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'Harnessing the Energy' - WES Annual Conference
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The WES Annual conference 'Harnessing the Energy' is less than a month away. In addition to the full range of technical presentations that are planned for the day - involving 17 expert speakers offering top level, informative and thought provoking presentations on a vast range of energy related topics, we have a parallel session which will also be full of interesting discussion and information. EW Group CEO Jane Farrell will deliver a session on the barriers to progressing your career in engineering, how to spot unconscious bias in operation, and what you can practically do about it ● Kat Sandford from STEMnet will give an overview and introduction to the STEM Ambassadors scheme, followed by a facilitated discussion by Helen Charles Morgan about our latest WES initiative, the Young WES membership category ● Daria Cybulska, will explain how to run a Wikipedia Edit-o-thon, with a view to increasing the presence of women in engineering on Wikipedia. Register now on the
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Engineering Inspiration registration open - WES women students event
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The fifth WES Annual Student Conference in association with Aston University is shaping up with companies and professional engineers signing up to meet and inspire this year's students. Headline sponsors Jaguar Land Rover and Baker Hughes are offering student bursaries.
This event presents a great opportunity for women students to find out about cutting edge topics and technology to help inspire them onto a career in engineering and technology.
See the report from last year and watch the videos.
Now's the time to book your student places and finalise your student selection process ready for their return. On-line booking discount of 5% until 30 September and a discount for 10 places of 10%.
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Recommend a new WES member and receive a £20 gift voucher
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Now is a great time to talk about the benefits of being a WES member to your friends and colleagues as there's a little bonus in store for any existing member introducing a newcomer. WES is offering a £20 gift voucher - choose from either M&S or Amazon - to every WES member who introduces a new full or associate Member to WES in the coming weeks.
To receive your voucher:
1. Ask your friend/colleague to write on their application form "WES membership recommended by [your name and WES membership number]"
2. Upon their acceptance as full or associate member of WES, we will post the voucher to you
3. Offer only valid on application forms received at the WES office before 30th September 2013
4. Offer only valid on applications for full or associate WES membership (student members excluded)
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New Twitter account to promote engineering
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A new Twitter account, @mydayengineer, has been created to promote engineering to schools, young people's organisations and anyone else who's interested.
The idea is simple. Engineers tweet about their days using #mydayengineering. People can then follow or search the hashtag to find out what it really is that engineers do each day. There is also a facebook page with more updates and further information.
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WES Volunteer Vacancies
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A volunteer is needed to co-ordinate the Jobs Section of the WES Website. This role would involve contacting engineering companies to promote our jobs pages, and encouraging them to advertise their jobs to our women engineers, and then adding the job details to the WES website. If you are interested please contact the WES Office
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The Graduate Engineer Show
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Wednesday 30th October 2013
The Graduate Engineer Show - 2013 brings together some of the greatest businesses in the engineering field with emerging engineering talent of tomorrow. The show is to be held at the iconic Derby Roundhouse at the centre of the UK's engineering heritage.
For the first time, over 1000 engineering students and graduates from some of the UK's leading engineering faculties, will assemble to meet with some of the UK's most prestigious businesses.
Entry for visitors is free.
For more details and registration visit the website
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WES awarded a grant from Royal Aeronautical Society
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WES has been awarded a grant of £3,000 by the Royal Aeronautical Society towards our 95th anniversary outreach project - Magnificent Women and Their Flying Machines - which commemorates the beginning of the first World War and the work done by women building aircraft wings. This project which will be available for schools will look at how women have progressed in aviation and the aerospace industry over the past 100 years, and replicate the practical work that these women carried out. Volunteers are sought who are willing to work on the planning and delivery this project. Please contact Dawn for further details
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Elizabeth Johnson Memorial Lecture
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Betty Johnson, WES member, who as well as serving her time on Council and while WES offices were at Imperial College, helped to set up Daphnet, is remembered in the Institute of Physics biennial Elizabeth Johnson Memorial Lecture. Betty was a returner herself and gave much of her time to the establishment of the Daphne Jackson Trust and in setting up Portia as a limited company.
