To celebrate Ada Lovelace Day, six young female engineers working on projects ranging from future combat jets and spaceplanes to artificial intelligence have been announced as finalists for the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) Young Woman Engineer of the Year Awards 2018.
These prestigious engineering industry awards celebrate women working in modern engineering – and aim to help change the perception that engineering is predominantly a career for men by banishing outdated engineering stereotypes of hard hats and dirty overalls.
The finalists are
Kate Self (20), Shajida Akthar (22), Sophie Harker (26), Amy Wright (28), Lorna Bennet (29), and Dr Claire Donoghue (33) have all been shortlisted for awards.
As well as highlighting female engineering talent, the IET Young Woman Engineer of the Year Awards seek to find role models who can help address the UK science and engineering skills crisis by promoting engineering careers to more girls and women. Just 12% of those working in engineering occupations were women (source: Engineering UK).
Jo Foster, Diversity and Inclusion Manager at the IET said: “Engineering is a fantastic career – it’s diverse and exciting with the opportunity to do something life- or world-changing. But the lack of women in the sector is a huge problem.
“The difficulty in attracting women into engineering is down to a combination of things, including the image of engineers within the UK, careers advice girls are given in schools and the way that companies with engineering roles advertise their opportunities.
“It’s also a result of the lack of engineering role models for girls, which is why our Young Woman Engineer of the Year Awards are all about finding role models to get girls – and young people in general – excited and inspired about a career in engineering.
“I’d like to congratulate Kate, Shajida, Sophie, Amy, Lorna and Claire for making the final six and in helping to demonstrate the tremendous female engineering talent in our industry today.”
Minister for the Year of Engineering Nusrat Ghani added: “Engineers shape the world around us, and are at the forefront of tackling some of the biggest challenges we face – from protecting our environment, to harnessing the power of AI to fight disease. So it’s vital that we encourage more girls to consider careers in the profession and be part of shaping a future that works for everyone.
“Celebrating creative, innovative and stereotype-smashing engineers from all backgrounds is at the heart of the Year of Engineering, and it’s fantastic to see the achievements of some of the many brilliant women in engineering being recognised by the IET today. I’m sure all of these trailblazing finalists will play a crucial role in showing girls what they could achieve as engineers.”
The winners will be announced at the IET Young Woman Engineer of the Year Awards ceremony on 6 December at IET London: Savoy Place. For more information, visit www.theiet.org/ywe.
This year’s YWE Awards are being sponsored by Analog Devices, BAE Systems, Boeing, BP, Civil Aviation Authority, Coca Cola, GCHQ, GSK, Leonardo, MBDA, Ofcom, RAF, Royal Mail, Royal Navy, RS Components, Spirit Energy, Teledyne e2v, Wiley and WMG University of Warwick.
