International Women in Engineering Day is taking place on Sunday 23 June, and is an international awareness campaign to raise the profile of women in engineering, and focuses attention on the amazing career opportunities available to girls in this exciting industry.

Canterbury Christ Church University welcomes people of all backgrounds, and one of the core aims of the EDGE Hub, which is opening in September 2020, is to increase the number of female graduates entering engineering-related careers.

The University recognises the importance of encouraging and supporting the aspirations of women who have an interest in engineering professions. The following quotes focus on, not only the benefits that women engineers bring to the workplace, but also the impact equal opportunities have on society.

“It is important today that engineering teams reflect all of society, including gender and ethnicity, to ensure that engineered solutions are fit for purpose for all.

Typically, engineering teams are white and male which has resulted in solutions that, in many cases, have put women’s health at risk. An example of this is through titanium hip joint replacements being too heavy in design for the bone density of females. This has led to innovative ceramic solutions being developed that are more fit for purpose. This is just one example that illustrates why women and men engineers working together can create more fitting solutions for society”.
Dr Anne Nortcliffe SFHEA MInstMC, Founding Head of School of Engineering, Technology and Design

“There are not enough engineers to meet the demands of industry and women are vastly under-represented within this group.  Engineers work together to help solve society’s real-world problems and if the people in that group are not representative of society how can they produce the best solution?”
Paul Stephens, Principal Lecturer in Cybercrime & Digital Policing

“The launch of the new Engineering school at Canterbury Christ Church University placed the need to encourage women to participate in STEM related degrees and careers as a strategic priority for the institution. In order to encourage more young women to apply to Engineering degrees Canterbury Christ Church University’s School and College Engagement Team, has begun working with schools, to build confidence and science capital and enable aspiration among young female learners to; shift aspirations to study STEM subject in HE and pursue STEM careers, encourage intention to participate in STEM in the future (HE and Careers), build students perception of the importance of STEM in society.”
Stefan Colley, Project Manager – KAMCOP

“Half of the population are women, so it’s hugely important to have women solve problems and creating solutions. Any business should want to embrace equality, to ensure that their products and services are created for as many people as possible and engineers are at the heart of business and product innovation.”
Gareth Ward, Senior Communications Officer

“Where I grew up, girls and boys were taught exactly the same subjects at the same level. There were no gender stereotypes when it came to certain subjects, including Engineering. Through our Outreach work, this is something we are trying to teach to the younger generation.

If you like problem solving, you can be an engineer. If you’re curious as to why things happen, or how things work you can be a scientist.”
Ghazal Sheikholeslami, Senior Lecturer in Mechanical Engineering