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Women's Engineering Society eNewsletter
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Happy New Year and welcome to the January edition of the WES newsletter!
In this month's newsletter we have included some upcoming events for your diary including the FDM everywoman in Technology Awards on 9th February. Be sure to watch the Young Members Board video in the WES Updates section to learn about the group.
Job listings are found in the WES Jobs section below or you can click here.
The Women's Engineering Society is committed to supporting women in engineering. Click through the following link for more information on being a WES member. It costs just a pound a week and helps us to do our work to inspire and support girls and women to achieve their potential as engineers, applied scientists and technical leaders. Anyone joining WES between now and 31 March can get up to 18 months of membership for the price of 12 months!
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Could you be a Mentor?
MentorSET is now recruiting for Mentors and welcomes male mentors as well as female mentors. Being a MentorSET Mentor gives you the opportunity to develop your own management skills as well as great personal satisfaction. Being a Mentor is not a big commitment, and can be enlightening, inspiring and very rewarding.
You don't have to be at the top of your profession to be a MentorSET Mentor. Although we welcome more experienced Mentors, for many of our younger Mentees, a Mentor only needs a couple of years working experience in the Science, Engineering or Technology sectors. We are also delighted to hear from would-be Mentors with HR experience in these sectors or with coaching backgrounds.
You don't need any prior knowledge of mentoring, and training and support is FREE to members of the Women's Engineering Society and our partner organisations. If you would like to become a MentorSET Mentor, please contact us for more information at mentorset@wes.org.uk.
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#INWED17 Launched!
In 2017 NWED is going international. It's now time to start planning for
Want to get more involved and help ensure that we reach even more girls and women in engineering? Become a corporate sponsor! Click here for more information.
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RAEng Progression Framework for Industrial Bodies
On 15 th December Kirsten Oliver, Ife Kanu and Sarah Peers represented WES at the launch of the Diversity and Inclusion Progression Framework developed by the Royal Academy of Engineering in conjunction with the Science Council. Over 100 people from a range of society and Industry bodies attended the launch and listened to the lessons learned from those organisations that took part in the pilot study. Professional bodies are tasked with increasing the diversity of membership and this framework provides the steps necessary for internal evaluation. While WES is up there with the "female" population, how diverse are we with other groups, e.g. men? The pilot feedback was mixed, but what was apparent is it did get people within the professional bodies talking.
Inclusive Cultures
The Royal Academy of Engineering has a vision of an inclusive engineering sector that inspires, attracts and retains people from diverse backgrounds and reflects UK society. To find out how close the sector is to achieving the vision, the Academy wants to hear the views of people currently working in engineering roles, and on engineering projects. If you are an Engineer working in an engineering role, please complete the questionnaire and encourage as many of your colleagues and friends as possible. The questionnaire closes 27 January 2017.
Read more here
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On 16th January 2017, six engineers, including WES Early Careers Board Member Yasmin Ali, entertained a crowd of a hundred people in the basement of a pub in Central London with some engineering themed comedy.
The event was organised by Engineering Showoff, and all proceeds were donated to Engineers Without Borders. Engineering Showoff are looking for participants for events in London in February, and Cambridge in March. All participants will receive professional comedy and public speaking training, as well as a valuable opportunity to try something different!
For further information, email engineer@scienceshowoff.org
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Huge Increase in number of girls entering Talent 2030
Talent 2030 National Engineering Competition for Girls had already worked with a thousand of the brightest young female school pupils on solving the world's problems through engineering. And there was a record number of entries for 2016, with over 700 girls, up 63% from last year.
Dr Sarah Peers, Vice President of the Women's Engineering Society (WES) and Talent 2030 judge said: "The 63% increase in entries proves girls' appetite and aptitude for engineering, but we must now translate this into exciting routes into engineering jobs, education and training and recruitment practices with no gender barrier."
