Ten members of WESBath were given the opportunity to attend the WES Student Conference on 20th and 21st November at Aston University, Birmingham. This was a brilliant chance for us to meet inspiring engineers from industry and around 150 other female engineering students, as well as to stay in a lovely conference hotel and eat some great food!
On the first day, after an introduction and presentations by engineers from Dialog Semiconductor and Proctor & Gamble, the group split to attend two different panel sessions, on “Academia or Industry?” and electronics & materials, before a fun icebreaker session which focussed on psychology and ended with groups of students designing quick concentration experiments to do in the session. Later on we had a brilliant networking opportunity at dinner where the seating plan allowed students to interact with engineers from WES sponsors. We were lucky enough to listen to a captivating after dinner speech by Naomi Climer, President of the IET.
The second day began with a welcome back and presentations from the chair of the student WES committee at York University and two inspirational female engineers from Selex ES and BAE Systems. After refreshments, we took part in an interesting workshop run by a coaching expert on “6 Pillars of Career Success for Women in Engineering”. This was followed by a buffet lunch, after which an engineer on a graduate scheme at Selex ES presented “CVs and Interviews with Impact”.
The conference ended with a fascinating panel session on alternative engineering. Presenters from PolyPhotonix and Mars Petcare UK spoke about how they are involved in engineering that focusses on health and the environment.
I think everyone who attended the conference came away feeling inspired and excited about a future in engineering. I would definitely recommend it to any student that has the chance to go next year!
Laura Grubb
Respond