KENT & MEDWAY ENGINEERING & MANUFACTURING GUILD Newsletter -Wom… · Young engineers show how...

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Newsletter

Special Edition

Women in Engineering

KENT & MEDWAY

ENGINEERING & MANUFACTURING

GUILD

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Newsletter Special Edition


KENT & MEDWAY

ENGINEERING & MANUFACTURING

GUILD

p3.

Welcome ….. from the new K&M

E&M Guild Chair, Kevin Bush

p.4

The Women’s Engineering Society Cele-

brates 100 years of breaking barriers for

women engineers

p.5

Young engineers show how creative, ex-

citing and dynamic engineering can be

in a series of videos, available on

YouTube

p.6

Speed Networking Save the date to meet engineers face

to face and to hear about their work Apprenticeship

Case Studies.

p.8-11

Read about four young women carving

out great careers in engineering

p.12

News about a new programme for low-

skilled people to train for high value

jobs in the engineering sector

p.7 Choreography &

Coding.

That’s different! Hear how

you can learn coding

through the medium of dance

P. 13-14 Competition: identify three

notable women engineers to win

https://www.interreg2seas.eu/en

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Welcome to this Special Edition of the Engineering and Manufacturing Guild newsletter,

which celebrates the contribution that women make to the sector and illustrates the opportunities

available for young women considering their future careers.

As we in the sector know, there is a lot more to engineering than oily blue overalls and a set of spanners!

The roles in engineering are so wide-ranging that it would be impossible to list them here but, put simply,

engineering is an attractive job for anybody that enjoys problem solving, teamwork, creativity… and mak-

ing an improvement to the world in which we live.

I would urge anybody reading this newsletter to look at the videos produced by Engineering UK ‘This is Engi-

neering’ available on youtube (see page 4) explaining the roles of young engineers; from apprentices that

keep planes in the air, to graduates working on robots that will feed the world, and post-graduates designing

and building the tunnels, roads and bridges that allow us to move around. Their stories are remarkable…

and, I am sure you will agree, inspiring!

Closer to home, you might also like to read about IPS’ female trainees at BAE Systems, National Grid, and

Coca Cola , four young women who are progressing strongly in their careers following the apprenticeship

route—which they all highly recommend.

Finally, I must mention the Centenary year of the Women’s Engineering Society which formed in 1919, short-

ly after the end of the Great War. While the young men of this country had been fighting in France, the

women took on roles in the factories, producing steel, building engines, constructing airplanes, providing

weapons and ammunition and carrying out many ‘engineering’ roles. Some of these remarkable women got

a taste for the job and started the WES which has since campaigned for education, training and employment

for women in the sector for a hundred years—to be celebrated in June. [For the full story, see page 2]

At the present time, despite the efforts of WES and others, and despite the many exciting and varied roles

available, only 12% of engineers are women. The sector is well aware of the missed potential that this ratio

illustrates, with a huge talent pool of bright young women bypassing the sector. One of the key priorities of

the Guild is to address this imbalance by demonstrating the opportunities available and welcoming all wom-

en to the sector. With this in mind, we will be holding a series of events and campaigns in the coming

months ….and years.

Kevin Bush,

Chair, Kent & Medway Manufacturing

& Engineering Guild

KENT & MEDWAY MANUFACTURING & ENGINEERING GUILD



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2019 is the Centenary Year of the Women’s Engineering Society

To mark this occasion the Kent & Medway Engineering & Manufacturing Guild is run-

ning a campaign to attract girls and women into engineering careers.

The Women's Engineering Society, WES, is the oldest women's engineering organisation in the world,

having been set up after the First World War in 1919 to support and inspire women in engineering

and technical professions …. And it is still going strong today!

WES was founded by Lady Parsons in 1919 in response to the employment difficulties experienced by

women who had become engineers during World War 1. Lady Parsons and her daughter, Rachel Par-

sons, had both worked in engineering during the war and quickly attracted other female pioneers to

join WES. Full details of the history of the Society is available on :

www.wes.org.uk Today, the Women's Engineering Society is a charity and a professional

network of women engineers, scientists and technologists offering inspi-

ration, support and professional development. Working in partnership,

WES supports and inspires women to achieve as engineers, scientists and

as leaders; WES encourages the education of engineering; and supports

companies with gender diversity and inclusion.

