Women Like Me | Engineering Our Future

Women in Engineering Mentoring & Outreach Programme – get involved now!

louisacockbill | 4 January 20234 January 2023

‘Women Like Me’ is a peer mentoring and outreach project in the Bristol and Bath area aimed at boosting female representation at all levels in engineering. Senior women engineers are paired with junior women engineers and their mentoring journeys supported through various events. At the same time training and opportunities are provided for junior engineers to undertake engineering education outreach in local schools.

The programme has run with great success since 2018, and for 2023 we’re excited to be adding a new element to our mentoring support package!

In addition to our face-to-face networking and training events, this year we will be providing online mentoring support. Alexandra Knight, an award-winning engineer and presenter, who empowers women in STEM to be confident visible role models through her company STEMazing, will be heading up these online sessions, with particular emphasis on developing our Senior Engineers’ mentoring skills.

Who can take part?

If you have 5 years (or more) experience working in engineering – you’re a Senior Woman Engineer! – please sign up to be a Mentor here.

Junior women engineers are those with less experience than this, and can include apprentices, trainees, undergraduate and postgraduate students and postdoctoral researchers – with less than 5 years experience in engineering. Please sign up to be a Mentee here.

Date for the diary!

Please sign up in January, as we’ll collect all enrolments and pair you up mentor-to-mentee in early February before our kick off event on 23^rd Feb…

Women Like Me – 23^rd February, 4 – 6pm at UWE Bristol (Frenchay campus in Filton).

This event will introduce you to the Women Like Me programme, with some top tips and discussion about mentoring and outreach. And hopefully include getting to meet your new mentee/mentor for the first time (!) as well as the rest of this years cohort.

Those are the core details, but if you’d like to find out more about the programme – including why we think women mentoring is important, more detailed plans for this year, expectations from mentor/mentees, past successes etc – please read below.

Alexandra Knight gave a talk at the end of the 2022 programme

Why is this important?

Only 12% of engineers in the UK are women. In order to support female engineers, more girls need to connect with engineering as a career, with positive female role models, and more women need to be supported to make a difference in the workplace.

Women Like Me is addressing this by pairing together women engineers to provide career and public engagement mentoring. Participating engineers deliver engineering engagement activities in local schools and at local public events, providing positive role models for young girls. Through this approach, the project impacts the workplace today and the future of the engineering profession.

What will it involve?

Introductions – We offer various networking and training opportunities to all participants, this year the first session will be held face-to-face on 23rd Feb.

Goal setting – On 9th March, there’ll be an online goal setting session for mentors and mentees. Alexandra Knight (from STEMazing) will lead mentoring pairs through focused discussions to get their mentoring relationships off to a great start.

Mentor only coaching – This year will be a great opportunity for mentors to develop themselves as well as their mentees, with Alex leading four subsequent online ‘mentoring circle’ meetings for mentoring coaching and peer support. These sessions will be spread throughout the year and will be private sessions for mentors-only.

Mentoring meet-ups – We expect mentors and mentees to meet at least twice during the year – although we’d encourage more, if that’s possible for both parties. These meetings or conversations can take whatever form best suits each pair – something to discuss in your initial meetings in Feb/March.

Mentees public engagement – Junior engineers will receive training in public engagement (Senior Engineers can also take part!) and we ask them to then undertake at least three engineering outreach activities with local schools and public events. Coordination of activity is provided and supported by UWE – we’ll send you opportunities over email and support you in these sessions.

Log your activities – we then ask mentors to log their mentoring meet-ups, and the mentees to log their public engagement – this helps us to track how the programme is going.

More Women Like Me Info

This project was first launched in 2018 and is based in the Science Communication Unit and School of Engineering at UWE Bristol. The project is organised by Dr Louisa Cockbill and Ana Bristow, and was initiated by Dr Laura Fogg Rogers and Dr Laura Hobbs. It is supported by the initiative for Digital Engineering Technology & Innovation (DETI).

