Here at Loughborough University, WES has been growing in strength over recent years with a strong and proactive group of young women driving the opportunities for Loughborough University female undergraduate and postgraduate students across the engineering departments and schools.  The society membership has a full inclusion policy for all engineers regardless of gender.

A typical year for WES will headline with the annual WES Careers Fair with companies attending and providing advice about their career opportunities for female engineers. Previous years have included attendance from Caterpillar, Dyson, ExxonMobil and Rolls Royce amongst other large and small reputable recruiters. Throughout the year other events include:

• National WES Conferences
• STEM Ambassador Training - volunteers inspire the next generation of engineers from primary school to secondary school to college
• Workshops and Seminars

As well as this, site visits and insight days to engineering companies to provide opportunities to provide orientation to industrial environments and career opportunities. And of course, the social side has not been left behind, with dinners, parties and other fun events. With the growth of Loughborough University’s Women in Engineering Society, a need for collaboration and involvement with other parts of the university has developed. WES has also been involved with the development of the LU Athena Swan profiles in some of the Engineering Schools and will hopefully be a part of the latest submissions due to its dedicated work in the field of gender diversity.

Celebrating 100 years of the Woman’s Engineering Society and Women Engineers at Loughborough

To celebrate both centenary’s a WES member Jennifer Glover and the Engineering Schools marketing department worked together to recreate a 80’s promotional magazine ‘Women in Engineering’, produced by Dr Susan Bullivant a lecturer in engineering mathematics at the time. The magazine has been recreated for 2019 to include all engineering school, undergraduates, postgraduates, women and men. The magazine celebrates how engineering and gender diversity has progressed with many inspirational student taking an active role in the promotion and support of women.

The project was also turned into an outreach resource as part of the National Tomorrows Engineers week Lottie Tour. The Lottie tour (run by WES Young Members Board) is an annual social media campaign to promote engineering to primary school age children. The campaign follows the adventures of a Lottie doll as she discovers how varied and fun engineering can be. The aim is to educate on what engineers actually do and encourage girls to consider a career in engineer. The students featured in the magazine above were also interviewed by Lottie and their responses; Lottie’s adventures and blank interview sheets are attached as part of the booklet below. The week was also documented on the Doctoral college blog.

WES at Loughborough is open to all new and existing students on any engineering degree.  Every year there are new opportunities to join the WES Committee to take part, help run events, and manage the society’s processes. Or just join WES, have fun and meet likeminded people who are all studying engineering of one sort or another looking for exciting career opportunities in the future. Simply follow us on social media and attend our events. 

Twitter: @WESLBORO

Instagram: @wes_lboro

Facebook: WES Lboro

LinkedIn: Loughborough University's Women's Engineering Society