‘An opportunity for widespread STEM engagement’ – says WMFTS

Now in its eighth year, International Women in Engineering Day (INWED) is the only day in the calendar that celebrates women in engineering and allied professions.  As the only platform of its kind, INWED plays a vital role in encouraging more girls and young women to take up engineering careers.

Kicking off the activities, WMFTS, which has long championed the role of women in STEM and engineering, will host three internal panel events on 23^rd June.  Colleagues from around the world, and across the Company’s various businesses, will be invited to participate in a day of celebrations. It is hoped that the event – which will be open to all colleagues – will provide an opportunity to discuss ways to create an optimum working environment and organisational culture at WMFTS for women.

In addition to the panel discussions, a group of colleagues at Falmouth-based Watson-Marlow Limited has designed and built a bespoke interactive STEM activity.  The interactive tool will be launched in the UK on the day of INWED, after which it will be made available globally, across all Spirax-Sarco Engineering plc businesses, to be used in schools for on-going community/STEM engagement.

Mindful of the need to engage the next generation of engineers and scientists, WMFTS will also launch another children’s activity book that will be made available online globally. Translated into a range of languages, the activity book will be an interesting and engaging tool to share with children and local schools. 

Heroes and inspiration

Meanwhile, social media will also play a critical role in communicating the aims of INWED. This year, the theme of the day is ‘Engineering Heroes’.  On the day itself WMFTS is encouraging people to share insights into their own engineering heroes – who they are and why they are inspired by them by using the INWED #EngineeringHeroes hashtag.

“As a Company, we have plenty of heroes”, says WMFTS’s Charlotte Nuttall Global Business Development analyst and INWED Project Lead. “Inspiring the next generation is critical to STEM engagement. My own journey via our parent Company, Spirax-Sarco Engineering’s Graduate Programme was catalysed by a whole host of figures who made me think about my own career pathway. The message to me was always ‘anything is possible’ and companies like ours are wonderfully supportive and positive environments for women to build their careers and work on cutting edge projects and product development.”

To get involved in WMFTS’s INWED activities, tune in via social media and engage via the #EngineeringHeroes hashtag.