You can read about the successes of the project in previous years and access the 2018-2019 project report. A paper in the Journal of Science Communication, Fogg-Rogers and Hobbs (2019) places Women Like Me in the context of recruitment and retention of women in engineering.

For any further information please email engineeringourfuture@uwe.ac.uk or follow us on Twitter for updates.

How do I sign up?

If you’ve not already done this on the links above, here they are again! To take part in the project this year, interested participants should complete the appropriate online survey:

Senior Engineers (over 5 years experience) please complete this survey

Junior Engineers (less than 5 years experience) please complete this survey

The project coordinators will then be in touch in February to introduce you to your mentor/mentee.

UWE’s Engineering Family Fun Day a Great Success!

engineering | 4 July 20222 August 2022

Families from around Bristol recently came to UWE’s brand new School of Engineering building to enjoy a range of free science and engineering-based activities.

The families that came to the event explored different aspects of engineering such as coding and robotics through LEGO Mindstorm and Pepper (our humanoid robot), digitally engineering solutions to citywide problems through Minecraft, designing the best wind turbine blade in our craft activity, and other stations featuring, eco-houses, crafting and a free planetarium show from Explorer Dome.

The visitors to UWE’s new Engineering building were wowed by the space available to student engineers and also by an exhibition of children’s inventions. The inventions were submitted to the Leaders Award competition – a nationwide scheme that encourages children to solve problems using engineering thinking.

The event was a perfect opportunity to inspire younger children to think like engineers whilst having fun along the way, as well as introducing them to technology that they may not have been able to interact with otherwise. One 13 year old visitor exclaimed how much she loved the fun day saying one day she “would like to come here herself (UWE) and learn more” whilst another couldn’t wait to get home and try to make their own robots.

We would like to thank all the staff of UWE, helpers, and students that made this event happen for making it an amazing day!

Exploring our work-life balance: Women Like Me

anabristow | 16 May 20222 August 2022

The latest group of women to join UWE Bristol’s engineering mentoring programme, Women Like Me, took part in an online re-balancing workshop on May 11th, delivered by Developmental Coach, Joyce Birnie.

The workshop

Designed as a guided, self-coaching workshop, the session encouraged self-reflection and supported participants to explore some key questions about their own work-life balance, with the aim of helping them to:

make sense of what work-life balance means for them
identify opportunities for change
harness their strengths to create the shift in balance they want

Many participants found that when their life-work was in balance they noticed they enjoyed better sleep, felt more calm, confident and productive. When asked their thoughts on potential barriers to achieving balance, the most common response was the expectations of others.

Women Like Me 2022

This workshop was delivered as part of the 2022 programme for Women Like Me, a peer-mentoring and outreach project for women engineers, run by the School of Engineering and Science Communication Unit at UWE Bristol.

This year’s programme launched in March 2022 with a training and networking event hosted by the DETI Inspire team at UWE, in their new Prototype and Play outreach classroom within the new School of Engineering building. The launch event was very well attended, allowing mentors and mentees to meet in person, share their own experiences, and discuss the mentoring and outreach opportunities available to them as part of the programme.

Women Like Me participants discussing mentoring and outreach at the launch event in March 2022

If you would like more information on the re-balancing workshop, please get in touch with Joyce at joyce@joycebirniecoaching.co.uk, or if you would like to know more about the Women Like Me programme please contact engineeringourfuture@uwe.ac.uk

Upcoming Event: Empowering Women in Engineering

anabristow | 23 February 202223 February 2022

This event forms part of our celebrations for Women’s History Month, and will explore the historical and future role of women in shaping our cities.

This March 24th, the DETI Inspire team at UWE Bristol’s School of Engineering will be hosting a live event to celebrate Women’s History Month – Empowering Women in Engineering.

Joining us for the event as keynote speaker is Chartered Civil Engineer and Bridgemaster at Clifton Suspension Bridge, Trish Johnson.

