Graduate Apprentice of the Year set to give inspiring talk at upcoming Women In Engineering Day celebration 

GCU is hosting their own celebrations this year to mark Women In Engineering Day on 23 June, by hosting an on-campus event with activities and inspiring guest speakers.

Women In Engineering Day is an international awareness campaign focused on raising the profile of women in engineering.

This year, GCU's School of Computing, Engineering and Built Environment aims to recognise and celebrate the outstanding achievements of our female colleagues and students, exploring how we may work together to overcome some of the challenges in terms of advancing gender equalities.

The GCU event, including a series of activities for students and staff, will feature guest speakers from the engineering industry, GCU academics and Graduate Apprentice of the Year – Meg Scott.

Meg, who is just about to graduate from her Graduate Apprentice (Civil Engineering) programme, has been invited to speak about her experience as a female engineer in a male-dominated industry.

We spoke to Meg about how it feels to be speaking at such an exciting event and what Women In Engineering Day means to her:

Firstly, what made you decide to go into the area of Civil Engineering?

“I was really interested in buildings and wanted to be an architect for a long time, but I decided that 7 years of studying wasn’t my calling! I started looking at structural engineering and actually putting something into the world. With civil engineering, you can see what you design in real life within years.

It’s really beneficial to be in that field because you can actually see what you’re doing and you can see what you’re giving back, so I went into civil engineering from there.”

You’ve had a successful journey so far (Graduate Apprentice of the Year and speaking at GCU’s Women In Engineering event) - how does it feel to have all of these good things happening?

“It feels very strange to be recognised for it all! It kind of feels like that this is my job -  I don’t feel like I’ve done anything extra. I’ve been involved in a lot, so it’s felt good to get the word out there. For women in STEM, it’s especially important to get the word out there. I followed a role model who was a female civil engineer and a Graduate Apprentice, so it’s nice knowing that I could be a role model to someone else.”

What will you be discussing at the WIE event?

“I’m going to be speaking about my experience of being a woman in a male -dominated industry. I work in a team of 13 men so it’s a very different way of working. It’s starting to change, but at the moment the industry is still very male dominated.”

Days like Women In Engineering Day helps highlight the opportunities for women to go into engineering industries. Why is it important that we continue to encourage women to consider working in these areas?

“I think women can be a bit put off of these industries because it is so male-dominated and at times they may not even see themselves or another woman in that environment.

I used to think that Apprenticeships were just focused on trades, which I would say is a more male-orientated career, but seeing examples of women in these industries, just like engineering, is so important. Women need to understand that it is possible and you actually can be the difference.”

Find out about GCU’s mission to increase opportunities for women into STEM on our dedicated webpage

By Rachael McAlonan

Got a SCEBE or GSBS story? Email me at Rachael.McAlonan@gcu.ac.uk or connect with me on social media