Executive Director of Regeneration at emda, said: "The aerospace sector is of vital economic importance to the region. The new Institute for Aerospace Technology will provide an invaluable resource for businesses in this sector, helping them to develop innovative new ideas, using the expertise of the University.
"I am delighted that through the ERDF we are able to support the creation of this centre of excellence."
Aerospace is one of The University of Nottingham's key research areas, in which a concentration of expertise, collaboration and resources create significant critical mass. Other key research areas at Nottingham include energy, drug discovery, food security, biomedical imaging, advanced manufacturing, integrating global society, operations in a digital world, and science, technology & society.
Through these groups, Nottingham researchers aim to make a major impact on global challenges.
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ECITB's First QCF Qualifications Approved
The ECITB has received approval from the Qualifications and Examinations Regulator (OfQual) for the first of its new suite of Qualification and Credit Framework (QCF) qualifications.
OfQual has approved the ECITB Level 3 Diploma in Moving Engineering Construction Loads and the Level 3 NVQ Certificate in Management.
These are the first of thirty-eight qualifications the ECITB will be submitting to OfQual over the next few weeks. The new qualifications will eventually replace the existing NVQs and the ECITB will also be submitting new Scottish qualifications to the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA), which will replace SVQs.
Speaking about the approval, ECITB's Director of Development and Quality, Nigel Spencer, said; "These approvals validate the ECITB's approach to the development of new credit based qualifications for the QCF, and are the culmination of two years' hard work involving the ECITB, Companies and Providers. It indicates that our processes and procedures have been accepted and that we are on track to start introducing our new qualifications from September.
"The new qualifications will provide the framework for developing highly skilled and competent personnel for the engineering construction industry over the next 5 years, and beyond."
The ECITB has been reviewing all of its qualifications in line with the Government's Vocational Qualification Reform Programme (VQRP), designed to create improved qualifications which better meet the current and future technical needs of the Engineering Construction Industry.
Nigel Spencer continues; "The development of qualifications under the new credit framework has not only enabled us to improve our existing qualifications, but has also made it possible to develop new qualifications. Across many engineering construction disciplines we will be introducing new qualifications, particularly at level 2 which will benefit the semi-skilled and play an important role in boosting the skills required to build the country's vital infrastructure over the next 10 years."
In total, the ECITB has developed 305 Units of Assessment for the new qualifications which will we be categorised as either Diplomas, Certificates or Awards graded from entry level to level 8. Those currently undertaking an existing NVQ or SVQ will have until 2013 to complete their assessment.
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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 Annual Conference 2010 | |
WES Annual Conference 19th-20th November 2010
WES Doris Gray Student Conference 20th-21st November 2010
Both conferences are being held in Sheffield this year. We are overlapping the two events in order to give both student and qualified engineers an opportunity to network and learn from each other.
Registration is now open
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| WES Annual General Meeting | |
The WES AGM will be held at 10.30 a.m. on Saturday 18th September 2010 at Aston University, Birmingham. All members of WES and guests who are not members of WES are welcome. This is an ideal opportunity to find out about our achievements during the 90th anniversary and what WES projects are being undertaken in the next twelve months. |
| My Sparkling Career
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Whether your heroine is Alice, Tinkerbell (Disney 2008) - the engineer who lit up fairyland - or Computer Engineer Barbie and whether you think pink stinks we all like things that sparkle. Engineers and scientists especially. It might be a shiny new engine, a stunning building or a piece of perfect semiconductor crystal fresh from production. We'd like to introduce you to some new heroines to hear them talk about their sparkling careers. Practical and creative with one thing in common. Women who want to make a difference and make the world a better place.
When: 11:30 to 13:00 Saturday 18th September 2010, directly after the WES AGM
Where: British Science Festival, Aston University
How to book: book on line at the British Science Festival
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Film deal disappointment for WES author
WES members who attended last year's Conference will probably remember how excited Ariadne Tampion was regarding the forthcoming film deal on her book 'Automatic Lover', reviewed in the Summer 2009 edition of 'The Woman Engineer'. Acclaimed Texan art-film maker Jennifer Lane loved Ariadne's book so much that she was planning to adapt it for her first full-length feature film. A little while later, Jennifer fell pregnant with her second child and decided to shelve the project in order to devote more time to her enlarged family.
"Of course I am disappointed," said Ariadne, "but as a mother of two myself, I believe Jennifer has made absolutely the right decision. Movies can wait; babies need love and attention in the here-and-now."
The book contains both the novella 'Automatic Lover' and its novel-length sequel 'Automatic Lover - Ten Years On'. The former was written primarly for fellow WES members and first published on line in 2005. The latter was inspired by Ariadne's work creating a character for Loebner Prize winning artificial intelligence 'Joan' in 2006.
The book had a rave review
from the BCS but Ariadne has had difficulty so far getting the mainstream media to take any notice of it. "It suffers from its transgeneric nature," she explained. "The women's interest media brand it 'science fiction' and ignore it. The technical and men's interest media brand it 'women's fiction' and ignore it. However, my feedback so far tells me it is enjoyed by men and women, young and old, lovers and haters of science fiction. A film would have helped speed things up, but I am confident it will eventually become a best-seller in its own right." | |
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SCIENTIX - The Community for Science Education in Europe
Scientix - the community for science education in Europe - was created to facilitate regular dissemination and sharing of know-how and best practices in science education
across the European Union. Scientix is open for teachers, researchers, policy makers, local actors, parents and anyone interested in science education.
Scientix collects teaching materials and research reports from European science
education projects financed by the European Union under the 6th and 7th Framework Programmes for Research and Technological Development (Directorate General Research), the Lifelong Learning Programme (Directorate General Education and Culture)
and various national initiatives.
Through various online and off-line services Scientix wants to create a lively community for its users. The Scientix project started in December 2009 and the website was launched in May 2010.
Scientix is managed by European Schoolnet (EUN) on behalf of the European Commission
(DG Research).
For more information click here | |
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HELENA - International Conference
Les Cordeliers, Conference Centre of the Paris UniversityParis (France) -June 23-24th, 2011Gender and Interdisciplinary Education for Engineers - GIEE 2011
Does Interdisciplinary Education improve the gender balance and attract moreyoung people in Engineering and Technology higher education?Call for papersScholars and specialists of engineering training are invite to contribute to thisconference by sending abstracts of no more than 500 words (includingmethodology and relevant references) online at the following website before 15thOctober 2010
For more details click here | |
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