Engineering news
National Women in Engineering day has been marked by the publication of the first “Top 50 Women in Engineering” list.
The list was launched at an event at the IET, Savoy Place in London today and was compiled by the Women in Engineering Society (WES) and the Daily Telegraph.
Almost 900 nominations were made and judged by a panel of five people that included Allan Cook, chairman of Atkins and Professor John Perkins, former chief scientific adviser at the Department for Business Innovation and Skills.
Dawn Bonfield, chief executive of the Women’s Engineering Society, who also sat on the judging panel, said: “We had a very high response to this campaign and were hugely impressed with the entries. This list of amazing role models is a great way of raising the profile of our talented women engineers and making them more visible both within the industry and to the next generation.”
The list includes female engineers from a broad range of industries, including those working outside engineering but still seen as influential. The list includes Dame Ann Dowling, president of the Royal Academy of Engineering and Naomi Climer, president of the Institution of Engineering and Technology, as well as less-familiar names, such as TV presenter Steph McGovern, a former engineer, and Chi Onwurah MP – the only female engineer in the House of Commons.
Allan Cook said: “I was really impressed with the calibre, quality and quantity of the submissions. Reading through the entries it was incredibly exciting to see the breadth of talent we have in our engineering community.”
The list, which can be viewed here, has been sponsored by companies such as BAE Systems, Jaguar Land Rover, Scottish Power and Mars Petcare, as well as the IET and skills organisation Semta.
Many other events take place across the UK and internationally to mark National Women in Engineering Day and these can be seen here.