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Women's Engineering Society
e-newsletter December 2014
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Welcome to this month's newsletter.
The WES AGM was held in November and a new WES President was elected, read Dawn Bonfield's message below and we would like to welcome her to her new post and also thank outgoing president, Carol Marsh.
To keep right up to date with WES Activities follow us on Twitter @wes1919
If you have any news or events that you would like to share with the WES Community please get in touch.
And don't forget if you're not already a WES member why not join a society that continues to inspire and support women in Engineering, Science and Technology. Our target is 950 new members to mark our 95th year!
Finally we wish all our members and readers a Merry Christmas and a Happy and Prosperous New Year.
Best wishes
the e-News team
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Message from the new WES President
Dear all,
I took over as President at the AGM on 29 November and am very excited about the forthcoming year. A big thank you to Carol Marsh for her year as President, and many congratulations on steering WES throughout a successful and eventful year. We amended the Society's Memorandum and Articles at the AGM to form a smaller Board of Trustees, and this will help us to ensure that the larger Council can focus on the delivery of some real progress in increasing diversity in engineering and supporting our amazing women engineers.
Some of the things we will be focusing on during the year include some work to build on the Women in STEM survey carried out earlier in the year on women returning to engineering after maternity or career breaks, and to promote the set up of returnships to help enable women to return to STEM careers. Work at the other end of the career spectrum will focus on our outreach work with the launch of the 'Sparks' programme to support girls in engineering through a constant contact mechanism, and to encourage the set up more work experience placements in STEM. Look out for the relaunch of the MentorSET mentoring programme which has been on hold for a short while - coming soon. National Women in Engineering Day will be back again next year with even more events hopefully, and finally we will be continuing with our Magnificent Women project thanks to sponsorship from Northrop Grumman. Do let me know if you have any comments or suggestions in relation to our work at WES, as we would love to get more people involved. And if you're not a member already then please join us and enable us to continue with this important work.
A vacancy exists to become part of our team looking after our growing number of Company Members, so please take a look at that and visit our website for more information.
During my year as President I am keeping a monthly blog, and this can be seen here.
Finally, I hope that you all have a very Happy Christmas.
Dawn Bonfield
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Gloucestershire engineer recognised as inspiration to future generation of female engineers
Young engineer Lucy Ackland, who works for Renishaw plc in Staffordshire, has been awarded the Women's Engineering Society (WES) prize for her ground breaking work in 3D-Printing at the prestigious IET Young Woman Engineer of the Year awards ceremony in London last night.
Recognising outstanding female engineers has never been so important after recent statistics from the IET's Skills and Demand in Industry survey showed that women represent only 6% of the engineering workforce. Further IET research showed that only 1% of parents of girls were likely to encourage their daughters into engineering, compared to 11% for parents of boys.
Lucy said: "I'm so happy to have won this award - it means a lot to be recognised for the work I do in a really exciting, upcoming industry. I'm pleased to be considered a role model for future generations of female engineers because I believe engineering is a really enjoyable career choice but sometimes people are put off by misleading stereotypes."
Michelle Richmond, IET Director of Membership, said: "The lack of women in engineering is a very significant problem, contributing to skills shortages which damage the economy. The shocking reality is that the UK is missing out on half of its potential engineering and technology workforce by failing to attract women into the industry. It also means that women are losing out on interesting and rewarding career opportunities.
The difficulty in attracting women into engineering is down to a combination of things: from the careers advice girls are given in schools, to schools not instilling girls with the confidence to opt for science and maths at A-level, through to employers needing to do more to make their approach to recruitment and retention more female friendly. But it's also a result of the lack of inspirational engineering role models for girls - which is where our Young Woman Engineer of the Year winners can play a vital role."
Dawn Bonfield, WES President, said: "The Women's Engineering Society is delighted that this award goes to Lucy Ackland, who has already done an enormous amount to engage and inspire the next generation of female engineers. We are looking forward to working with Lucy this year to do even more for young people, and crucially their parents, in changing stereotypes of the engineering sector and especially of the apprenticeship route into engineering. Congratulations Lucy."
Chris Pockett, Head of Communications at Renishaw plc. said: "We are very proud of what Lucy has already achieved during her engineering career with Renishaw and her tireless work, often in her own time, to promote STEM-based careers to young people. The WES Prize is fantastic national recognition of this work and we know that she will continue to be a great ambassador for the engineering sector over the coming years."