During her talk, Trish will be sharing experiences of her career journey, including her current role supporting the conservation of Clifton Suspension Bridge – an engineering marvel, and iconic historical landmark in our city of Bristol.

There will be a Q&A plus Networking and Nibbles – an opportunity to meet and chat to other local women engineers and STEM professionals from the West of England.

Trish featured in our Engineering Curiosity card set, an educational resource for schools, which explores the diversity of engineering careers and people in the West of England

Time and Location

Thursday 24th March, 5pm-6.30pm at UWE Bristol School of Engineering, Frenchay Campus, Coldharbour Lane, Bristol, BS16 1QY

Event Timetable

5pm-5.30pm Networking and Nibbles

5.30pm-6.30pm Keynote from Trish Johnson, followed by Q&A

How to book

To register for this event, please complete the following online form: Empowering Women in Engineering Event Registration

This event will be preceded by a training day for participants in the Women Like Me mentoring and outreach project. If you have any questions about the event or Women Like Me, please get in touch with the team at engineeringourfuture@UWE.ac.uk

New round of peer mentoring and outreach project, Women Like Me, for 2022

anabristow | 14 January 202214 January 2022

Women Like Me is a peer mentoring and outreach project, aimed at boosting female representation in engineering.

How does it work?

Women Like Me pairs senior women engineers with junior women engineers to undertake mentoring and engineering education outreach in the Bristol and Bath area. Engineering is a creative, socially conscious, and collaborative discipline, and this project aims to support girls and women to make a difference in society.

Why is this important?

Women Like Me is addressing this by pairing together women engineers to provide career and public engagement mentoring. Participating engineers deliver engineering engagement activities in local schools and at local public events, providing positive role models for young girls. Through this approach, the project will lead to impact both in the workplace today, and for the future of the engineering profession.

Who can take part?

Mid-career and early career female engineers working in the Bristol and Bath area can get involved in the project. Senior women engineers are those who have been working in engineering for at least five years. Junior women engineers are those with less experience than this, and can include apprentices, trainees, undergraduate and postgraduate students and postdoctoral researchers.

What will it involve?

We will offer networking opportunities to all participants at the start (spring 2022) and end (winter 2022) of the project. We have an online training session planned for February, followed by an in-person networking event in March which will take place at UWE Bristol’s School of Engineering.

Senior engineers will receive support in mentoring and should meet with their junior engineer mentee at least twice during the project. This can take any form that best suits each pair.

Junior engineers will receive mentoring support from senior engineers and training in public engagement. They will then undertake at least three engineering outreach activities with local schools and public events. Coordination of activity is provided and supported by UWE.

Upcoming outreach activities include STEM workshops for schools and community groups, opportunities to get involved with regional competitions and celebration days such as the ‘If you were an engineer what would you do?’ competition by Primary Engineer, The Lego League, and the Great Science Share for Schools.

How do I sign up?

To take part in the project this year, interested participants should complete the appropriate online survey:

Senior Engineers (over 5 years experience) please complete this survey

Junior Engineers (less than 5 years experience) please complete this survey

The project coordinators will then be in touch having allocated the mentor/mentee pairs.

Want some more info?

This project was first launched in 2018 and is based in the Science Communication Unit and School of Engineering at UWE Bristol. The project is organised by Dr Laura Hobbs with support from Ana Bristow and Dr Louisa Cockbill, and was initiated by Dr Laura Fogg Rogers. It is supported by the initiative for Digital Engineering Technology & Innovation (DETI).

For any further information please email engineeringourfuture@uwe.ac.uk or follow us on Twitter for updates.

How to make engineering for everyone

louisacockbill | 13 January 20224 May 2022

The Engineering workforce in the UK is made up of only 12% Women and 7% of people from black, Asian and minority ethnicity backgrounds – so no wonder the sector is experiencing an employee shortfall! Engineering Industries are missing out on over half of the population, as well as, the vast range of experiences and perspectives that a diverse employee base brings to the table.