This year's lecture is given by Professor Brian Collins on 'the role of the Departmental Scientific Adviser' and will offer interesting insights to the role and good networking opportunities for WES members and colleagues with old friends .
18:00 coffee and registration and followed by wine and canapés at 19:45. The event is free.
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The WES Website has a number of job vacancies currently being advertised.
These include
A Structural Engineer for Sandwell Council
Process Technicians for Exxon Mobil
Product Design Engineers for LA Design
For more details visit the WES Jobs page on the website
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Museum celebrates women in computing
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The National Museum of Computing has opened a gallery celebrating the role of women in computer history.
Sponsored by Google, it documents the important role women have played in building and programming pioneering computers.
The idea for the gallery arose when the Museum found that only 10% of students on its educational courses were women.
It is hoped that the gallery will help to inspire more young women and girls to take up a job in the computer world.
"Girls must take advantage of the revival of computing in schools and recognise and grab the opportunities that our wonderful sector offers," said Dame Stephanie Shirley at the opening ceremony for the gallery.
The Museum is sited in the grounds of Bletchley Park, the wartime code-cracking centre.
On show at the gallery are contributions from Joyce Wheeler, one of the first academics to use the Edsac computer; Mary Coombs, the first female programmer for the Lyons Electronic Office and Kathleen Booth, an academic who wrote the first book about programming in Assembly language.
To read more click here
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UK marine engineering roundtable debates alarming new skills gap survey results
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Engineering leaders convened yesterday at the start of London International Shipping Week (LISW) for a roundtable discussion on the extent of the industry's skill shortage. The event was one of the first to bring together representatives from the UK naval and defence, commercial, leisure, shipping and offshore sectors. A key topic of debate was the first look at survey results polling 500 hiring authorities, which confirmed 93% believe they are working in a skill gap market.
The event and survey were co-ordinated by The Institute of Marine Engineering, Science and Technology (IMarEST) in partnership with leading engineering recruitment agency, Matchtech. Key survey talking points included:
· Recruitment repercussions: 91% are concerned their business could be negatively impacted by recruitment troubles in the next 12 months
· The lack of women in marine engineering: Over a third of marine engineers (36%) are working in companies with less than a 1% female workforce, while 84% of respondents have less than one in ten female employees in their organisation
· Graduate deficit: almost two thirds (62%) disagreed or were not sure that graduate candidates are suitably educated and ready for work in the marine sector
The research and roundtable discussion confirmed that the skills shortage is a key unifying pressure across a traditionally fragmented industry. There are over 5,000 maritime engineering companies that employ nearly 90,000 people in UK. 89% of survey respondents recruited candidates last year, with 47% looking to increase job opportunities this year.
To read more click here
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And finally....
If you have any articles that you would like to have featured please contact the WES Office.
We'd love to hear your stories of ideas to inspire young people, schools outreach activities and projects you are working on that we can share across the WES community.
Don't forget to forward our e-newsletter to your friends and contacts, male or female and help to inspire more young women to consider engineering and technology as a career.
With good wishes
the e-News team.
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WES would like to thank its supporters and sponsors, particulary the IET, DP World London Gateway, Malvern Instruments, National Grid, Arup, Jaguar Land Rover, Rolls Royce, Selex and GE.
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Are you a WES Member?
If not click here to find out why you should be!
It costs a pound a week and helps us to do our work to promote engineering and technology amongst women and girls. |
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WES 2013 AGM
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The WES AGM will be following on from the conference on 4 October 2013 for further details and registration visit the website. All WES members are encouraged to attend, find out what has been happening in the past year and what is coming up in the future. You may be inspired to join the WES Council and help shape the future of WES.
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Women's Engineering Society Scottish Circle, Programme of events, 2013
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WES exists to promote engineering to women but also to encourage those already in the profession, to this end we have series of events throughout the year in the West of Scotland.
4th October 2013 IESIS - date still to be confirmed
WES is a small society in Scotland so we use the IESIS dinner as our annual smart get together. We would love to fill 2 tables this year so go on put it in your diary to come.
