The Woman Engineer

WOMEN’S ENGINEERING SOCIETY www.wes.org.uk The Woman Engineer VOL 20 • NO 5 - WINTER 2019 Inside this issue...... 1919 - 2019 Making it Happen How volunteering for WES can bring benefits to you as an individual and to your company. Page 6 Also inside ............. WES Centenary Trail Map An update on our very successful celebration of 100 years of WES. Page 4 WOMEN’S ENGINEERING SOCIETY www.wes.org.uk The Woman Engineer VOL 20 • NO 1 - WINTER 2018 Inside this issue...... WES Awards 2018 and Caroline Haslett Lecture A celebratory evening and a motivating presentation. WES members gather to honour outstanding achievements. Page 6 Also inside ............. he Woman Engineer talks to new WES CEO TElizabeth Donnelly about her aspirations for the WES centenary year and her longer term hopes for the Society. Prior to her appointment as CEO, Elizabeth had attended a couple of WES events and says: “I noticed it was full of very keen young women who were very proud of WES’ heritage. There has always been a great deal of enthusiasm about WES’ activities and ambitions and I’m conscious that WOMEN’S ENGINEERING SOCIETY VOL 1 9 • NO 17 - WINTER 2017 www.wes.org.uk WES has always punched above its weight.” Continued on The Woman Engineer page 3… Motorsport Engineering - How to Thrive A rea l h gi hl gi h t of the recent WES AGM w as As a female in m o ot rsport you get attention from the provided by Brit si h r ace engineer Leena Gade team, the med ai and the fans, b ecause you are rare who gave a presentat oi n on her exper ei nces but i f you have integrity and honesty people respect in el ading a team of engineers in t he pit al ne. you for who you a re. In 2011 Leena became the first female race “I downp al y m y role because ti is about a team. I eng ni eer to win the 24 H our Le Mans r ace. learn from others.” nI 2012, s he won the F AI Wor dl Endurance Other s k li lsets that Leena expla ni ed are c rucia l Championsh pi ’s ‘Man of the Year’ A ward to be a successful r ace engineer are the thr li l of and t he C &R Racing Woman i n Technology be ni g ni con rt ol, an abil ti y t o execute d ecis oi ns with Award. confidence, to be ab el to communicate effect vi e yl Armed with a n aerospace mater ai ls and to be able t o convince peop el when on the eng ni eering degree, L eena’s early c areer pit w all a nd a rmed with just 80 per cent of the years were spent ni the automotive ni dustry information on which you have to make a d ecision. wes counc li meeting before sw ti ching t o motorspor t in 2 006, where “I had to push myse fl techn ci a ll y to be able ot she worked on techn ci a l overv ei ws w ti h ensure there were no question marks a bout my Sharing skillsets in Audi. A fter a very successful career with t he decision making,” she revealed. Birmingham company, s he le tf , as she says, “to learn new For Leena the long hours, huge amounts of t ravel ways a nd s tretch m yse fl as a person” and and famil ai rity with count el ss a ri ports are just part Page 3 oj ined Bentley Motorsport where her success of the price that has to be paid for working in your continued, t hanks to a steely determina it on dream oj b but she warned t hat d espi et an increase and t he support of her team. in women in t he environment there was stil l some work t o be done. “We are a ol ng way off chi dl ren measuring success Pull ni g n o punches, Leena spoke of how motorsport is a il festyle. “ I’ve sacr fii ced a lot seeing i t as ‘ norma ’l to have a woman engineer ni my persona l li ef as my objective is to be invo vl ed bu t my pass oi n il es in endurance r ac ni g,” WES Awardees honoured ht e bes t engineer that I can b e. The pit al ne she said . “I was nine when I knew I wanted to b e si not a natural place of r a woman to be so an e ng ni eer and 13 w hen I knew I wanted ot work Page 4 you h ave to be strong and you have to b e in m otorsport. There i s an mi mediate mi pact of any selfish,” she told ht e aud ei nce, many of w hom decision you make i n motorsport and i t gives you a spoke of how keen they w ere to be i nvolved rea l buzz. I t is h gi h performance, teamwork, short ni motorsport. timesca el s , rap di thinking, exc ti ement and emo it on.” bystander Although the e nvironment is dominated But w hat of ‘hav ni g ti a ll ’ W ES members asked ni in et rvention by et stosterone, Leena s a di she had never a il vely Q &A s ess oi n? “ I imag ni e you c ould h ave a been offended by anything sa di or done, family and stil l be a woman eng ni eer i n motorsport How to speak up on the contrary, s he advocated a more bu t you wou dl need ot be factory based and that is accept ni g atti ut de . “There is a ol t of banter not f or me,” she a nswered honest yl . “ I couldn’t b e a Page 6 and you need a sense o f humour a ol ng w ti h race engineer fi I sett el d down and had children – I women’s engineering society an e el ment of fami il ar ti y but I have a ol t of love being track based.” She encouraged ht ose respect of r a ll the peop el invo vl ed in my in et rested i n a career ni the industry t o volunteer wes student group profess oi n and I don’t see m yse fl as d fi ferent. on a weekend to g et i nvolved and s he hinted o f the There are of course bad days. I used to worry need for engineers t o work on a lternat vi e fue sl ot he pl shape the fu ut re of motorsport as ti enters a UCL has a great year about m si takes because I d di n t’ want p eople ot th ni k I had made i t because I was female new phase. and you have to learn how to handle ht at. As of r the appreciat oi n rf om t he floor, suffice to Page 9 I inadverten lt y b ecame a role model and I say that the applause went o n for some t ime. didn’t il ke that bu t I had to learn to accept it . the woman engineer - win et r 2017 1 Annual Report 2017-2018 www.we s.org.uk Electrifying a remote Himalayan village An inspirational ENGINEERING 1 journey for a member of the WES Annual Report 2017-2018 the woman engineer - winter 2018 London Cluster Group. Page 5 Yearly report from WES Trustees on the activities of the Society for the year ended women’s engineering society 31st March 2018. Centre pull-out 1 Annual Report 2018-2019 WES Awards 2019 www.wes.org.uk 1919 - 2019 the woman engineer - winter 2019 Celebrating the Members who are helping to shape our society. Page 3 WES Annual Report 2018-2019 1 Yearly report from WES Trustees on the activities of the Society for the year ended 31 March 2019. Centre pull-out 1 From the editor’s desk Good governance, desire, ambition, enthusiasm, hard work and commitment are all required to drive an organisation such as the Women’s President’s Message Engineering Society forward but I cannot believe that it is nearly a year it is PEOPLE who really make the since I became the President of WES! The difference. Individuals and collective time has simply flown by with the frenetic groups help to shape WES into a run of the usual annual WES events, Society that, whilst steeped in history conferences and awards as well as the fabulous Centenary events that have and tradition, is very much a modern been held this year. At the AGM we said day body that represents the current goodbye to some long serving Trustees and future needs of women (and the who have held various roles over the years wider engineering professions). Lynn Postle, FICME – Petra and Roseni thank you so much for your dedication and continued support Clearly, we are having a fantastic year, who improve people’s lives and strive over a very long period. In fact Petra was we are celebrating our past whilst still to help us live in a more sustainable the President in 1998 so really has been ensuring that we accommodate the manner.

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