SheCanEngineer

Season 2 of the SheCanEngineer kicks off with a wonderful guest, who the SheCanEngineer team had the pleasure of meeting at the 2022 SheCanEngineer INWED STEM Day! Rose Russell is an Art and D&T Technician at the Ursuline Academy IIford, and is also the STEM Co-ordinator. With a background in Fashion, she never really envisaged a career championing STEM, and in particular, Engineering! But when she founded the academy's STEM Club, she found that students really wanted to get involved - and now there is a waiting list for it! Rose has won multiple awards, and doesn't usually like the limelight, she believes the success of the STEM Club is down to teamwork and the students - which is all true but she doesn't give herself enough credit! Listen to how she made it all happen, the impact it has had on past and current students, and despite the challenges, why it is all worth it.

Welcome back to another episode of the SheCanEngineer Podcast. Following on from the INWED celebrations, we chat to Francesca O’Hanlon, an innovator and inventor who uses her Engineering expertise and entrepreneurship skills to solve a very real problem.

Francesca is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Cambridge and Founder and CEO of Blue Tap, a social enterprise that has developed affordable household water treatment technology. Blue Tap has run water treatment projects in Uganda and Kenya and is beginning a new project in India in the summer of 2022. Francesca founded Blue Tap after working for the charity Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) for two years in South Sudan and the Central African Republic, where she coordinated the water supply for emergency hospitals in conflict settings. Francesca has won a National Geographic Explorers Award for her work for Blue Tap and for her PhD research in climate resilience and water security.

In this episode, we discuss how even though engineers are the ones with the good ideas, taking that risk to commericialise these ideas and products can seem such a big scary step, but there are ways to do this with relatively low risk. Francesca also highlights how even if your business fails, you are still a success in other ways, as well as key role models who inspired her in her career.

I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as we did and. As ever, we would love to hear from you and anything you would like to share on this topic!

SheCanEngineer team

For info and registration, visit www.shecanengineer.com/upcoming-events

Welcome back to another episode of the SheCanEngineer Podcast. In this episode we are going to talk about Allyship. Our guests James Townsend and Tim Hurstwyn will share their experiences as diversity allies in the Engineering industry.

James is an Area Manager at Thames Water where he has worked for 9 years, wholly in the Operational side of the business, working with a team that spans across the majority of London. Tim joined Sellar as Development Manager after over 20 years of experience as Civil and Structural Engineer.

James is the Women’s Network Project Advisor at Thames Water while Tim has acted as a mentor, both formally and informally, for dozens of people at all levels, both within his organisation and externally. They have very different experiences on what it means to be an ally but for both of them everything starts from the smallest actions.

In this episode you will find out that being an ally does not always require grand gestures, both in the workplace and in society. Everyone of us can open up the conversation, step outside our comfort zone and listen. Everyone of us can be an ally!

We hope you enjoy this conversation as much as we did and, as ever, we would love to hear from you and anything you would like to share on this topic!

Welcome to the fourth episode of the SCE podcast featuring Helen Ramsay - Fellow Member of the Institution of Chemical Engineering (IChemE).

For over 20 years, Helen has encouraged students into STEM careers and developed Diversity & Inclusion policies in various organisations as well as building her career in environmental engineering and medical devices engineering management.  In this episode Helen talks about her experience as mentor in the Women in Engineering Society (WES) mentorship scheme.

What to look for in a mentor, how it can benefit your career aspirations, how to find the best mentor for you and also why you might want to eventually become a mentor yourself: these are only some of the topics you can discover in this episode.

In addition to this, Helen and our host Laura also discuss how mentorship can ultimately make a difference in tackling Diversity & Inclusion issues in the industry by supporting and representing those overcoming the challenges common to minority groups in early stages of their professional careers.

Mentorship really is a powerful tool for professional career development, both for junior engineers and more senior leaders. If you want to share some of your experiences as a mentor or mentee, as always, please do get in touch!

Transcripts of the episode are available on our website www.shecanengineer.com.

Welcome to another episode of the SCE podcast. In this new episode our guests Nigel Fine - Chief Executive and Secretary of the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET)- and Alice Bunn - Chief Executive of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE)- discuss the role of the Professional Engineering Institutions in driving change and supporting Diversity and Inclusion in the Engineering industry.

After highlighting the amazing progress made in the industry in the past years, both Alice and Nigel touch on an incredible variety of topics that are all linked to the issue of diversity in engineering and its key role in addressing the challenges of the future. The opportunity of flexible working and diversity campaigns, engineering education and STEM outreach, fostering collaboration and innovation: these are the tools that the professional bodies are using in the continuous effort to reshape the engineering industry and keep it modern and relevant to meet the needs of the next generation for a more diverse, ethic and sustainable future.

We hope you enjoy the conversation as much as we did. As always, we would love to hear your thoughts so don’t hesitate to get in touch!

Transcripts of the episode are available on our website www.shecanengineer.com. 

In this episode we are going to dive into one of the most important tools we can use to redefine the perception of engineering careers and attract as diverse as possible talents: education.

We are joined by Alexandra Knight, Chartered Engineer and Fellow of the IMechE with over 15 years’ experience of working in industry. She is the Founder of Stemazing – a social enterprise dedicated to inspiration and inclusion in STEM.

Alex shares her incredible career path; from when her teacher inspired her and suggested she explore the world of Engineering, becoming mechanical and medical engineer, from designing submarines to advancing infrastructure digitalisation and eventually founding Stemazing and winning awards for her work in championing diversity and inclusion in STEM.

By exposing kids to the variety of opportunities that a career in STEM can offer, she explains how education of young children is key to making a positive impact: it helps create tangible role models, break down cultural stereotypes, improve confidence, ignite curiosity and empower kids to see how school subjects can help solve real world problems.

And it is not just for students: focusing on education is so fundamental because it is often the starting point of a series of unpredictable virtuous circles that involve teachers, parents, volunteers and ultimately the wider society.

And you? Do you know what the “E” in STEM stands for?

We hope you enjoy this episode and if you want to take part in the discussion further, we would love to hear from you. You can get in touch with us on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn or via email at [email protected].

Welcome to the SheCanEngineer podcast!