Digital Engineering Technology and Innovation (DETI)’s Innovate team at UWE Bristol wants to address the shortfall of engineers by finding how to best enable these underrepresented groups to enter and progress in the world of Engineering.

We asked Women, those with Neurodiversity, and people from Black, Asian, Brown and dual-heritage backgrounds, in the West of England – to tell us what they needed – check out the summary doc below to find out more.

Listening- Worshops-Executive-Summary Download

Women Like Me engineers inspire Bristol primary school students

engineering | 2 June 20212 June 2021

Based in the Science Communication Unit and Department of Engineering Design and Mathematics at UWE Bristol and organised by Dr Laura Hobbs and Dr Laura Fogg-Rogers, Women Like Me is a peer mentoring and outreach project, aimed at boosting female representation in engineering. It is supported by the initiative for Digital Engineering Technology & Innovation (DETI).

Engineers on our Women Like Me programme are currently undertaking engineering outreach and engagement with children in the Southwest. Recently, Whitehall Primary School in Bristol asked if our engineers could answer questions from their Year 2 pupils as part of their ‘Amazing Engineers’ topic.

The children’s perceptive questions ranged from ‘Why did you want to be an engineer?’ to ‘Did you play with Lego when you were 7 years old?’:

Why did you want to be an engineer?
Do you know what your next invention/work will be?
How hard is engineering?
Did you play with Lego when you were 7 years old?
What kind of things do you use at work?
What kind of engineer are you?
Do you like your job?
Did anyone help you with your first project?

Four women in engineering, three from our current cohort and one a Women Like Me alumna, produced videos in which they answered the children’s questions, giving them both insights into the varied roles in engineering, and representation of diversity within the sector.

With women making up only 12% of engineers in the UK, more girls need to connect with engineering as a career, with positive female role models, and more women need to be supported to make a difference in the workplace. Find out more about the importance of diversity in engineering here.

More ‘meet an engineer’ videos can be found in our playlist.

The school described the connection with engineers as a “great experience for the children”. They really enjoyed watching the videos and hearing from real-life engineers answering their questions.

The children absolutely LOVED the videos! They were talking about them for days – really excited and buzzing! We’re so grateful for the time taken by your engineers to record them.
Kathie Cooke, Whitehall Primary School

Digital Engineering Technology & Innovation (DETI) is a strategic programme of the West of England Combined Authority (WECA), delivered by the National Composites Centre, in partnership with the Centre for Modelling & Simulation, Digital Catapult, the University of the West of England, the University of Bristol, and the University of Bath. Industry partners include Airbus, GKN Aerospace, Rolls-Royce, and CFMS, with in kind contributions from UWE, Digital Catapult and Siemens. DETI is funded by £5m from WECA, with co-investment from the High Value Manufacturing Catapult and industry.

UWE Graduate Engineer featured in Prospects case study

anabristow | 18 February 202118 February 2021

Laura studied for a degree in mechanical engineering at the University of the West of England (UWE) before joining the Bus Engineering graduate scheme at FirstGroup. She recently shared her story in an interview with Prospects, helping students discover what it’s like to be a maintenance engineer.

In the interview Laura speaks about why she chose a career in engineering, a typically male-dominated industry, and gives her insight into how we might increase female representation – through relatable role models and more opportunity for girls to engage with engineering activities at a young age.

Girls also need to see more representation of people that look like them in engineering roles.

She also mentions becoming a member of the Women’s Engineering Society (WES) after attending conferences as a student at UWE, and how these experiences helped increase her confidence and develop supportive networks, allowing her to create a women’s engineering society whilst studying for her degree.

Read Laura’s full interview.

The issues raised in Laura’s interview are incredibly important. With women currently representing just 12% of the UK engineering workforce, more needs to be done to encourage and support girls to study and pursue a career in engineering and help retain those women already in the industry.

