The 23 June marked International Women in Engineering Day and the School of Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering (MACE) celebrated this occasion by organising an event to highlight the careers and successes of female engineers.

Hosted by Professor Alice Larkin, Head of School for MACE, the event saw a number of guest speakers offering different insights. Chrissi McCarthy from Constructing Equality – an organisation which supports construction companies to become more inclusive and fair in terms of gender balance and equality – shared her experience of working in the industry and some of the challenges that women in engineering face.

Fran Guratsky, the Social Responsibility Project Manager for FSE, spoke about the many opportunities available to staff and PhD students in which they can get involved and ‘make a difference’.

Rhys Archer and Mel Keough, both PhD students in Materials, talked about the work they have done as Widening Participation Fellows to inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers. Rhys also spoke about her exciting project Women of Science, which documents the ‘real’ stories of women in science and engineering.

Finally, Dr Rebecca Todd from the School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering told the audience about some of the research projects she is currently involved in, and why she thinks working as an engineer in a university is great.