Events

Registraiton: https://bookwhen.com/sefi#focus=ev-sgau-20211006180000

17:00 – 18:30 GMT (UK) / 18:00 – 19:30 CEST (EU) / 12:00 – 13:30 EST (US)

Mental health and diversity and inclusion (D&I) are closely connected. Engineering students from diverse backgrounds can face lack of representation, microaggressions, bias, and other stressors that impact their mental health, psychological safety, and sense of belonging. Initiatives that support diversity, inclusion, and belonging can also support mental health – and vice versa.

in 2019, Equal Engineers UK carried out a survey that explored how the culture of engineering is affected by the stereotype of what an engineer looks like. Over a third of engineers would describe their mental health as fair or poor, and over a fifth have had to take time off work because of it. Over two-thirds of engineers said they do not feel included in the culture they work in.

Engineering degrees are often considered to be challenging and competitive, and the stress and struggle experienced by students during study can be perceived as a sign of strength, determination, and inevitability. This is particularly worrying given that the ‘engineering culture’ is still associated with (toxic) masculinity, and the majority of students that study engineering fall within high-risk groups (i.e. young males), as well as the poorer mental health associated with minority groups within engineering.

Registration: https://bookwhen.com/sefi#focus=ev-sk3u-20211012160000

15:00 – 16:30 GMT (UK)/ 16:00 – 17:30 CEST (EU)

In spite of continuous efforts to promote engineering and technology degrees and careers to young women, it remains a male-dominated field in Europe. In OECD countries, fewer than 1 in 3 engineering graduates are female. This low participation of girls and young women in engineering and technology education is likely because of stereotypes and expectations, rather than ability and performance differences in math and physics.

In a recent study by Moote et al (2020), the association of engineering with masculinity is evident in aspirations from age 10. Godwin et al (2016) found a stronger link between women’s agency belief, rather than maths and physics identities, and engineering career choice. Many other studies have identified numerous factors that have been linked to whether young women choose and persist in STEM areas such as interest in science, self-efficacy, role models, and science capital.

For this session we invited colleagues from Brazil, Sweden and the UK to discuss and explore ways to motivate young women to pursue engineering and technology education.

Speakers

Valquíria Villas-Boas (Universidade de Caxias do Sul, Brazil) to be confirmed

Ulrika Sultan (Linköping University, Sweden) confirmed

Kate Bellingham (University College London, UK) confirmed

Moderators

Bill Williams (Instituto Superior Técnico, Portugal; TU Dublin, Ireland)

Inês Direito (University College London, UK)

References

Godwin, A., Potvin, G., Hazari, Z., & Lock, R. (2016). Identity, Critical Agency, and Engineering: An Affective Model for Predicting Engineering as a Career Choice. Journal of Engineering Education, 105(2), 312–340. https://doi.org/10.1002/jee.20118

Moote, J., Archer, L., DeWitt, J., & MacLeod, E. (2020). Comparing students' engineering and science aspirations from age 10 to 16: Investigating the role of gender, ethnicity, cultural capital, and attitudinal factors. Journal of Engineering Education, 109, 34–51. https://doi.org/10.1002/jee.20302

Registration: https://bookwhen.com/sefi#focus=ev-savf-20211020150000

3-5 PM CET / 9-11 AM EST

Yanna Lambrinidou (environmental health & policy scholar-activist; Virginia Tech, USA); Neelke Doorn (TU Delft, The Netherlands); other speakers tbc

description coming soon