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WES Welcomes our 8000th Twitter Follower
Doug Wilson (@DougWilsonEA) from the Environment Agency is our 8000th Twitter follower. In his role as Director of Scientific and Evidence Services, Doug is responsible for the scientific, monitoring and data activities. He is also a gender diversity lead as part of a network of Senior leads who cover different aspects of diversity. There is a very active, award winning, Women's Network which challenges the organisation to ensure it encourages, enables and equips women to be the best they can. Read more here, and you can follow WES on Twitter @wes1916
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The Aerospace MSc Bursary Scheme
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The AeroMSc bursary scheme pays tuition fees for MScs in aerospace starting next academic year 2015-16. Applications are open now
The government, leading companies in the aerospace sector, the Royal Academy of Engineering (RAEng) and the Royal Aeronautical Society (RAeS) have developed an initiative to boost the supply of aeronautical engineering skills to the UK economy. This was announced by the Prime Minister at the Farnborough International Air Show in July 2012.
The main purpose of the scheme is to bring new talent, knowledge and skill into the UK aerospace sector. It is designed for people who would not otherwise be able to finance their MSc studies. It also provides MSc funding to upskill certain categories of employee already working in the UK aerospace sector.
Funding for tuition fees is available for up to 500 students to undertake MSc programmes at UK universities which are accredited by the Royal Aeronautical Society, or supported by the leading aerospace companies, starting in academic years 2015/16.
Visit the website for further details
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Speakers and Experts Wanted
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THE ICE is creating a register of minority engineers so they may contact them to speak at ICE technical events. These events take place in local branches of the ICE.
Eventually they are looking to provide a list for their Expert Panels and Engineering Council membership candidates, as they are areas that affect government and engineering policies from the core.
The Fields they are looking for include:
Energy - all forms renewable and none
Transport - public and private
Communications
Structures
Health and Safety
Environment/ Sustainability
Management - project management
History
Geotechnical
Municipal
All the fields relate to the infrastructure required to support the delivery of the above as that is essentially what the institution members deliver.
If you are interested contact Abigail Kiernan
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Funding available to unlock the potential of your female engineers
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Registrations are now open for a new Semta-run programme designed to support women working in engineering and advanced manufacturing. The Career Investment and Progression programme is open to large employers and supply chain companies across the sector.
Both Career Development and Returners courses are available and can be delivered on-site at a time and date to suit the employer. The programme is part funded by UKCES so cost to the employer is minimal - just £120 per person per course.
Sarah Sillars, Semta CEO, says:
"We're delighted to be running this award winning programme which has already benefited 1,300 women working in our sector. Encouraging women to begin and develop their careers in the sector and to motivate those who have left to return to engineering is vital if we are to build the talent pool we need in the UK."
Book a course or find out more.
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The First Whorrod Inspirational Engineering Christmas Event
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Staff and students were treated to a fascinating lecture from University of Bath alumna, Jenny Cane, at the inaugural Whorrod Inspirational Engineering Event. Following the event attendees enjoyed a mince pie reception hosted by the Student Women's Engineering Society (WESBath).
Jenny, who studied Aerospace Engineering at the University before graduating in 2002, is now a Senior Engineer at the Culham Centre for Fusion Energy. During the lecture she discussed her varied career and how it has led her to where her heart really lies: renewable energy
To read more click here
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The Royal Institution Christmas Lectures
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Sparks Will Fly, as Danielle George, professor of electronic engineering at The University of Manchester, talks about How to Hack Your Home, in the 2014 CHRISTMAS LECTURES.
The lectures will be aired on BBC FOUR over the festive period and will then be available to watch on BBC iPlayer and then on the Ri Channel from January 2015. From December through to the end of January 2015 students and the public will be able to log in to ask any questions inspired by the Sparks Will Fly theme. We'll have a team of hackers and engineers, including Danielle George, answering questions and taking part in live chats.
For more information on the lectures click here
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WES Jobs Page
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The WES website has a page dedicated to job vacancies.
Each month we will list the latest vacancies available. For further details and how to apply please visit the website. If you have a vacancy you wish to advertise please contact the WES Office.
Professor of Intelligent Interactions
Employer: University of Kent
Location: Canterbury
Salary: £60,942 per annum
Term: Open-ended
The School of Engineering and Digital Arts wishes to appoint a Professor to work with the Head of School, the Director of Research and colleagues to further the international research reputation of the school.
The appointee will lead the new Intelligent Interactions research group, and be expected to contribute to the collaborative research strategy of the School and to expand the local, national and international links with other HEI's, industry and other research groups, both inside and outside the School, as appropriate. It is anticipated that the appointee will either bring funding to the School or be able to attract personal funding in a relatively short time, as well as supporting others in the School to develop their own funding proposals.
Research Associate
Employer: University of Kent
Location: Canterbury
Salary: £32,277 pa
Term: Fixed term
The PDRA position is part of an EPSRC funded award to investigate device-to-device communications underlaying an intelligent mobile network infrastructure. The wider collaborative project involves academic partners from the University of Essex and a number of industry partners. The post holder will work closely with colleagues at Kent, Essex and at industry partners, including particularly JDSU UK Ltd and Qualcomm UK, to carry out the research programme described in the grant application. The successful applicant will have, or be expected to have, a PhD and research experience in the area of wireless communications, especially radio resource management and distributed antenna systems.
