News

Danielle Epstein was the runner up in this June’s I’m an Engineer Food Zone. During the event, on National Women in Engineering Day she spoke with the Prime Minister about how to get more women into engineering by challenging stereotypes, and using I’m an Engineer as a way to help young people relate to engineers. Danielle wrote about her experience. On Monday 23rd June both the Prime Minister, David Cameron and the Chancellor, George Osborne visited Coca-Cola Enterprises Wakefield facility, Europe’s largest soft drinks production plant. As part of this visit I was given the fantastic opportunity to meet them and speak to them about my first 10 months at CCE on the supply chain graduate scheme. As part of my discussion with them I brought up the fact that it was National Women in Engineering Day and how timely his visit was to raise the profile of this important … Continue reading →

When students take part in I’m an Engineer they get to vote for their favourite engineer to win £500 to spend on communicating more engineering. It gives them ownership of the project and they decide who gets, in effect, a small grant for public engagement. But what are students’ votes based on? This is how 109 students (or groups of students) have ranked certain criteria from most to least important when considering how to vote for engineers, since January 2012. The results come from a Drag & Drop ranking activity in the first lesson plan “You’re the Judges” that teachers run to introduce their students to I’m an Engineer. The top ranked criteria are linked to society, with engineering being used for good: saving lives, safety & reducing environmental impact. There are also insights into how students might perceive engineers and engineering companies. Reassuringly, the more superficial criteria lurk at the bottom of … Continue reading →

The application for an Ingenious Award (funding from the Royal Academy of Engineering) asks for an example case study of an engineer’s public engagement journey after taking part in the project. Since I’m an Engineer started in 2012 we’ve had 40 engineers take part, many at different stages of their public engagement journey. Here’s Nicola Lazenby’s case study from our application: Nicola is a PhD student looking at how foundations can be used to produce renewable heat and energy from the ground. She won the Environment Zone in March 2013. Before taking part in I’m an Engineer she already had an interest in outreach, being involved with Engineers without Borders, a Student Ambassador at University and working with young people summer schools and taster days. She “wasn’t new to engagement, but not exactly an experienced professional”. Taking part in I’m an Engineer changed the way Nicola communicates. She now thinks a … Continue reading →

On Monday, Rosie and I went to an evaluation surgery organised by the Royal Academy of Engineering (RAENG) in Bristol. It was an afternoon workshop lead by Ben Gammon, which purpose was to help us evaluate projects awarded with Ingenious Grants, by completing an evaluation plan. Ben shared with us his 5 key points in evaluation: What do you need to find out? Is data going to be useful? Will it actually help you to change something? Consider the time and money that doing getting that data would take Choose an effective method to gather the data How are you going to disseminate the data? He also gave us very great advice on does and don’ts when designing a survey. As we are survey fanatics we took great attention to these. Here are some of them: Always avoid “and” in any survey questions, as you would be asking two different … Continue reading →

Our self-funded March event went superbly. Nearly 400 students took part. Have a quick read through the daily updates below  for a flavour of the event and the Zone Report gives more depth. You can see the feedback that shows just how much the students and engineers get out of the event. As student ‘jessica123’ said about the 5 engineers “thank you sooo much for your time I have learnt a lot your are very nice people”   Daily updates Day 1 – Football, Grand Designs and the Olympics Day 2 – 3D printing, heat pumps and bridges Day 3 – Helicopters, straw huts and coal mines Day 4 – Sustainability in sport, Saudi Arabian cities and bamboo houses Day 5 – Global warming, Scottish independence and rocket science Day 6 – Carrot-powered cars, model rockets and transparent soil Day 7 – First eviction! Day 8 – Robots, red matter and petrol-powered … Continue reading →