UWE Bristol’s peer mentoring programme Women Like Me aims to address these issues head on.

Women Like Me pairs mid-career women engineers with junior women engineers, and provides career and public engagement mentoring. As part of the programme, junior engineers deliver engineering engagement activities in local schools and at local public events, providing positive role models for young girls. Through this approach, the project will lead to impact both in the workplace today, and for the future of the engineering profession.

You can read more about the Women Like Me programme in 2021 here.

Women Like Me supports another 30 women in engineering

engineering | 16 February 202116 February 2021

After launching a new round in November 2020, the project has recently inducted a new cohort. Thirty women in engineering have been matched into 15 mentoring pairs, connecting senior engineers with junior engineers. The junior engineers are being linked to outreach opportunities, which despite current restrictions are available to undertake through remote provision and online platforms.

Participating engineers in this cohort come to the project from a range of engineering fields, including aerospace, civil engineering, renewable energy, robotics and more. Outreach opportunities such as The Big Beam In are available to participate in, with more to come.

Women Like Me addresses this by pairing mid-career women engineers with junior women engineers to provide career and public engagement mentoring. Junior engineers delivering engineering engagement activities in local schools and at local public events, provide positive role models for young girls. Through this approach, the project will lead to impact both in the workplace today, and for the future of the engineering profession.

Women Like Me relaunches for 2020-21

anabristow | 19 November 202019 November 2020

Women Like Me is a peer mentoring and outreach project, aimed at boosting female representation in engineering.

The project was first launched in 2018 and is based in the Science Communication Unit and Department of Engineering Design and Mathematics at UWE Bristol. The project is organised by Dr Laura Hobbs and Dr Laura Fogg-Rogers, and is supported by the initiative for Digital Engineering Technology & Innovation (DETI).

Women Like Me pairs senior women engineers with junior women engineers to undertake mentoring and engineering education outreach in the West of England region. Engineering is a creative, socially conscious, and collaborative discipline, and this project aims to support girls and women to make a difference in society.

Why is this important?

Women Like Me is addressing this by pairing mid-career women engineers with junior women engineers to provide career and public engagement mentoring. Junior engineers will deliver engineering engagement activities in local schools and at local public events, providing positive role models for young girls. Through this approach, the project will lead to impact both in the workplace today, and for the future of the engineering profession.

Who can take part?

Mid-career and early career female engineers working in the West of England region can get involved in the project. Senior women engineers are those who have been working in engineering for at least five years. Junior women engineers are those with less experience than this, and can include apprentices, trainees, undergraduate and postgraduate students and postdoctoral researchers.

What will it involve?

We will offer networking opportunities to all participants at the start (autumn 2020) and end (summer 2021) of the project. Depending on COVID restrictions, these may take place virtually. Senior engineers will receive support in mentoring and should meet with their junior engineer mentee at least twice during the project. This can take any form that best suits each pair. Junior engineers will receive mentoring support from senior engineers and training in public engagement. They will then undertake at least three engineering outreach activities with local schools and public events, which again, may be virtual. Coordination of activity is provided and supported by UWE.

How do I sign up?

To take part in the project this year, participants should complete the DETI Diversity Demonstrator survey and select Women Like Me from the list of areas of interest (along with any other areas you are interested in!) by Friday 4th December. The project coordinators will then be in touch having allocated the mentor/mentee pairs.

Want some more info?

Recording of WLM Launch Webinar, Nov 2020

For any further information please email engineeringourfuture@uwe.ac.uk or follow us on Twitter for updates.

DETI is a strategic programme of the West of England Combined Authority (WECA), delivered by the National Composites Centre, in partnership with the Centre for Modelling & Simulation, Digital Catapult, the University of the West of England, the University of Bristol, and the University of Bath. DETI is funded by £5m from WECA, with co-investment from the High Value Manufacturing Catapult and industry.