For more details and how to apply visit the Jobs page on the WES website
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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, particularly our Event Partners: The IET, BAE Systems and Selex ES.
Our Company Members are: DP World London Gateway, Malvern Instruments, National Grid, Arup, Bam Nuttall, Edwards Vacuum, Hyder Consulting, Bureau Veritas, Matchtech, Instron, Transport for London, Sellafield and Mars.
Student conference sponsors include BAE Systems (Event Partner), Selex ES (Event Partner), Instron, Malvern Instruments and BP.
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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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The Great British Weld-Off 2015
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Women's Engineering Society is calling on young ladies to enter The Great British Weld-Off 2015, a competition to discover and crown the UK's top young welders.
Back for a second year, the fierce competition, organised by Morris Site Machinery, will see four teams of welding students/apprentices aged 16-25, battle it out in a series of competitive challenges to showcase their welding skills and recreate a 'World Famous Landmark'.
The winning team will win £2,000 for their welding department or workplace, as well as £250 each. The teams will have to impress a panel of high profile judges, including Michael Scarrott from EAL and Chief Judge Ian Hogarth from The Welding Institute.
The competition will be judged in two stages: a paper-based/online entry for the first round (closing date Thursday 8th January 2015), followed by the competitive live Weld-Off final on Wednesday 4th February 2015.
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New app makes Apprenticeship search easy
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Semta has partnered with the Daily Telegraph on the development of a unique Apprenticeship app which brings together details of thousands of apprenticeship opportunities offered by employers across England.
Launched at the Skills Show, the app is designed to give young people and their parents the most up to date information on vacancies, as well as offering expert careers advice and guidance.
The app is free and available to download for iPhone and Android devices. Results can be filtered by occupation, as well as location, so engineering and advanced manufacturing apprenticeships are easy to find. All Semta Apprenticeship Service vacancies will feature on the app.
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Websites and Newsletters we think you may be interested in
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Womanthology is a digital magazine and web-based community that aims to energise and empower women in their careers and beyond, with a view to inspiring confidence at work.
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Funding towards hiring a Graduate within your organization
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The University of Hertfordshire are currently running a scheme in partnership with Santander where they will pay for half of the salary of a Graduate Intern for a period of three months. This is a fantastic opportunity to hire a talented and enthusiastic graduate to become part of your team. This is how the scheme works:
What is the Santander Internship Scheme?
The University of Hertfordshire is currently working with Santander Universities UK to deliver an internship scheme which offers employers £1500 funding for recent graduates to undertake a three month internship in their company.
Your company
You need to have a turnover of less than £50 million and employ less than 250 employees. The role can be within any department in your organisation, such as Finance, HR, Bioscience, Sport, Engineering and Law.
The graduate
This scheme is aimed at recent (2014) graduates from the University of Hertfordshire. The graduate can be from any degree discipline and work in any department of your company. They will be paid £1000 per month (Santander will fund £500 per month, £1500 in total).
The internship
The duration of the internship must be at least three months with a start date before Monday 12 January 2015. It is fine if you decide to employ the graduate for a longer period after this date, although the funding will stop after three months.
How to apply:
Please contact Gill McKenzie if you would like to be considered for this funding and please do not hesitate to contact her if you have any questions about any of the above.
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Upcoming Events
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Date for your diary
If you're a woman working in engineering or manufacturing, pencil Thursday 5 February 2015 into your diary now!
Join Equate Scotland and the Women's Engineering Society in Glasgow for an action-packed event that will explore how coaching and mentoring can help you to develop your career and fulfil your ambitions. There will be networking, speakers, drinks and nibbles.
More details to follow in the New Year
The Association for Science Education (ASE) Annual Conference
Thursday 8th - Saturday 10th January 2015
Explore the latest resources, products and initiatives in science education - all in one marquee. Over 200 suppliers and science organisations create interactive stands so youcan compare equipment and resources.
This event is taking place at the Universtity of Reading.
For more information click here
Celebrating women in biochemical, chemical and process engineering
Wednesday 4th February 2015
The UCL Student Society of Women Engineers and IChemE London & SE member group will be putting together another exciting event for engineers from different sectors and stages of their careers. They will be sharing their inspiration and personal journey, with speakers ranging from dedicated students just starting their careers to senior engineers and consultants. We hope this event will prove inspirational for all. A panel discussion after the talks will provide a golden opportunity for those who have questions, followed by a networking session with refreshments kindly sponsored by UCL Faculty of Engineering.
For more information, click here
National Women in Engineering Day 2015
Tuesday 23rd June 2015
Following on from the huge sucess of the first NWED in 2014 WES is proud to hold this event again. To receive the latest information please register for the WES e-newsletter here
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