WES’ vision…..

…. a nation in which women are as likely as men to choose to study and work in engineering, and one in which there are enough engineers to meet a growing demand.

WES Mission….

… inspiring and supporting girls and women to achieve their potential as engineers, applied scientists and technical leaders. To work collaboratively to assist educators, employers and influencers in cre-ating a diverse engineering community.




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THIS IS ENGINEERING is a multi-year campaign led by the Royal Academy of Engineer-

ing in partnership with Engineering UK and twelve major engineering organisations to encourage more young people, from all backgrounds, to consider engineering careers.

About the campaign

Engineering is an exciting, varied and rewarding career, and yet the UK has a shortage of young peo-ple applying for engineering courses and engineering jobs. One of the prime reasons for this shortage is that many people hold outdated views of what engineering is, and what engineers do.

THIS IS ENGINEERING challenges those misconceptions, by presenting a positive image of mod-

ern engineering. Through real young engineers it illustrates how engineering is behind many of the things they are already interested in – sport, fashion and tech for example – and that they can follow what they love into engineering, and in doing so help shape the future.

At the heart of THIS IS ENGINEERING are a series of short videos, each profiling a young engi-

neer who is doing something remarkable. These videos include some remarkable young women pursuing a variety of engineering careers: Olivia the Fragrance Finder, Sophie the Flight Futurist, Ala the Underground Visionary, Bethan the Flight Perfector, Daniela the Wonder Maker, Pavlina the Light Painter and Vinita the Spacesuit de-signer.

If you want to be inspired …. please view these videos at: www.youtube.com/thisisengineering




https://www.youtube.com/thisisengineering

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Greenwich University and the Institute of Civil Engineering (ICE) will be holding a

‘Speed Networking’ event at the University’s Medway Campus in November.

School and college students will be invited to come along and hear from engineers working in a va-

riety of roles in the Engineering & Manufacturing sector.

Students will rapidly circulate around a multitude of stations hearing from engineers about what

they do on a day to day basis, about how they were trained, and about the rewards and benefits of

working in this exciting sector.

They will also hear presentations from inspirational female engineers, take part in a question and

answer session, tour the engineering facilities at Greenwich University…. And enjoy a slap up lunch!

*In the interests of diversity the event is open to all young people. However, as this is part of our

campaign to attract young women into the engineering sector we insist that at least 50% of your of

students are female.

Further details to follow, but if you are interested in this event please e-mail :

[email protected]


Careers in Engineering ‘Speed Networking Event’

6th November 2019



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Something a bit different!

Su Adams, a specialist in educational coding, has collaborated with Choreographer Rebecca Evans, to devel-

op an innovative training workshop to communicate coding to young people.

This day acts as a great way to connect more minds to the cross-curricular nature of technology and how

widely it can be applied.

Students experience coding in a creative and immersive context with the chance to start:

• understanding computational thinking and core fundamentals of programming through movement;

• more deeply understand and interact with code through physical computing and how to construct an interactive show;

• explore the difference in communication between the disciplines of dance and coding;

• And build collaborative skills in STEAM subject matter in a creative environment.

The programme is not exclusively for girls, but does attract

large numbers of female pupils & students.

If you are interested in hosting this workshop contact Su Ad-

ams at U-Can-Too:

[email protected]

You may also be interested in U Can Too’s other STEM pro-

motion projects including ‘GEEK’ labs, creative robotics and

environment awareness

ucantoo.org.uk




Dance and Coding Workshops

U-Can-Too and Pell Ensemble jointly offer a one

day training workshop which explores coding

through the medium of Dance

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Billie is currently completing her Electrical/Electronic Apprenticeship at BAE Systems, here’s her story:

“I have always been interested in Engineering; with Physics and Maths being both my best and my fa-vourite subjects at school, so Engineering felt like a natural path for me to take. I had originally planned to go to university, but while studying for my A Lev-els, I decided to research into other options and with Apprenticeships on the rise and the option to “learn while you earn,” this route seemed like the best choice for me.

