International Women in Engineering Day 23 Jun 2017 logo

June 23, 2017, by Pauline

Let’s celebrate women engineers – past, present and future

Today is International Women in Engineering Day (INWED), an annual event that celebrates the contribution and achievements of women in engineering. It aims to inspire current and future generations to achieve their potential by highlighting the amazing careers women can have in engineering.

The event is in its 4th year and is organised by the Women’s Engineering Society (WES).

Last year the organisers published an inaugural list of the Top 50 Women in Engineering in partnership with the Daily Telegraph. This year they will focus on rising female engineers by announcing the Top 50 Women in Engineering under 35. Check out the list and be inspired!

Women engineers at Nottingham

The Faculty of Engineering has a dedicated Women in Engineering webpage, where you can hear from students and staff and read about the university’s commitment to women in engineering. Here’s what our students say:

You can also read about Yasmin Ali, a Nottingham chemical engineering graduate, who won the 2013 WES Prize for the best young woman engineer.

The University runs outreach events in engineering designed to inspire girls (and boys) aged 11-17 to consider studying engineering at university by giving them a flavour of what our courses entail, and encouraging them to excel in maths and science. The next event is a: Mechanical Engineering Taster Day, Wednesday 28 June 2017.

Engineering’s not just for boys, if you don’t believe us, read Professor Sarah Sharple’s blog. Sarah is a Professor of Human Factors and Associate Pro-Vice Chancellor for Research in the Faculty of Engineering.

Professor Laurie Cohen of the Business School has also written an interesting article about How women engineers succeed.

History of women engineers

Did you know that women have been involved in engineering through the ages? Their stories can be a real inspiration. Find out about some of these early pioneers in WES’s list of:

Magnificent Women, and

Pioneering Women Engineers

For more history why not read the following library books:

More than munitions book coverWightman, Clare. More than munitions : women, work and the engineering industries, 1900-1950 / Clare Wightman. London : Longman, 1999.
Hallward Library HD6053.W4

Crossing boundaries book coverCrossing boundaries, building bridges : comparing the history of women engineers, 1870s-1990s / edited by Annie Canel, Ruth Oldenziel, and Karin Zachmann. Amsterdam : Harwood Academic Publishers, 2000.
Hallward Library HD6073.D52, or eBook access


Supporting our engineers

The library has a wealth of engineering books and journals to support your research and studies. You will find them in an example of great engineering, our award winning George Green Library. Women engineers are always welcome, as are their male counterparts!

We also have a large selection of eResources and databases available through NUsearch. Here’s just a taster of some of the resources you’ll find:

  • Engineering Village (Ei Compendex) a comprehensive interdisciplinary engineering database, with over seven million records drawn from 5,000 engineering journals and conferences.
  • Construction Information Service (CIS) – full text documents covering all aspects (including standards and legislation) of the building, engineering, design and construction process from over 150 issuing bodies including BSI.
  • Knovel online library includes approx. 700 of the most important science and engineering reference books and databases, including encyclopedias, handbooks, standards, and databases of material and chemical properties from over 30 leading publishers. We have access to the Engineering Subject Area Collection
  • IEEE Explore Digital Library provides full-text access to all IEEE journals, transactions, current standards and conference proceedings; IET journals and conference proceedings; IEEE-Wiley ebooks.

To find out more about International Women in Engineering Day visit www.inwed.org.uk, follow on twitter @inwed1919 and use #inwed17 #wed50

International women in engineering day image

Posted in CollectionsGeorge Green LibraryOnline resourcesTeaching and Learning