International Women in Engineering Day is an important occasion in the STEM calendar. There are many different types of engineering and each year our STEM team try to focus on a different type of engineering. Last year, we worked with civil engineers who shared the exciting roles that are on offer for females in this field of engineering.

This year, there’s a focus on chemistry, with girls coming onto the Christ Church campus to experience how chemical engineering plays a part in the manufacture of medicines.

Already this week, 25 girls form Simon Langton Girls Schools have looked at how to make molecules more soluble and how the structure of a molecule influences the properties of medicine.

They learnt that chemical engineers produce chemicals on a large scale, and design and make medicines. As one of the girls said: “I didn’t know what was involved before; I thought it was about companies making money not about ensuring the patients got what they needed.

Girls are more likely to become involved in jobs that have a role with people, so perhaps, as a direct result of this activity and others that Kent and Medway STEM organise, there will be more woman in engineering in the future.

Hellen Ward leads the Kent & Medway STEM at Canterbury Christ Church University.