Before I started my Apprenticeship, I completed a week’s work experience with BAE Systems. During this time, I spoke to existing Apprentices and found out more about their experiences, which gave me a better understanding. I applied for the Apprenticeship through BAE Systems and met IPS International, the Training Provider who deliver the Apprenticeship. I spent the first nine months with, IPS at their Workshop in Rochester, working towards BTEC and NVQ qualifications. It was a practical, hands-on year, giving me the necessary level of skills needed for working onsite at BAE Systems. During the first year of my Apprenticeship I spent five days a week at IPS International, learning both practical and theoretical engineering skills, with a focus on electronics. I especially enjoyed the hands-on, workshop environment. This was an entirely new environment for me; it was great to gain experience in a friendly and safe place, following the appropriate training from industry experienced trainers. I’m now in my second year (2018) and I have been spending one day a week at IPS International, working towards the BTEC qualification. The remaining four days are spent onsite at BAE Systems, where I am rotating through six differ-ent departments. I will finish my BTEC qualification at the end of this academic year. Billie has gained an array of additional skills within her Apprenticeship, like improving communication and team build-ing skills, and her achievements have led to her being named BTEC Student of the Year: Best Student at the 2018 IPS International Apprenticeship Awards. “In addition to the electronic engineering skills I have gained, I’ve also learned work-life skills while working with a diverse group of people helping me to improve upon my time management, communication and team-building skills. I hope the skills I have gained at IPS will continue to be put to good use onsite at BAE Systems”. “I hope to complete my Apprenticeship, become a fully-trained Engineer and continue my academic development through to degree level”

“I’m pleased that I chose to do an Apprenticeship. I would encourage anyone unsure about University or further education to also consider an Apprenticeship. An Apprenticeship at IPS International is a great way to gain qualifications while getting paid to do a job you love”.


Engineering Apprentice #1, Billie Sequeria



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Alex successfully achieved her Advanced Electrical Engineering Apprenticeship at Nation-

al Grid. Alex continued her employment with National Grid and is now putting her skills to good

use...

“I actually didn’t know what I wanted to do when I left school but I knew I wanted to go down the apprenticeship road as you learn while gaining experience and potentially, can gain a per-manent job at the end so long as you show commitment. I knew I wanted something hands-on and a friend worked for National Grid so told me about their apprenticeship scheme. After she gave me an insight, I researched the company, ap-plied and was successful.” As well as achieving her apprenticeship with National Grid, Alex also was offered the opportunity to take ad-

vantage of some of the additional commercially run courses with trainer IPS, including a high voltage switch

course, inspection and testing and the ‘17th Edition’ - to name a few!

“The skills I have gained in my apprenticeship have helped me and have made me want to progress. The guidance from my mentors, both here at National Grid , and at IPS, have really helped me and I have always felt supported. “I worked with people at the beginning of my apprenticeship by shadowing to gain experience and mainly focused

on the learning and development of core elements within my role, but now I have much more responsibility. For

example, putting an oxygen monitoring system into the mechanical department which monitors 24/7 automatical-

ly and with back up if there is a power cut to save human error.”

Alex is enjoying putting her skills to use and still learning more about her role at the next level but would like to progress in the future. “For now, I am happy learning my current role in full time employment. However, I certainly would like to progress to an Assistant Engineering role in the future so would explore any further training that would help with this when the time comes.” Alex is a great example of the Apprenticeship model and is sold on the concept:

“I would certainly recommend Apprenticeships…

...I’ve progressed in myself and my apprenticeship more than I thought

would be possible in the time frame allocated to achieve - which in my

case was 4 years. Apprenticeships are worthwhile for anybody to take up.

Don’t miss out on the opportunity.”


Engineering Apprentice #2 Alex Singer



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Sarah has now completed her level 2 intermediate Apprenticeship in Mechanical Manufacturing at

the Sidcup plant of Coca-Cola European Partners Great Britain (CCEP). This apprenticeship has allowed Sarah to upskill from her old role as a Fork Lift Driver, and she has achieved a Highly Commended classification in the 2017 National BTEC Engineering Student of the Year awards. A great achievement! I

