SheCanEngineer

In this episode, we discuss parental (maternity) leave, and our guests Emma and Diana share their experiences and insights into how organisations can better support expectant parents and when they return to work. Through our discussion, it is clear that it is different for everyone, so flexibility in support is essential.

Emma has worked at Thames Water for almost 8 years, predominantly within Talent Management, HR. Emma is also a lead for one of the work streams within the Women’s Network - leading on the most recent campaign which will focus on supporting women returning back to the work place after maternity leave. This is looking at ways to improve processes through a variety of different initiatives, ensuring that mothers are supported as much as possible and that managers feel they too have support in place/understand the complexities. Outside of work she enjoys time with her sweet 3 year old boy, good coffee, and long, sunny walks (preferably with coffee in hand). Diana is a mechanical engineer from a manufacturing background. She designed and manufactured consumer and domestic products for UK based companies, before making the move into construction and building services consultancy. With two young children and a Labrador puppy, she is an expert in high stakes negotiation and defusing potentially volatile situations.

We hope you enjoy this conversation as much as we did! We would love to hear from you and anything you would like to share on this topic!

SheCanEngineer team

In this episode, our guest Trish Kerin - Director of the Institution Chemical Engineers Safety Centre introduces the topic of process safety, its impact, and sharing insights on her own podcast (Process Safety from Trish and Traci). We also discuss good leadership qualities - and how empowering others to speak up, as well as feeling empowered to challenge increases safety in every aspect.

We hope you enjoy this conversation as much as we did! We would love to hear from you and anything you would like to share on this topic!

SheCanEngineer team

We are back with another episode! Join us as we discuss apprenticeships with Sarah-Jane (SJ) and Lequesha, two fabulous Engineers who both started their careers with an apprenticeship.

Lequesha was born in Goa, India and moved to the UK at a young age. She recently secured a degree apprenticeships with Rolls Royce where she is currently working on drones and 3D printing.

SJ started her career over 20 years ago as an apprentice and completed an engineering technician apprenticeships with BAE Systems. She has worked on numerous aspects of the engineering lifecycle and is currently seconded to the MoD as a Programme Director.

In this episode we discuss the perception of apprenticeships and degree apprenticeships and its changing narrative. SJ and Lequesha also highlight the wide variety of apprenticeships in every industry as well as the disparity in apprenticeships in the North and South of England.

I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as we did! We would love to hear from you and anything you would like to share on this topic!

SheCanEngineer team

Season 2 of the SheCanEngineer kicks off with a wonderful guest, who the SheCanEngineer team had the pleasure of meeting at the 2022 SheCanEngineer INWED STEM Day! Rose Russell is an Art and D&T Technician at the Ursuline Academy IIford, and is also the STEM Co-ordinator. With a background in Fashion, she never really envisaged a career championing STEM, and in particular, Engineering! But when she founded the academy's STEM Club, she found that students really wanted to get involved - and now there is a waiting list for it! Rose has won multiple awards, and doesn't usually like the limelight, she believes the success of the STEM Club is down to teamwork and the students - which is all true but she doesn't give herself enough credit! Listen to how she made it all happen, the impact it has had on past and current students, and despite the challenges, why it is all worth it.

Welcome back to another episode of the SheCanEngineer Podcast. Following on from the INWED celebrations, we chat to Francesca O’Hanlon, an innovator and inventor who uses her Engineering expertise and entrepreneurship skills to solve a very real problem.

Francesca is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Cambridge and Founder and CEO of Blue Tap, a social enterprise that has developed affordable household water treatment technology. Blue Tap has run water treatment projects in Uganda and Kenya and is beginning a new project in India in the summer of 2022. Francesca founded Blue Tap after working for the charity Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) for two years in South Sudan and the Central African Republic, where she coordinated the water supply for emergency hospitals in conflict settings. Francesca has won a National Geographic Explorers Award for her work for Blue Tap and for her PhD research in climate resilience and water security.

In this episode, we discuss how even though engineers are the ones with the good ideas, taking that risk to commericialise these ideas and products can seem such a big scary step, but there are ways to do this with relatively low risk. Francesca also highlights how even if your business fails, you are still a success in other ways, as well as key role models who inspired her in her career.

I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as we did and. As ever, we would love to hear from you and anything you would like to share on this topic!

SheCanEngineer team

For info and registration, visit www.shecanengineer.com/upcoming-events

Welcome back to another episode of the SheCanEngineer Podcast. In this episode we are going to talk about Allyship. Our guests James Townsend and Tim Hurstwyn will share their experiences as diversity allies in the Engineering industry.

James is an Area Manager at Thames Water where he has worked for 9 years, wholly in the Operational side of the business, working with a team that spans across the majority of London. Tim joined Sellar as Development Manager after over 20 years of experience as Civil and Structural Engineer.

James is the Women’s Network Project Advisor at Thames Water while Tim has acted as a mentor, both formally and informally, for dozens of people at all levels, both within his organisation and externally. They have very different experiences on what it means to be an ally but for both of them everything starts from the smallest actions.

In this episode you will find out that being an ally does not always require grand gestures, both in the workplace and in society. Everyone of us can open up the conversation, step outside our comfort zone and listen. Everyone of us can be an ally!

We hope you enjoy this conversation as much as we did and, as ever, we would love to hear from you and anything you would like to share on this topic!

Welcome to the fourth episode of the SCE podcast featuring Helen Ramsay - Fellow Member of the Institution of Chemical Engineering (IChemE).

For over 20 years, Helen has encouraged students into STEM careers and developed Diversity & Inclusion policies in various organisations as well as building her career in environmental engineering and medical devices engineering management.  In this episode Helen talks about her experience as mentor in the Women in Engineering Society (WES) mentorship scheme.

What to look for in a mentor, how it can benefit your career aspirations, how to find the best mentor for you and also why you might want to eventually become a mentor yourself: these are only some of the topics you can discover in this episode.

In addition to this, Helen and our host Laura also discuss how mentorship can ultimately make a difference in tackling Diversity & Inclusion issues in the industry by supporting and representing those overcoming the challenges common to minority groups in early stages of their professional careers.

Mentorship really is a powerful tool for professional career development, both for junior engineers and more senior leaders. If you want to share some of your experiences as a mentor or mentee, as always, please do get in touch!

Welcome to the SheCanEngineer podcast!