RS calls for greater diversity in engineering roles

Founded in 2019, and now in its fifth year, REflect is the annual flagship event for the RS Grass Roots team, the dedicated education brand of RS. This year’s event will be taking place at one of RS’ partner universities TEDI-London and will be live-streamed to an online audience.  

The REflect initiative was created to inspire young people from global ethnic majorities (GEM), who are under-represented in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics). For example, women currently make up only 16.5% of the UK engineering workforce and only 9.9% are from global ethnic majorities and only 1% are Black. A key purpose of REflect is to engage with 16- to 25-year-olds from ethnic and low socio-economic backgrounds and help them take tangible steps to move into careers in engineering and technology. In addition, there is a separate business session focussed on helping companies to explore ways to be truly inclusive of their ethnically diverse colleagues.  

To expand the movement and impact on the all-important topic of diversifying the engineering industry, REflect also encourages businesses in STEM fields to get involved in the National Day. This can be through using the downloadable resources on the REflect website to celebrate their exceptional engineers from the global ethnic majority on their social media accounts or by organising their own events on this topic.  

On the day, young attendees will hear from inspirational role models across the industry to learn about their journeys into engineering and technology, the barriers that they had to overcome and the amazing projects they are working on now.  

The line-up of highly knowledgeable speakers will include Joe Da Silva, Chief Information Security Officer at RS, and Nav Sawhney, founder of The Washing Machine Project, who will share their experiences and help young people dream of the possibilities that a career in STEM can deliver. In addition to the main speakers, the event will also host Q&As and exclusive online interviews.

Isabella Mascarenhas, Vice President of RS Grass Roots Education & Social Impact, commented: “In collaboration with AFBE, the IET and TEDI-London, we are absolutely delighted to be hosting REflect 2023 National Day, which is now in its fifth year. As technology is increasingly touching most aspects of our lives, it is vital that there is diversity in engineering to ensure that it serves everyone in our society. RS recognises the collective capability within our industry to inspire and embrace young people from any background toward moving into a rewarding career in engineering and technology.”

Attendance online is entirely free with further information on the event available at www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/reflect-2023-online-tickets-643093097767?aff=oddtdtcreator