The Common Room on Westgate Road in Newcastle’s city centre is to host three-day festival focusing on increasing diversity in the engineering sector.
Running from 7 to 9 April, the Face of Engineering Festival will shine a spotlight on women working in engineering.According to a recent Engineering UK report, only 14.5 per cent of engineers are female and the festival aims to increase that figure by enabling the next generation of engineers to meet female role models and learn about the range of careers that are available in the engineering sector.Among the speakers and facilitators scheduled to appear is the Institution of Engineering and Technology’s 2021 Young Woman Engineer of the Year, electronics design engineer Shrouk El-Attar. Born in Egypt, El-Attar came to the UK in 2007 as a refugee.
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On the festival’s first day, the Common Room will host an industry conference that features workshops and panel discussions hosted by BBC radio presenter Ngunan Adamu. Panellists will include Shrouk El-Attar; Margherita Pasquariello, the head of strategy at NA College in Washington, Tyne and Wear; and Steena Nasapen-Watson, the regional director of the Institution of Civil Engineers North East and Yorkshire and Humber. The conference will be live streamed online.
On day two, North East secondary school pupils will be invited to take part in interactive engineering workshops delivered by engineers from local companies such as Unipres (UK) and Turner & Townsend. There they will be able to meet and talk with a number of female engineers.
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On the festival’s final day, the Common Room will open its doors to budding engineers of all ages for a series of hands-on events and activities, including virtual reality challenges, hosted by local businesses.
For further information and to get tickets, visit the Common Room’s website.