The hub is a cross-School initiative from an academic team working across all three of our Engineering Schools. The initiative’s Principal Investigators are Dr Elizabeth Ratcliffe, Dr Sheryl Williams and Dr Laura Justham.
The IEEH has been conceived to better understand and tackle issues around underrepresentation among engineering students and the associated impacts in Higher Education. The central focus is an intersectional approach to enhance opportunities for students so that all engineering students feel valued, enabling a more diverse pool of engineers to be nurtured from school to professional level.
The first IEEH project is entitled ‘Don’t forget the Mortar! A new approach to engineering education’. The project seeks to create more inclusive learning environments and enhanced opportunities for all our students. It provides a dedicated space for workshops, activities, and a study café, that has and continues to be co-developed with our engineering students for engineering students.
Throughout the launch event, which took place on Monday 27 February, staff and students participated in a gamified event, visiting multiple stalls including engineering activities, mindful moments, information from the University EDI team and information and activities from º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ Students’ Union.
The Vice-Chancellor, Pro Vice-Chancellor of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion and Pro Vice-Chancellor of Education and Student Experience officially launched the hub with inspiring speeches. Principal Investigators also expressed their excitement for the hub to launch, as well as their appreciation to those who had contributed and attended.
Professor Charlotte Croffie said: “Tackling engineering skills shortages is the most important business imperative work in EDI for the future of engineering as identified by the Royal Academy of Engineering. The challenge is compounded by historical poor diversity in engineering and some under-represented groups being hardest hit by the Covid pandemic. Initiatives such as Athena Swan have begun to deliver greater recognition of challenges surrounding under-representation of women, but some recent research suggests future deterioration with changing career aspirations among under-represented groups in response to coronavirus.
“The mission of the IEEH is to provide a stellar all-round student experience, developing high calibre candidates for the engineering sector and advancing research at the interface between EDI and engineering. Consequently, I am delighted to congratulate the team behind The Inclusive Engineering Excellence Hub.”