David Docherty, Chief Executive of the National Centre for Universities and Business (NCUB)
said: "Less than 8% of UK engineers are women. Industry, government and educationalists must work together to improve that number, to strengthen the UK's potential to lead the world in manufacturing and engineering".
Talent 2030 is an ambitious campaign to bring female talent into engineering and manufacturing industries. It tracks the number of girls completing GCSE and A-level physics against realistic targets if the UK is to reach European averages. Sponsored by Rolls-Royce, PepsiCo and Centrica, the competition asks girls to explore engineering solutions to twenty-first century problems. With prizes of £1000 and a mentor for winners, plus cash awards for the runners-up, all shortlisted entrants are invited to the Big Bang Fair in Birmingham in March 2017, to exhibit their ideas and receive their certificates and prizes. All winners and runners-up have the exclusive opportunity to visit our sponsor facilities.
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Graduate Programmes
Vacancies
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Delivering a European Portable Building Energy
Performance Skills Platform
30 January 2017 | Savoy Place, London
The MEnS project is about the Meeting of Energy professional Skills that will be needed to meet the targets for energy consumption, or carbon emission, agreed by the member states of the European Union. The conference will be an opportunity to find out about the various initiatives and training courses that have come about due to the MEnS project and other projects that are funded by the EU's Horizon 2020 fund. Two tenets of the MEnS project have been to encourage more (1) women, and (2) currently-unemployed people, to get involved in energy management at a professional-level.
Read more here |
Funny Women: Funny Business - Self-development Event
4 February 2017 | London
Start off your new year by spending a life-changing day with Funny Women exploring business from a different perspective. It has been proven that 'funny' really is good for business and being able to use humour in your professional and personal life is both liberating and empowering. Funny Women's Accidental Conference series focuses on how to successfully manage your life professionally and creatively whether you want to put on a show or start a business. Our day of workshops combines performance-based skills such as improvisation, body language and mind fitness with business related topics including taxation, crowdfunding, marketing and personal branding.
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Robots at the Science Museum
8 February - 3 September 2017 | London
Discover the remarkable 500- year story of humanoid robots. Opening in February 2017, our next blockbuster exhibition will explore the 500-year story of humanoid robots and the artistic and scientific quest to understand what it means to be human.
Read more here |
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2017 FDM everywoman in Technology Awards
9 February 2017 | London
The Awards encourage greater numbers of women to work in tech, driving awareness of career opportunities, as well as showcasing the breadth and diversity of talent contributed by women in tech across industries.
Read more here |
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SMASHfestUK 2017 call for engineers!
16-17 February 2017 | South East London
SMASHfestUK returns to South East London to entertain the young people of Deptford and their families.
In the wake of the SUPERVOLCANIC ERUPTION we will need your help to build a survival village for volcanic refugees. We need you to engage with the young people and get them involved in the project, so engineers give us a shout! We also need volunteers from all other fields to make this work so please get in touch if you can help save Deptford from its Volcanic Fate!
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The Role of Professional Bodies Within Engineering Education
21 February 2017 |
University College London
As the engineering industry moves into the digital era, ways of working are changing profoundly and this will in turn affect the role of professionals. Yet the means by which professional competence is developed and assessed has changed little in the last 20years. The UK enjoys an abundance of professional engineering institutions and other bodies that support professionaldevelopment but many of these appear to be not as well connected as they should be with young people entering the industry.
So what is the new role of professional bodies within engineering education? How can they adapt their professional development value proposition to members and employers in the digital world?
Phil Davis, Director of Technical Learning & Development at Atkins will be giving the industry take on this, and
Jon Prichard,
Chief Executive of The Institution of Chemical Engineers will be giving his thoughts from the professional bodies side.
Please do join us for what is always a really interesting debate, followed by drinks and networking.
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Women of Westminster: Pre-MIPIM Network
Westminster Business Council is a connections agency bringing professionals together through informative and engaging events.
We will be soon entering MIPIM season, an important time for those in the Property and Construction industry. WBC will be using this theme to give a voice to the successful women in this sector.