“I’ve always been interested in Engineering and I originally moved to the South East to complete my level 2 and 3 BTEC in Electrical installation and I got a job with CCEP as a Fork Lift Driver. I found out about appren-ticeships on offer at CCEP and decided to apply. CCEP are building a new Automated Warehouse Storage Re-trieval System (ASRS) and wanted to use the opportunity to upskill existing employees. Because of the up-skilling objective, CCEP made four new apprenticeship positions available. I applied, went through the assess-ment and interview process and was one of the lucky four chosen.” “I really enjoyed the BTEC; going into the IPS training centre one day a week was good to get the practical training and the theory and then to work with the engineering team at my workplace to gain the NVQ. Every-one was supportive and the tutors at IPS were brilliant. They would sit down with us and go through ques-tions and problems we made them aware of”. “I have recently started a new position and have been working in the factory with the engineering team and will be for the next 5 months while the Warehouse is still being built, and I can go into my new role of ASRS Technician which I have trained for. I’ve gained so much knowledge and have been putting the skills we have learnt at IPS, not just in the BTEC and NVQ but also the short courses we have done, into practice. The skills we have learnt at IPS have been invaluable when applied in the workplace and I don’t feel I’m walking into anything blind.” “During the training, for the entire year we have being doing our BTEC and NVQ we have also had additional short courses. We have done bearings, slinging and lifting, hand tools, measuring tools, five electrical mod-ules and will be doing gear boxes soon”. “From my experience, there have not been many women in Engineering until recently but I think it’s great that there attempts to change this. I would highly recommend apprenticeships, I went to University at 22 and obtained a degree because apprenticeships were not widely available, but I feel apprenticeships give you more, they are great for gaining experience and skills which you don’t get with a degree…...

…...If I was talking to a school leaver I would recommend an apprenticeship.”


Engineering Apprentice #3 Sarah Kuzbyt



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Chelsea successfully achieved her Advanced Maintenance Electrical/Electronic Apprenticeship at National Grid, Isle of Grain and has been pro-gressing further and further! Chelsea continued her employment with Na-tional Grid and has recently been promoted to a managerial role and sup-ports other apprentices within the company.

“I achieved my GSCE’s and completed an AS level at 6th form when I decided an apprenticeship was the route I wanted to take. I liked the idea that with apprenticeships you are earning and learning and so, I started a business apprenticeship. However, I realised early on that the environment was not for me and that I needed something more hands on. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do but I had always had an interest in Engineering and so that’s why the vacancy for an apprenticeship at National Grid jumped out at me.” Chelsea was already registered to be an apprentice, so started to search the GOV website: www.findapprenticeship.service.gov.uk and the National Grid Engineering Apprenticeship had been posted. “When I saw the engineering apprenticeship, I researched the company and my interest increased at the assess-ment day. I really enjoyed it and I knew this was the career I wanted.” “I enjoyed my apprenticeship, it was difficult, but 100% worth it. The first year was a full year at the IPS appren-tice training centre in Rochester, followed by a 2nd Year that was split between the National Grid and the IPS ap-prentice training centre . ” “The constant support of my workplace and IPS were helpful. My trainers had been in the industry and could put theory to reality for me before I went out and experienced the work I would be expected to do. You pick up a lot more skills than just your apprenticeship and I had Safeguarding lessons with my trainers and at my workplace on Wellbeing. National Grid also sent me on a training course in Germany which now lets me run the offloading and loading of ships. Since achieving her apprenticeship, Chelsea has gone on to complete a Higher National Certificate in Electronical Engineering and spent 3 years in a Technician role where she has gained even more knowledge and skills . Re-cently , Chelsea successfully interviewed for the role of Control & Instrumentation Assistant Engineer.

“I’m enjoying the future progression to management and learning people management along the way. As a Technician, I didn’t really need to think about people skills, so this is a new skill I have learned. Now I must look after people and my organisational skills have improved .” “I also mentor an apprentice in my team and here I can use my knowledge and experience to help as I can relate to what they are doing and know how challenging it can be at times.”

Having now been with National Grid for seven years, Chelsea is really enjoying her work, but would still like to progress further. “ I’m really enjoying my new managerial role and I still feel like I’m learning here all the time and have gained so much knowledge. Although I do not want to move away from the practical elements of working with tools and being onsite, I would look to progress into a managerial role in the future”. “Apprenticeships are a great way to learn while working and I really do recommend them. They give you real life skills while achieving the qualification you set out to do and are a great foundation for a career”.


Apprentice Story #4, Chelsea Malcolm



https://www.findapprenticeship.service.gov.uk/

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Despite our imminent departure from the European Union there is still significant funding available in some of the European grant funding programmes, some of which is available until 2023. As previously reported, the Engineering and Manufacturing Guild was approached by POM Vlaan-deren, an engineering training body in Belgium that was looking for partners to develop skills train-ing in the engineering sector. The Guild responded positively and we were subsequently joined by other partners in France and the Netherlands.

