Tag: Diversity

First dates announced for UWE’s new BAME girls in Engineering project

Author engineering | Posted on

Yesterday we were delighted to announce the launch Udonna Okeke’s new UWE Bristol project, BAME girls in Engineering, and we now have the exciting news that dates for the first two school visits for the project have been set. What better way to round off Tomorrow’s Engineers Week 2018 than helping to inspire the next generation?

The project offers opportunities for Black, Asian and minority ethnicity (BAME) girls, who are often under-represented in engineering, in Years 8 and 9 to visit local engineering or technology employers and to participate in mentoring meetings with professional BAME women in engineering role models.

Udonna has arranged two sessions on Wednesday 21st November for BAME girls and women in engineering to meet in group mentoring meetings.

These will take place at St Mary Redcliffe and Temple Secondary School in the morning and City Academy in the afternoon.

Engineers will be involved in workshop presentation and sharing of their individual experiences that can help motivate and inspire the students.

Udonna is currently looking for BAME women in engineering to get involved as mentors; he will organise for a taxi to pick you up from your preferred location in Bristol to take you to the City Academy or St Mary Redcliffe.

If you would like to be involved, please get in touch with Udonna.

BAME girls in Engineering: Opportunity to encourage diversity in engineering

Author engineering | Posted on

A new project sponsored by UWE Bristol has kicked off to encourage, motivate and inspire more girls of Black, Asian and minority ethnicity (BAME) into the fields of Engineering and Technology, where they are often under-represented.

The project offers opportunities for BAME girls in Years 8 and 9 to visit local engineering or technology employers (with all transportation costs covered) and to partake in mentoring meetings with professional BAME women in engineering role models.

“BAME girls in Engineering” is championed by Dr Udonna Okeke, a lecturer in Engineering Design and Mathematics at UWE Bristol. “This mentorship programme will help make the girls feel less alone as they chart a career path in Engineering and Technology,” said Udonna.

Why?

The UK has the lowest percentage of female engineering professionals in Europe and every year there is a shortfall in engineering skills.  It’s estimated that enabling more women to work in engineering and technology could add as much as £28 trillion to the annual GDP in 2025.

Of the 20.5% of women working in the engineering sector in the UK in 2017, only 8.1% were from BAME groups, implying that ethnic diversity in engineering and technology is another crucial issue to be resolved.

The BAME girls in Engineering initiative aims to promote a more diverse group of engineers and create a platform for them to be part of the innovative solutions to the engineering problems in the South West of England and the UK as a whole.

How to get involved

If you’re an engineering or technology employer in the Bristol region and want to get involved you can:

  • provide an opportunity for students to visit your engineering sites to see what it means to work on a typical engineering project
  • nominate BAME engineers within your company that can act as mentors to the girls in the project.
  • take part in UWE hosted celebration event for all those involved in the project in June 2019

To hear more about the project or to get involved as a company or school teacher, please do get in touch with Udonna.

Written by Louisa Cockbill for Engineering Our Future.

Making STEM for everyone – a new practitioner resource

Author engineering | Posted on

Would you like to help girls engage with Physics? Or  make sure your science engagement is inclusive? May you’d just like to know how strong your unconscious bias is?

The Science Communication Unit at UWE Bristol has published a new practitioner guide which can point you to the resources to help with this, and more.

Making STEM for everyone: Resources for supporting people from under-represented groups to engage with Science, Technology, Mathematics and Engineering is a compilation of useful online tests, guides and materials written by Dr Laura Hobbs and Dr Laura Fogg Rogers, who also run Engineering Our Future project Women Like Me.

Drawing on a range of project outputs, industry schemes, toolkits and reports from across the STEM landscape, the guide provides a compilation of information and resources to assist anyone wishing to reach people who may face barriers to engaging with STEM subjects.

The contents of the guide are:

Background
General information on under-represented groups in STEM and what influences participation in STEM

Science capital
Understanding the term ‘science capital’ and its application

Diversity in science, positive role models and case studies
Examples of people from under-represented groups in STEM, and resources to support the concept of ‘STEM for all’

What could a STEM career look like?
Examples of roles using STEM

Engineering in a different light
Engineering might not be what you think it is…

Inclusion in the classroom
Inclusive STEM teaching support

Breaking the mould
Challenges to stereotypes in popular culture

Encouraging people into STEM
Resources to support interests in STEM

If you’re interested in more expert guidance, check the Science Communication Unit website for a full list of available practitioner guides.

TeachMeet South West: Improving STEM for girls

Author engineering | Posted on

28th June 2018   4:30 – 6:00 pm

 https://uwe.formstack.com/forms/teachmeet

Aimed at science teachers and educators, this free event is open to all

UWE Bristol Exhibition and Conference Centre, Filton Road, Stoke Gifford, Bristol, BS34 8QZ

How do you include girls in your STEM practice?

  • Hear from experts in role modelling and inclusion for girls in STEM
  • Share your experience of encouraging girls to take up a career in STEM professions
  • Meet science-teachers and educators from across the West


Improving STEM for girls
Led by Laura Fogg Rogers from the University of the West of England, this TeachMeet will feature guest speaker Shaaron Leverment.

Shaaron is from the Association for Science and Discovery Centres, and the Hypatia Project, the EU Horizon 2020 project which is challenging gender stereotyping and sharing the practical top tips that can re-position your practice and make a real difference to the gender-inclusivity of STEM communication.

Come along and share your professional experience in promoting STEM careers to girls in schools/colleges.

What has/has not worked for you? We look forward to meeting you at the event

On arrival please enter through the UWE North Entrance and park in the Exhibition and Conference Centre car park.

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