Award winning ‘INWED 2023’ celebrates its 10th Anniversary!

This year’s theme is #MakeSafetySeen and we are once again celebrating the amazing work that women engineers around the world are doing to support lives and livelihoods every day.

With 2021 figures indicating that in the UK only 16.5% of engineers are women, the annual INWED event provides female engineers with an opportunity to shine in an industry where they are still hugely underrepresented. As the only event of its kind, INWED plays a vital role in encouraging more young women and girls to take up engineering careers.

International Women in Engineering Day began in the UK in 2014 as a national campaign from the Women’s Engineering Society. Since then, INWED has gone truly global and even received UNESCO patronage in 2016. The 2022 campaign achieved a potential reach of over 656 million people, celebrated by individuals across the world.

For 2023, we are profiling the best, brightest, and bravest women in engineering, those women who #makesafetyseen and are helping to build towards a brighter future.

For the tenth anniversary of the event, we are aiming to increase engagement and awareness even further to encourage individuals and organisations from all corners of the globe to drive the topic of diversity and inclusion.

INWED is an event for female engineers and allies who wish to strive and ensure their organisation is doing everything possible to be fair and open to all.

This year we’ll be celebrating the amazing work that women engineers around the world are doing to support lives and livelihoods every day.

Joanna Whiteman, Head of Diversity and Inclusion at the Royal Academy of Engineering, said: “At the Academy, we’re impatient for an acceleration in the number of women engineers joining and thriving in our profession. Our Inclusive Cultures research shows there is much further to go. We’re therefore pleased to sponsor INWED and to help highlight the exceptional talent and impact of women in engineering.”

Ball said of their sponsorship: “INWED embodies our vision, amplifies our voice, and allows us to celebrate diversity, therefore we are delighted and privileged to be sponsoring INWED 2023. Since commencing our ambitious journey on becoming as diverse and inclusive as possible; having more female talent in all areas of our business, especially as engineers – has not only resulted in a richer, more productive and innovative workplace, but helps us attract the best talent from all corners of the planet, motivated and enthused by our authentically diverse voice and unique culture of true belonging. Balls success is built on an increasingly diverse workforce.”

A highlight of this year’s event is the annual INWED Webinar which showcases several influential figures within the industry, including Dame Dawn Childs DBE FREng, Engineering Historian, Dr Nina Baker, Antony Firth, Head of Marine Heritage Strategy at Historic England, and Amanda Creak, EMEA CIO and Head of EMEA Technology, Morgan Stanley.

Winners of Top 50 Women in Engineering 2023 revealed

As part of INWED 2023, The Women’s Engineering Society (WES) is delighted to announce the winners of the Top 50 Women in Engineering awards.

Now in its eighth year, the Women’s Engineering Society founded The Top 50 Women in Engineering Awards (WE50) in 2016 to showcase the diversity of women engineers making a difference to people’s lives. The awards are announced each year on 23 June which is International Women in Engineering Day (INWED) a campaign started by WES to raise the profile of Women Engineer’s around the world. Each year WES chooses a different theme for the WE50 and INWED and for 2023 the theme for the WE50 was Safety and Security. This year’s awards are held in association with Power Engineering International.

The 2023 Top 50 Women in Engineering Awards celebrate the women engineers who are engaged in safety and security and who #MakeSafetySeen. These amazing women work to keep us safe, wherever we are, whether at work or leisure, at home or online. Following in the footsteps of our first Secretary, Dame Caroline Haslett, who invented the three-pin safety plug to protect children from electric shocks, the 2023 WE50 winners will be women who are protecting the public through their work, often unseen and unknown. Nominations opened at noon on 11 February 2023, International Day of Women and Girls in Science, to those women engineers who are working in safety and security, including cybersecurity, particularly if they also support sustainability and/or combat climate change, and support other women to do the same.

Elizabeth Donnelly, CEO, Women’s Engineering Society, said of the awards: “The women in this year’s WE50 list are a truly amazing group. Their work often goes unseen yet is key to keeping us all safe and secure. From the creation of a system being used to kill weeds with no chemicals, to providing safety leadership to the RNLI, the women we celebrate in these awards are all inspirational in their work. Each year the judges are always amazed at the breadth and talent of the nominations they receive and this year’s nominees more than lived up to expectations. We hope that these awards will inspire more women to get involved in engineering and show what a diverse and rewarding career it can be.”

Kelvin Ross, Editor-in-Chief of Power Engineering International which is sponsoring the WE50, said: “We are delighted and proud to support WE50 on International Women in Engineering Day.

“Power Engineering is a year-round advocate for women in engineering, however, days like International Women in Engineering Day and awards like WE50 are vital to shine a spotlight on the opportunities for women in engineering and highlight why girls in school and college should seize those opportunities. We cover the energy transition in detail, yet that shift to a net zero future must also be a just transition, and diversity and equality are key pillars of that transition.”