After a lengthy, two stage application process in March we heard that our bid has been success-ful with funding of over four million euros se-cured across the region. We will be planning with our colleagues across the water to com-mence activities in the Autumn.

The Boosting Human Capital programme will look to achieve three things: train existing engineering staff to become tutors, mentors and coaches; develop new innovative training methods, using tech-nologies such as VR, (pictured) to reduce the time and cost of training; and to address the barriers faced by low skilled or unemployed people in trying to work in manufacturing. In short, the aim of the project is to train people who are unskilled or unemployed sufficiently to enable them to start work in manufacturing or engineering within three months. Our intention is for one of the cohorts (around twenty trainees) to be female only. If you know of any woman who is currently unskilled, unemployed or looking to retrain in a high val-ue sector, who might be interested in joining this programme, contact [email protected]

Interreg Project: Boosting Human Capital in the 21st Century


https://www.interreg2seas.eu/en

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COMPETITION ...COMPETITION… COMPETITION …COMPETITION

Identify these three notable women en-

gineers to win a prize...

WHO Am I ….# 1

I am sometimes described as ‘the woman who won the war’

A butcher’s daughter, I was born in Waterlooville, Hampshire, and lived

from 1909 to 1990.I loved to ‘play’ with bicycle and motorcycle parts, and

I became really interested in anything fast, especially motorbikes. I

bought my first motorbike when I was 14.

In 1930, I rode my Norton 500 motorbike at 106mph around Brooklands

race track, one of only three women to break the 100mph barrier…. And

beating most of the men! When my husband proposed to me I told him I

would not marry him until he also broke the 100mph barrier! (…which , fortunately, he did!).

I was one of the first Engineers at Manchester University where I studied Electrical Engineering and progressed to MSc

and PhD. I became an aeronautical engineer with the Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE) where I worked on the design

of the Spitfire and the Hurricane aeroplanes.

My most famous invention was a washer that prevented a fatal fuel-feed problem in Spitfires and became known as

‘Tilly’s Orifice’. For this reason , I am sometimes described as the ‘woman who won the war’ and I received an OBE for

my efforts.

WHO AM I ….#2

I am 36 years old and I am an Indian-British-

American Chartered Structural Engineer based in

London.

My interest in engineering started as a child playing with lego!

I was born in Mumbai India and went to school in New York and London before com-

pleting a BA in Physics at Oxford University, followed by an MSc in Structural Engi-

neering at Imperial College.

I spent six years working on the Shard, the tallest building in Europe (310m) design-

ing a new construction method.

I love to promote engineering to children, especially girls, and I have presented to

over 15,000 young people worldwide. I am a founding member of the ‘Your Life’

campaign.

Last year I received an MBE for Services to Engineering and I was appointed Fellow of

the Institute of Civil Engineers.




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WHO Am I…. #3

I am Strategy Engineer for the Force India Formula One Racing Team

I was born in 1986 in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. My Dad was a mechanic and together we used to build and

dismantle farm machinery!

After attending Grammar school in Northern Ireland I studied Mechanical Engineering at Queen’s University, Belfast. At

University I took part in the Formula Student scheme, designing small scale formula style racing cars.

I started a graduate trainee programme at the McLaren Formula One racing team working on transmissions, and, on

weekends, I volunteered as an engineer at GP3 events. I worked for the McLaren GT Sports Team and in 2012 I was

appointed as Performance Engineer. Subsequently, I was appointed Primary Performance Engineer for the Indian and

Abu Dhabi Grands Prix, working with 2009 World Champion, Jenson Button.

In 2015 I left McLaren to join Force India as Performance and Senior Strategy Engineer. That season we claimed our first

podium position, (Russian Grand Prix) and the following season we came fourth in the Constructors Championship.

If you haven’t come across these women before, look them up and see how

they are having a huge impact in the engineering world –alongside many other

inspirational women engineers.

COMPETITION ENTRY:

If you can identify the names of all three women engineers

send your answers to: [email protected] before 1st

July 2019

One lucky winner will receive this best selling guidebook

Studying Engineering: a roadmap to a rewarding career




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