ENGINEERING IN FOCUS
recall. Dr Sillem explained that in developing and launching them, the Academy team and creative agency had also engaged with engineers at large, well-known ‘brands’. “We held an event in Manchester,” she explained, “where we brought together schoolchildren – many not wildly enthusiastic about spending a day learning about engineering – from very diverse socio-economic backgrounds. We put engineers from very recognisable brands like Wrigley’s and the BBC in front of them, and got them engaged in some little tasks which were almost ‘engineering by stealth’. We captured their perceptions and reflections, and it was fantastic. The day brought engineering to life for them.”
‘Action Plan’
In fact the day culminated in the Academy launching an ‘Action Plan’. Hayaatun Sillem elaborated: “We felt it very important, amid all the discussions about attracting people from diverse backgrounds, that the young people’s voice was heard. We thus brought some of the young stakeholders to Parliament, and launched our ‘Action Plan’ there in July last year, getting a great reception. We had excellent engagement from MPs and the House of Lords too. We were hosted by the MP for Chelmsford, Vicky Ford, a member of the Women and Equalities Committee, and the Science and Technology Committee, who made an impassioned opening speech, and set the tone for a fantastic reception. “One of the elements to emerge was the importance of taster days,” Dr Sillem continued. “While work experience can be quite difficult to secure, ‘taster days’ are a really easy way for a young person never previously exposed to engineering to understand the reality of being an engineer. We have thus called on employers to really stand up and look to expand the number of taster days that they offer. The fact that 2018 was the Year of Engineering – whose goal was to give one million experiences of engineering to young people and their families – has encouraged more businesses to offer them. There is a lot of energy already, but we need to keep on pressing.”
UK’s poor record
I wondered why Dr Sillem believed the UK’s record on diversity and equality in engineering, and in attracting engineers, was poorer than in many other countries. She said: “There is something quite distinctive about the UK – we are not unusual in having a challenge around diversity, but are at an extreme end of the spectrum. The latest EngineeringUK figures suggest that women make up only about 12 per cent of the UK’s professional engineering workforce – a figure that has really not changed massively over a period of years; progress has been
38 Health Estate Journal January 2019
A 24-year-old Ugandan software engineer, Brian Gitta, pictured last June receiving the Academy’s Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation from Awards judge, Rebecca Enonchong, founder and CEO, AppsTech and I/O Spaces. He and his team developed Matibabu, a low-cost device which clips onto a patient’s finger and tests for malaria without drawing blood, with the results available within one minute.
unacceptably slow. When we examined this a few years ago we found we came fifty-eighth out of 86 countries worldwide for the gender diversity of our engineering graduates. Look at some of the countries much higher up the list – interestingly – and they are not necessarily those you’d associate with female empowerment – for example Myanmar and some of the North African countries. I think there is something highly gendered about our perceptions in the UK. ‘Google’ engineer, and you will see seas of people in hard hats and ‘hi-vis’ jackets – a very narrow perception of engineering. I’ve nothing against hard hats, but there are many construction roles where you don’t wear one all the time. By having this one narrow reference point we are missing an opportunity to showcase the huge variety of careers available.”
Social impact factors
Dr Sillem said it was ‘interesting, but at times disappointing’, that engineering was not perceived as a high social impact career. “For instance,” she said, “compare medicine and engineering, and the former is perceived in the UK as a field for those wanting to make a difference. A high proportion of women are choosing careers in medicine; so much so, in fact, that that there are now discussions about men being under-represented. Even in the biosciences – which I came through – women are in the majority until the very senior echelons. We’re fishing for engineers in a largely similar pool – people not afraid of STEM subjects, who are happy to embrace careers with a technical dimension. They are often motivated by wanting to make a
difference, but engineering is not seen in the UK much as a people- or solutions- focused profession. Interestingly, in developing countries it is very well understood as a high social impact career. That is a gap in our UK perception. Thus in ‘This is Engineering’ one of the factors used in selecting our protagonists is people doing things that make a visible difference. So, in the current cohort, we have a disaster relief engineer who looks at how to make structures safe when trying to rescue people in collapsed buildings following earthquakes, and an entrepreneur whose company is built upon hydrogen storage, with a particular focus on providing a reliable electricity supply to hospitals and schools in the developing world. We are striving to get these stories told in ways that humanise engineering. I think that over time that will make a difference.”
Public engagement
She continued: “’Engineering’ has come a long way in recognising what we need to do diversity and inclusion-wise, but we now need to get a much broader swathe of the public on board with the message that ‘engineering’ is probably not what they thought.” Aside from targeting the young intended audience, the ‘This is Engineering’ campaign team has also been keen to reach ‘influencers’ such as parents, ‘via all the standard media outlets – whether the Today Programme, Sky News, or BBC Woman’s Hour’. “We have done lot of media work, and there is more to come,” Dr Sillem explained. I wondered how effectively the Academy CEO felt healthcare engineering was being promoted. She said: “It comes back to engineering being a hidden
The Royal Academy of Engineering
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68
