Academy celebrates International Women in Engineering Day with launch of new video

​The Academy has today launched a new video ‘Women in engineering: let’s change the world’, as part of its sponsorship of the very first International Women in Engineering Day (INWED), which takes place on 23 June 2017 under the patronage of UNESCO. INWED, which was initially established as a national day by the Women’s Engineering Society (WES) in 2014, celebrates the achievements of women in engineering from all backgrounds on an international scale, and encourages more girls to consider a career in the field.
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The new video, ‘Women in engineering: let’s change the world’ profiles five inspiring women engineers from Mozambique, Uganda, Palestine, Germany and the UK. All five role models have been actively involved with the Academy through its International, Queen Elizabeth Prize, Enterprise Hub and other activities and have a fascinating story to tell about their different routes into STEM. The video also highlights the important role both men and women can play as allies to help improve diversity and inclusion in the profession.

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The five role models profiled are:

• Dr Enass Abo-Hamed, CEO and Co-founder of H2GO Power and Academy Enterprise Fellow
• Philippa Jefferis, Highways Engineer at Amey and Ambassador of the Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering
• Hindu Nabulumba, Co-founder of Yaaka Digital Learning Network and finalist for the Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation
• Aline Saraiva Okello, Hydrologist and Developer, HarvestRain Water App and shortlisted for the Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation
• Nadine Stech, Senior Control Design Engineer, Blatchford and member of the team that won the 2016 MacRobert Award, the premier award for UK innovation in engineering

The Academy is also hosting a special Innovators Network breakfast event to mark International Women in Engineering Day, focused on how to improve diversity and inclusion in the engineering startup and scale-up ecosystem. Attendees will hear from Sophie Jarvis from The Entrepreneurs Network, who will discuss the findings of a recent study into gender bias against female entrepreneurs, as well as a panel of enterprise experts, including Academy Deputy CEO Dr Hayaatun Sillem.   
 
‘Women in Engineering: let’s change the world’ is available for other organisations, schools, universities and individuals to use at events and in communications. For further information, please contact diversityteam@raeng.org.uk.
For further information about women in the Academy’s Fellowship, please visit: www.raeng.org.uk/diversity-fellowship. 
 
You can see the new video below.

Notes for editors

1. Royal Academy of Engineering. As the UK’s national academy for engineering, we bring together the most successful and talented engineers for a shared purpose: to advance and promote excellence in engineering. We provide analysis and policy support to promote the UK’s role as a great place to do business. We take a lead on engineering education and we invest in the UK’s world-class research base to underpin innovation. We work to improve public awareness and understanding of engineering. We are a national academy with a global outlook.

We have four strategic challenges:
- Make the UK the leading nation for engineering innovation
- Address the engineering skills crisis
- Position engineering at the heart of society
- Lead the profession

1. The Royal Academy of Engineering Diversity and Inclusion Programme Strategy 2016-2020. The Royal Academy of Engineering is running a programme to increase diversity and inclusion across the engineering profession:

 
Vision:
An inclusive engineering profession that inspires attracts and retains people from diverse backgrounds and reflects UK society.
 
Mission:
Leading the engineering profession to challenge the status quo, stimulate cultural change and improve diversity and inclusion.
 
We have five strategic aims: challenge the status quo; demonstrate leadership; sustain and extend current relationships; communicate and consult; and publicise success measures and benchmarks
 

1. The Royal Academy of Engineering’s Enterprise Hub is a national resource for the UK’s most promising engineering entrepreneurs. The Hub forms part of the Academy’s commitment to stimulate excellence and promote creativity and innovation in engineering. The Hub does this by making awards to exemplars of excellence and innovation in engineering who will be the founders and leaders of tomorrow’s high-tech companies. The awards include provision of money-can’t-buy bespoke support and one-to-one mentoring from its Fellowship, which comprises many of the country’s most successful engineers from across academia and industry, including prominent entrepreneurs and business leaders such as Mike Lynch OBE FREng FRS, Sir Robin Saxby FREng FRS, and Anne Glover CBE HonFREng.