Women's Engineering Society eNewsletter

August 2015

Welcome to the August newsletter of the Women's Engineering Society.

Visit the WES website and read our President's blog here.

Follow WES on twitter: @wes1919, @mentorset and @sparxxgirls.

If you're not already a member of WES here's why you should join. It costs a pound a week and helps us to do our work to promote engineering and technology amongst women and girls.

The Diversity Careers Show:

The UK's biggest careers event of its kind, open to all walks of life & all strands of diversity- 23rd October 2015

The Diversity Careers Show is bringing together the UK's leading employers who actively embrace and promote diversity in the workplace. This highly engaging day is packed with diversity-focussed career development activities and is a fantastic opportunity for job seekers from all backgrounds to meet with top employers, get personal career advice, 1-2-1 CV advice and attend useful workshops on a range of topics. This year we are providing a focus on women working in male dominated industries.

The event is FREE to attend but seminars and workshops fill up quickly. To guarantee a place register here and you will be the first to be contacted when workshop bookings go live.

Women's Engineering Society AGM

The 96th Annual General Meeting of the Women's Engineering Society will take place on 10th October 2015 in Birmingham. After the AGM, Henrietta Heald will be giving a talk on WES Founder Rachel Parsons.

Find out more

NWED 2016 Sponsorship

With over two months since NWED 2015, it's time to start looking forward to NWED 2016. As a non-profit charity, we rely solely on grants and generous donations to operate NWED and get more girls and women into engineering. With your help, we can continue to produce and distribute our fantastic NWED resource packs and develop more innovative ways to reach out to more young women across the UK. Sponsor NWED 2016 today, and change perceptions in engineering for years to come

Read more

2015 Ford Prize for Women in STEM Study

Recognising that women are traditionally under-represented in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering or Maths) studies and the related professions, Ford is delighted to announce the 2015 Ford Prize for Women in STEM Study, which will recognise the achievements of women in STEM, encouraging other women to become involved.

In association with the Ford PWN (Professional Women's Network) the �1000 cash prize is to be awarded to a female student in her first year of a STEM degree, who can demonstrate how they are inspiring the next generation of scientists, engineers and technologists.

Entries will be accepted between September 1^st and November 6^th 2015. An entry form plus T&C's can be found here

Transforming Technical Experts into Outstanding Communicators

Alison Kemp from Switchvision

Alison Kemp, CEO of Switchvision is running public courses to help make you into powerful and calm presenters. She's also running an amazing Outstanding Interpersonal Communications course.

Her theatre based training has been snapped up by JIVE, IMECHE and Shell and now she's offering a whopping 20% off all the courses for WES members and all of you who receive my newsletter.

Just use the code WES when booking. Further details here.

White House Host First-Ever Demo Day

On Tuesday, August 4 the White House hosted a Demo Day where we showcased the wide-ranging talents of innovators from across the country and campaigned for more diversity in engineering. Unlike a private-sector Demo Day, where entrepreneurs "pitch" their ideas to funders, innovators from around the country joined President Obama to "demo" their individual success stories and show why we need to give every American the opportunity to pursue their bold, game-changing ideas.

Find out more

ProBE PhD studentship

Women in the construction industry: investigating intergration

and diversity

University of Westminster are pleased to offer a PhD Studentship, consisting of a fee waiver and annual stipend of �16,000 for three years. The Studentship will commence in January 2016, and is available to applicants with a Home fee status only (usually defined as applicants from the UK and EU).

Find out more

Sparxx- Find Inspiration. Create the Future

As part of our goal to get more girls into engineering, we've launched a new initiative - Sparxx. The aim of Sparxx is to provide news, events competitions, freebies and much more to girls who show an interest in CRESTA (Creativity, Engineering, Science, Technology and Art) by providing a targeted stream of communication to inspire girls to create the future they are capable of.

We are not planning to provide new content or any new activities, but instead to compile activities and information provided by you. If you would like to feature your CRESTA events, competitions, games or quizzes, please email relevant content to us with the subject line Website Content.

For further details contact the Sparxx team or visit the website here

IET Young Woman Engineer of the Year Awards

Join us this year for our prestigious IET Young Woman Engineer of the Year Awards celebrating the very best UK female engineering talent.

This free event will be held at the newly refurbished IET London: Savoy Place, where you will be given an opportunity to attend a dazzling ceremony, enjoy photo opportunities, complementary food & festive beverages and much more!

There will also be plenty of networking and recruitment opportunities for you to take advantage of. You do not have to be a member of the IET to attend and you are permitted to bring a guest!

Find out more

WES Member 'CV Makeover'

CV Makeover Package with Clare Fenwick (Plus FREE LinkedIn Profile Assessment)

Initial 45 minute coaching session
Homework for you (to be completed within 48 hours)
First CV draft (within 3 days)
Amendments / Final CV received / LinkedIn assessment (within 2 days)
Maximum timeframe = 7 days
Average turnaround = 5 days

Standard Investment �395 (incl. VAT)

WES Member �295 (incl. VAT)

Women Returner / Student �195 (incl. VAT)

For more information, email clarefenwick@watsonlily.com with 'WES Member CV' in the email title.