Our annual Pre-MIPIM networking evening brings together great speakers while creating a relaxed atmosphere of good company and networking to be had.
We hope you can join us on the 23rd of February to share your stories and make great connections with like-minded professionals.
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Women in the workplace seminar
23 February 2017 | Central London
Guest of Honour: Caroline Dinenage MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Women, Equalities and Early Years
Key topics for discussion will include the gender pay gap; tackling sex and maternity discrimination; improving the availability of high-quality childcare provision and the challenges for increasing the proportion of women in leadership and executive management positions within the British economy.
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Claudia Parsons Memorial Lecture
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The Big Bang Fair 2017
15-18 March 2017 | The NEC, Birmingham
Exciting theatre shows, hands-on activities, interactive workshops, excellent careers information, and much more!
Give your students or children a unique opportunity to explore where their future can take them at the UK's largest celebration of science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) for young people.
They will be spoilt for choice with 12 mind-boggling theatre shows, over 150 hands-on activities and the opportunity to talk to thousands of scientists and engineers from leading companies across the UK, including young people who have just started work.
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STEM Scotland 2017
21 March 2017 | Dynamic Earth, Edinburgh
Building on the success of 2016's launch event, STEM Scotland 2017 will again bring together senior educators to join with policy makers, leading academics and industry leaders to discuss the root causes behind the decline in STEM subject take up.
Key speakers are due to include:
- Sheila Rowan MBE, Chief Scientific Adviser to the Scottish Government
- John Swinney MSP, Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills (TBC)
- Keir Bloomer, Chair of the Court of Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh, Chair of the Tapestry Partnership, Chair of the Commission on School Reform and Vice-convenor of Children in Scotland
- Tim Bedford, Associate Deputy Principal for Knowledge Exchange, Strathclyde University
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New Year, New STEM career
Seize a new career opportunity in 2017 with a job at one of the top international engineering firms. Where Women Work is working with some of the greatest names in the industry including AECOM, Thales, Schneider Electric, Arup and the University of Sheffield to help recruit female talent and develop career opportunities in the sector. Make sure 2017 is
your year and apply now for a brilliant engineering
career at Where Women Work.
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#BeBoldForChange for International Women's Day 2017
Support the 2017 International Women's Day campaign and plan your # BeBoldForChange activity. Guidance and resources will soon be available on the IWD website. Corporate partnerships for International Women's 2017 Day are being finalised, so please make contact if your organisation seeks to join an impressive array of global organisations as a partner supporting IWD including EY, AECOM, BP, Caterpillar Inc, EBRD, MetLife, Western Union, WAGGGS, Catalyst Inc and more.
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The Royal Society Awards - Call for nominations
Rosalind Franklin Award & Lecture 2017
The Royal Society Rosalind Franklin Award is made annually to support and promote women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, and the winner will receive a grant of £30,000 to implement a project to raise the profile of women in STEM. The call for nominations is now open.
More information about the Award, including terms and conditions and nomination forms, can be found on our website.
Milner Award 2017
The 2017 Milner Award call for nominations is now open.
The Royal Society Milner Award is supported by Microsoft Research, and is awarded annually for outstanding achievement in computer science by a European researcher. The nomination form is now online.
The closing date for nominations for both awards is 30 January 2017 at 18.00 GMT.
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Nominations open for RAEng 2017 Prizes and Medals
Closing date: 13 February 2017
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Channel 4 Casting Call for new Engineering Show
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The Engineering Development Trust courses
Year 11 (S4, NI Year 12) - Inspire Programme
Do you know Year 11 students who have a passion for STEM? Let us Inspire them at a three day course at a leading university. Each Inspire course is a mixture of exciting hands-on STEM projects, meeting engineers and hearing about university life from lecturers, admissions tutors and post-grad students. Anyone with an interest in creativity and problem solving can have a rewarding career in STEM. Find out more about Inspire and apply here: http://www.etrust.org.uk/inspirecourse. The Inspire flyer will give Year 11 students more details.
