Dr Shaila Afroj was recently announced as an Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) Women’s Engineering Society (WES) Ambassador for women in engineering.
WES and ESRPC are supporting 21 researchers to join WES and become Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) ambassadors in their networks and promote the understanding of gender issues and intersectionality in engineering.
EPSRC acknowledges the need for interventions to address the well-established underrepresentation of women in the engineering and physical sciences (EPS) community and aims to support researchers who wish to become EDI ambassadors in their networks. The awardees are expected to work independently and as a cohort to set an agenda for their personal and collective goals as members of WES.
Dr Afroj is a Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Print Research (CFPR) at UWE Bristol. She is currently investigating into graphene and other functional nanomaterials-based technologies aimed at developing scalable and cost-effective coatings and printing onto various substrate for functional and wearable electronics applications.
Dr Afroj commented: “I am passionate about advancing gender diversity across all disciplines, and creating inclusive and equitable working environments for individuals of all backgrounds in STEM and STEAM subject areas. As someone who has experienced being a minority in my research field, I am excited to join the committee and support these efforts. Beginning my career in Bangladesh, moving to Manchester for higher education, and then to Bristol for career growth, I have seen first-hand need for greater representation and inclusivity in the science and engineering communities.”