ENGINEERING IN FOCUS
engineering at school. She replied: “I didn’t really show any strong aptitude for science at an early stage, and at Godolphin & Latymer, struggled to decide on a career direction. When I later decided to pursue a medical research career, it was then quite novel. In those days if you were good at science you had two main options – you became a doctor or a vet, but neither appealed to me. It seemed quite innovative to embark on a medical research career. In the mid-late 1990s engineering really wasn’t in the careers conversation. I was initially quite committed to a health research scientist career. It was the medical problems which forced me to have a different plan. I feel very fortunate, though, that things worked out so well for me.
Engineering and science policy “At this juncture,” Dr Sillem continued, “my change of path saw me work in a variety of engineering and science policy roles, for the Academy, Parliament, and in a secondment to the Department for International Development, working with the first Chief Scientific Advisor, Sir Gordon Conway. Eventually, in 2006, I returned to the Academy to set up its international activities. I was keen to be involved in the international dimension of science and engineering policy, and felt being in international development was too narrow. I wanted to do something with a more holistic impact.” In the role Dr Sillem worked with Academy Fellows to establish its first capacity-building programmes. She elaborated: “It was at the time of Tony Blair’s Commission for Africa, and the UK hosting G8; there was a major focus on development. Science became much more prominent, but engineering was strangely absent. There was discussion about infrastructure, but it was mainly about improving the investment climate. There was little conversation around the role of human resource – i.e. engineers in developing countries.
“If you want to ensure that investments in developing countries’ infrastructure are sustainable, and that the initial work translates into something tangible, without local capacity or strong institutions in engineering-related fields that can hold Government to account, or offer advice, you have an unhealthy system. There was a significant discrepancy in the amount of investment that had gone into buildings for the medical and the engineering profession, yet both are essential to delivering societal benefit. IHEEM is a great exemplar of the fact that while you need wonderful healthcare professionals at the coalface, you also need individuals with the expertise to make sensible decisions around your physical infrastructure who can contribute to innovation.
36 Health Estate Journal January 2019 Meeting women engineers at the International Women in Engineering Day event 2018.
Thriving international programme “It’s great today that the Academy has a thriving programme of international activities. We have ‘responsible capacity partnerships’ with about 30 countries, funded through the Government’s Global Challenges Research Fund, that are supporting innovators and professional institutions to build engineering capacity.” Many of these, she explained, ‘deliver real benefits to the UK’. Dr Sillem said: “We have numerous partnerships between UK higher institutions and their international counterparts; these also bring industrial expertise into UK universities to improve the relevance of the curriculum, and the quality, skills, and job-readiness of the graduates emerging at the end. Equally, we have supported over 800 ‘Leaders in Innovation’ Fellows, who have come to the UK for an intensive entrepreneurship capacity-building experience, and then get in-country support and ongoing mentoring.” Such individuals – ‘from about 16 countries’ – now provide a network of global innovators who, Dr Sillem said, would ‘probably be leaders of incredible companies responsible for real innovations that have real social impact’.
Schools’ and colleges’ part Having discussed some of Dr Sillem’s involvement in the development of engineering internationally, I asked her what more she thought could be done in UK schools and colleges to promote engineering careers. She said: “While many of us have worked hard for years to try to promote engineering to a broader base, the number of entrants, and the diversity of the talent pool, have not changed in a way commensurate with the effort invested. I do, however, see a change in the engineering community – a recognition that we must do things differently. Part of this is about creating greater coherence, so we don’t all
undertake our initiatives disconnectedly, and thus create a confusing interface for schools trying to engage. We are working very closely with Engineering UK to re- position the ‘Tomorrow’s Engineers’ programme, which promotes the ‘E’ within STEM in the schools system. I’d also point to our multi-year digital marketing campaign, ‘This is Engineering’, launched last January – (2018 was ‘The Year of Engineering’) – with the support of 11 major engineering organisations. This ongoing campaign aims to change the perception of engineering in the minds of 13-18-year olds and those that influence them.”
Marketing-led approach Dr Sillem explained that, in developing the campaign, the Academy had taken a ‘marketing-led approach’. She said: “So, rather than engineers trying to work out how to tell their story, we approached the people who market the brands that engage young people via social media, the sort of channels they all use, and asked them: “How do we market the ‘brand’ of engineering to youngsters?” We held lots of focus groups too, and undertook qualitative and quantitative research to really understand how to hone our messaging, position our ‘offering’, and what imagery to use, to appeal to a more diverse group, and particularly to reach young people who hadn’t already identified themselves that way into STEM pathways. What we discovered was that by taking a marketing-led approach, you come up with something different, with a far higher ability to create the impact we have all been seeking for so many years.” ‘This is Engineering’ is built around videos featuring ‘early career engineers doing extraordinary, but relatable things’. Dr Sillem said: “The people we are featuring need to seem relevant to the
The Royal Academy of Engineering
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