To recognise International Women in Engineering Day (INWED) on June 23rd, WISE organised two online events to celebrate the amazing work that women engineers are doing to support lives and livelihoods every day, and to nurture and advise women engineers of the future.
Celebrating talented women on International Women in Engineering Day
This event put the spotlight on the inspirational engineering role models who #makesafetyseen and are helping to build towards a brighter future. Firstly, Nintse Dan-The, Graduate Systems Engineer from Northrop Grumman UK and a WISE Young Professional Board Member spoke about her experience of using My Skills My Life, a WISE outreach project which aims to inspire girls towards choosing careers in STEM. The tool matches young people’s skills and interests with women role models from the STEM industry.
We then heard from three engineering role models: Elizabeth Lloyd from Capgemini, Sana Wajid from Network Rail, and Sophie Mear from PA Consulting. All our inspiring engineers took part in a panel discussion focused on the importance of diversity and mentorship in engineering.
If you missed the event, you can watch it using the video link below (left).
Looking for a start in engineering?
In the afternoon, WISE and industry experts, Network Rail, ran an informative recruitment focused event, with advice about how and why to build a successful future career in engineering. This webinar was specifically aimed at students, graduates, apprentices, returners and job hunters.
To kick off the event, Southern Network Rail’s Change Programme Director, Sam Chessex, gave an overview of the company and the positive work culture that they offer to women engineers. Four employees of Network Rail joined for panel discussions. Our speakers included Louise Greaves, Infrastructure Maintenance Delivery Manager, Sana Wajid, Principal Engineer, Lilian Ateng, Asset Data Engineer and Ronnie Hei Long Li, Assets Engineer. Each panellist spoke about her own personal journey into engineering, the challenges as well as the successes they each experienced along the way.
They gave other aspiring young women engineers advice about what they should be looking out for in a prospective employer: an indication that they are genuinely committed to supporting the participation, contribution, and success of women within their organisation. “Google the life out of companies”, said Lilian, “If there’s no women on the board of directors, that would be a worrying sign”. The speakers discussed some of the most impactful and transformative D&I initiatives undertaken by Network Rail, and ended by giving advice to any women hoping to follow in their footsteps.
Finally, Yasmin Ajudua and Chloe Bertenshaw from Resourcing Business Partners ran a Careers session. This included a practical CV workshop, tips on personal branding and interview techniques.
If you missed the event, you can watch it using the video link below (right).