WES (Women's Engineering Society), can make up to two awards annually in memory of former Member Gillian Skinner.

Gillian Skinner passionately supported the cause that WES represents and made a valuable contribution over several decades.  She was a member of the WES Council for a few years, acting as Membership Officer, and promoted engineering careers to students.  Gill enjoyed attending ICWES events in France and India as well as being a regular at WES conferences, even well into her retirement.

When Gill sadly passed away in 2003, her family approached WES about making a donation in her memory and from that, the Gillian Skinner Awards were instigated.  In line with Gill’s nature – quiet, but very capable – the awards are made to celebrate the smaller ‘behind the scenes’ contributions to WES which can often go unnoticed but are nevertheless very valuable. 

The recipients could be women or men - individuals who help nationally or in their local circle.  Anybody who contributes to WES is eligible, they could be working, retired, on a career break, students, Cluster Contacts, members of a board.  Their help could be brief (e.g. at conference) or steadily over a long time.

The 2020 winner was Loughborough University PhD Student Researcher Jennifer Glover.  Jennifer was the Chair of the University Groups Board in its first year, then went on to manage the student group initiative in the role WES Student Liaision Officer.  Jennifer has also led a group of Members in the reformatting of the She's an Engineer feature and has worked extensively on student pages of the WES website, improving their design and content.

Upon receiving the award, Jennifer stated:

“I am very honoured to receive the Gillian Skinner Award. I love volunteering for the Women’s Engineering Society, and I am extremely pleased to be making a recognised contribution to gender equality in engineering. I would like to thank the fantastic staff, volunteers and student groups leaders who make the work so worthwhile.”

For the full ‘She’s an Engineer’ feature on Jennifer, where she talks about her work and thoughts, please follow this link

The School of AACME and the Department of Aeronautical and Automotive Engineering pass on their congratulations to Jennifer on receiving this award.   Jennifer is no stranger to awards – we have featured her achievements in the past on these news pages and no doubt we will continue to celebrate her accomplishments moving forward!