New for 2017: Boys course at Glasgow Caledonian University
Click here to find out more.
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Royal Academy of Engineering Survey
The Academy is undertaking a ground breaking project to develop an evidenced based narrative on the culture of engineering, and the extent to which it is inclusive of people from diverse backgrounds. As part of this, a survey is currently being completed by people across the UK working in engineering roles and on engineering projects. As of today around 3,000 engineers have completed to the survey and we would really like your help in increasing this number to at least 10,000, by the time the survey closes on 27 January.
Please do complete the survey and share it amongst your networks encouraging others to complete it so that we can see how close the sector is to achieving our vision of inclusive engineering sector that inspires, attracts and retains people from diverse backgrounds and reflects UK society.
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UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Board
The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) is seeking to appoint between 9-12 Non-Executive Directors to become Members of the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Board. UKRI, a new, independent, non-departmental public body, will bring together the functions of the seven Research Councils, Innovate UK, and the research and knowledge exchange functions of the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) (to be known as Research England). The UKRI Board will play a critical role in establishing this new organisation, providing clear strategic direction and oversight, promoting the importance UK Science and Innovation and supporting the senior leadership team to embed new ways of working across the organisation. BEIS are looking for candidates with experience in at least one of the following:
- experience of research into science, social sciences, technology, humanities, the arts and new ideas;
- experience in the development and exploitation of science, technology and new ideas;
- experience in industrial, commercial and financial matters relating to innovative business sectors, or in the science and technology sector.
Applicants with a range of experience from within the different nations of the UK and with international experience from within the public, private and charity sectors are all encouraged to apply.
Applications are welcome from all, especially from women, minority ethnic and disabled candidates who are under-represented at this level in public life. The advert for these positions closes on February 17th. Read more here |
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Waterway Recovery Group - Call for volunteers
Waterway Recovery Group provides practical and technical support to waterways restoration projects across the country as well as providing skills training for volunteers. Through their volunteering holidays, called Canal Camps, they undertake major construction projects to restore locks, build canal basins and rebuild bridges. Canal Camps offer volunteers a fantastic chance to learn new skills such as bricklaying, machine operation, and restoration techniques as well as putting into practice skills they might already have!
If you are interested in finding out more about the Waterway Recovery Group or would like to get involved please visit their website: www.wrg.org.uk or contact them on enquiries@wrg.org.uk
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Post Career Break Fellowship at CERN
CERN has launched a programme to offer full-time or part-time Fellowships to science and engineering graduates wishing to re-start their careers. This is an outstanding chance for you to update your knowledge and skills working for up to three years in an international environment at the forefront of research. Deadline to submit applications: 28 February 2017. Read more here
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December - January
- 1 December - IET Young Women Engineer Awards, WES held a stand, attended by Benita Mehra, Roseni Dearden, Kirsten Bodley
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8 December - Maritime Enterprise Innovation Conference, Glasgow, Ifeyinwa Rita Kanu
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13 December - All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) Understanding the impact of disability and gender on employment.
Note that WES gets invites to several APPG meetings through the year, if any WES member is interested in having a say, please let the Cath Heslop know by emailing her at info@wes.org.uk
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15 December - RAEng Event - Launch of Equality Diversity and Inclusion Progression Framework for Engineering and Science, attended by Sarah Peers, Ifeyinwa Rita Kanu, Kirsten Oliver
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13 January - Radius Employee Network Leaders Summit: Fostering Global Collaboration, attended by Kristen Ferma
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23 January - Women and Work APPG Annual Report Launch, London, Sarah Peers will be attending
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25 January - All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Women in Transport, London, Benita Mehra will be attending
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31 January - CIOB Diversity drinks reception, London, Benita will be attending
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The Woman Engineer Winter 2016 journal is now available! All issues of the WES journal are available here. Become a member and get your own copy delivered to your door.
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