If you are joining us for an event please drop an e-mail to the WES Scottish circle secretary, Anne
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WES Company Members Needed | | |
As part of our drive to improve our financial position, WES would like to increase the number of Company Members that support our work, and we are appealing to all members to approach their companies to ask them to support our efforts. If you feel that your employer would be interested in partnering with WES to support our work, please contact the office for information about what this would involve, and how it would benefit both the company and the society. |
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Arup becomes WES Company Member
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WES welcomes Arup as new WES Company Members. Arup have a very strong representation and network of women engineers, and are one of the best corporate examples of the benefits of diversity in engineering. We very much look forward to working with Arup and their women members.
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National Women in Engineering Day
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23 June 2014 sees the launch of National Women in Engineering Day - the first event of its kind in the UK, aimed at raising the profile and celebrating the achievements of women in engineering, and encouraging more girls to consider engineering as a career. We are calling on you to get involved, and we want as many people as possible to spread the word and organise events on or around this day. Further details of how to get involved can be found here.
As part of National Women in Engineering Day we are producing a Register of Women Engineers, which will be made available publicly as a list of women who would be willing to be contacted by their local school in order to give talks to encourage girls to go into engineering. This list will also double as a list of women engineers who can be contacted by the media for comment on engineering issues. Please register your interest.
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WES and Pilotlight
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this week, the charity which matches business expertise with charities, having been appointed its four new mentors. We are very much looking forward to working together as a team to improve the way we function as a charity and the impact we have on diversity in engineering.
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She's an Engineer
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WES recently launched a page on the website entitled She's an Engineer. This features engineers who want to share their lives and stories of being an Engineer. If you would like to be featured please contact the WES Office. To read some of the inspiring stories click here.
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Women in Building Services Engineering Events
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The WiBSE network aims to support and encourage women joining, working, staying and progressing in the building services industry. A series of events has been announced for 2013. For further information and to register click here
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Valeo launches global contest: the Valeo Innovation Challenge.
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Timed to coincide with the IAA 2013 Motor Show in Frankfurt, Valeo is launching a global contest to engineering students around the world.
With this challenge, Valeo is offering young engineers worldwide the opportunity to play an active part in automotive innovation by imagining products or systems that will make cars more intelligent and intuitive by 2030. Participating students will be asked to develop bold, revolutionary solutions for the communities of tomorrow's society.
To read more and to enter click here.
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Minister praises role of female engineers in Selex ES
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Angela Constance, MSP, Minister for Youth Employment, Scottish Government visited our Edinburgh site today to be briefed on Selex ES' extensive Apprenticeship and Graduate programmes.
The Minister heard how Selex ES invests in Engineering and other specialist expertise across the business, as well as personal skills and team development. Angela Constance expressed particular interest in the work we do with schools and colleges, where they are invited to engage with the excitement and innovation of a real industrial environment. She was also keen to learn more about what had initially attracted our female engineers to the sector and welcomed our commitment to encouraging better awareness of career options in this field.
Philip Pratley Group Institutional Relations Director, UK said: "It was a pleasure to welcome Angela and for her to see at first hand the way we as a business invest in our research base, Supply Chain, Export Markets and of course in our People. She particularly enjoyed meeting a cross-section of our current graduates and apprentices and the stimulating accounts they gave of their work."
Angela Constance added: ""It is always a pleasure for me to visit organisations such as Selex ES that are creating opportunities for young people including Modern Apprenticeships. Today I particularly enjoyed meeting young women who are making their mark within the organisation as engineers, which we know is traditionally a very male dominated sector.
Selex ES's commitment to making young people their business sets a fantastic example and it is one I fully support as we continue to do all we can to keep taking Scotland's youth unemployment rate in the right direction. I thank all the young employees I met today for their time and wish all of them well as they embark on exciting careers within the company."
Thanks to Colin McLean, Chris Simpson, Jayne Cameron, Sam McDougall, Arnold Grundy, Callum Anderson, Fiona Macdonald, John McColl for sharing their experiences and giving the Minister such a comprehensive picture of our business
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