Enterprise Fellowships open for applications

Royal Academy of Engineering Enterprise Fellowships support engineering researchers looking to commercialise their research. Applicants should be working at a UK university and wish to develop a spin-out business around their technological idea. Awardees receive �60,000 funding and benefit from training and mentoring from some of the UK's most successful technology entrepreneurs and business leaders.

Prior experience of commercialisation activities is not essential, the desire and capability to succeed is more important and we will equip you with the necessary skills through a programme of training and mentoring.

The submission deadline is Monday 7 September. For further details see the website.

20% off Career Changing Event for Women in Engineering

Will you join 100+ peers to hear how you can climb the career ladder and gain confidence at work?

The everywoman Academy: Advancing Women in Engineering is a one day career conference for women in engineering, packed with insights from leading women in the industry and guidance from learning and development experts. By attending the academy you'll learn strategies to build your confidence, while discovering ways to combat stress and improve workplace relations.

Book by 1st September to get your 20% off. Find out more

Lego Ideas goes Nanoscale to Build Interest in Materials Science and Engineering

Lego Ideas are set to release new Lego sets that will explore the nanoscale world: SEM, TEM, and XRD. These sets will allow students of all ages to develop an interest in material science and engineering.

However, before the sets can be considered for manufacture by Lego Review Board, they must gain a stronghold of 10,000 supporters. If you like the idea of sharing your love for nanoscale techniques, sign up here for a free Lego user ID and vote.

Find out more

Engineering Apprenticeships Vacancies Available for Girls at Kirklees College

Kirklees College has a very successful engineering apprenticeship programme with 75 - 100 apprenticeship vacancies in various engineering disciplines each year. For September 2015, they still have 17 vacancies available and are hoping to recruit more girls.

These vacancies are with local Kirklees and Calderdale employers and in many cases the employers are happy to sponsor an apprentice onto HNC then a degree, consequently, employers are looking more and more at candidates who have good GCSE's and/or A levels. They believe, that they have every right to compete for those good academic school leavers that are usually targeted by the Universities.

For more information about the engineering apprenticeships vacancies, please contact Andrew Roberts ARoberts@KirkleesCollege.ac.uk

Senior Members' Lunch

We are organising a get-together for those of us involved in WES for more decades than we care to admit! No longer interested in your CV and career development - more interested in a nice meal with wine and a chat with old friends (some not so old, some just feel old...)?

Do you fancy lunch on 10 October in Birmingham? We could meet for coffee at about 11, then lunch at 12.30 before supporting WES at the AGM at 2pm. We may even carry on afterwards at some nearby hostelry. Please contact Sue Bird to let us know if you are interested and we will set about organising something suitable.

Building the Future, Shaping our World competition

Building the Future, Shaping our world is a global engineering competition for groups of up to 6 girls aged 11-18. As a competitor you will have to design a sporting venue for your local area using either a derelict or brownfield site. Each member of the winning team will receive an iPad mini 3.

The competition requires you to consider many different aspects of building and so requires many different skill sets. Entrants have until Friday 9th October 2015.

Click HERE to register or find out more

MentorSET is Back!

WES's mentoring scheme for women in STEM, MentorSET, is now up and running again, and we are calling for Mentor and Mentees to register. If you are interested in one-to-one career mentoring, please visit the new look MentorSET website and complete a registration form. MentorSET is offering a number of other benefits to members in addition to one-to-one mentoring and these will include Boardroom Conversations, training opportunities, access to mentoring theory and research, and speed mentoring sessions, amongst other things. All MentorSET members must be members of WES, and there is also an annual fee for Mentees.

GET INVOLVED

We've got some rewarding volunteering opportunities to allow you to get directly involved in promoting diversity and equality in engineering!

Magnificent Women Resource Sheets

As part of the WES outreach activity 'Magnificent Women' we are looking to expand our list of the past and present magnificent women from engineering that we feature on our website and use in our schools activities. If there is somebody that you feel is missing from the list and you are willing to put together a resource sheet then please do let us know magnificentwomen@wes.org.uk

Guest Tweeter for WES

We are looking for volunteers to act as Guest Tweeters on behalf of the WES on our offical Twitter Account @WES1919 for a period of time. This is a unique opportunity to get directly involved in promoting diversity and equality in engineering and engaging with our extensive follower base.

All interested participants should email Dawn Bonfield office@wes.org.uk with subject line 'Guest Tweeter for WES'

Book Reviewer for Sparxx

We're looking for a young, committed, creative and enthusiastic individual to review fiction and non-fiction books relating to influential and pioneering women for our Sparxx website.

As a book reviewer, you will be expected to submit at least one review before the allocated deadline, in order to feature it in the monthly Sparxx e-newsletter.

This is a great opportunity for young people interested in kick-starting a career in media and journalism, or for someone who simply just enjoys reading and writing!

To apply for this position, click here

UPCOMING EVENTS

Motiv8 Specialist In-House Forum

TBA/09/2015

A Motiv8 Forum exclusive to Jaguar Land Rover Engineers