We champion women in Tech and aim to help bridge the gender gap in STEM education.
On Tuesday 20th June to celebrate the International Women in Engineering Day we teamed up with grant recipient TechGirlz, our corporate donor Spectris and student network Young Professionals UK to host an online collaborative workshop, seminar and panel discussion – all about women in Tech!
The event kicked off with an introduction from Foundation Director, Rebecca Levy, followed by a warm welcome from Spectris’s CEO and Foundation Trustee, Andrew Heath. Andrew spoke to the importance of diversity within STEM education and introduced the schedule for the evening.
Danielle Garrett, TechGirlz Partner Success Specialist from TechGirlz facilitated an interactive a workshop named “think like a digital designer”. This stimulating session taught the importance of user experience and helped the participants learn to think about different consumer groups when designing and developing an app. During one activity Danielle asked the participants to write a letter to their favourite app and the students wrote their creative and insightful letters in the chat box. One participant wrote to Spotify;
“Dear Spotify, You’re my everyday because you’re always here for me, when I am down, when I am happy, when I want to relax, you are always there for me and I love you for that.”
After the workshop the students had the freedom to visit different breakout rooms where, The Spectris Foundation, Spectris Scientific, Spectris Dynamics, and Servomex and Red Lion held inspiring lightening talks and discussions on their business areas, and personal experiences working as women in tech. These impressive women gave practical advise and expertise in their fields. In The Spectris Foundation booth, Kate Kerr, foundation trustee, talked about the importance of psychology in STEM and how she progressed within the User Experience sector. She was joined by Karen Usher, founder of NMITE and foundation trustee, who gave practical and insightful advice to the students.
To close the event, Dan Miller from Young Professionals facilitated a panel discussion and Q&A with women leaders from Spectris Plc and The Spectris Foundation trustees. They spoke about perspectives on the future of engineering, emerging trends in technology, and the importance of diversity and inclusion in this ever-evolving field. It was a chance to share knowledge, stories, advice to help guide the participants on their own journeys.
Thank you to everyone who made this event possible – we reached an amazing 277 students from across the UK and the US.