Strategic Council of the “Women and Engineering” Project
Almudena Bautista joins the team presided over by the Queen
The Women and Engineering project was launched in 2016, in response to the finding by engineering universities that the number of students in general and, in particular, women was decreasing.
This is a social and inclusive project, which believes in diversity, and whose objective is to normalize the participation of women in the field of engineering and technology. It seeks to raise awareness of the contribution of science, technology and engineering to the quality of life of people and the sustainability of the planet.
On December 10, the inaugural meeting of the strategic council took place. The Queen of Spain is the honorary president and the former vice president of the Government, Elena Salgado, the president. Almudena Bautista, an industrial engineer and partner of IDOM has recently joined the council.
The project, directed by Sara Gómez along with Marita Vallet, vice president of the Royal Academy of Engineering, and Nuria Oliver, academic of the Royal Academy of Engineering, aims to promote STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) vocations among children, girls and young people; including engineering, highlighting the social dimension. One of the aims is to give visibility to professional women in the STEM field, helping to break the glass ceiling and become a national and international benchmark. It has more than 30 institutions, administrations and collaborating companies and more than 50,000 followers on social networks.
The members of the strategic council must provide their opinion on the actions proposed and carried out, be ambassadors for the project and participate in certain initiatives, among other functions.
December 16, 2020
Activities carried out and scheduled for 2021
- TECHMI. Activity carried out in secondary education centers in order to promote the interest of children and young people in research, innovation, science and engineering, with the participation of more than 2,000 students.
- Women and Engineer Role Model Sessions with children and young people in primary, secondary and vocational education centers (held in more than 200 centers) with the aim of increasing motivation to choose scientific-technological careers, with junior engineering speakers from the Women and Engineer (W&E) community (more than 2,500 people) and the companies sponsoring the project.
- W&E mentoring program in which professionals with positions of responsibility in companies sponsoring the project accompany, sharing their experience, with young people who are about to finish their studies in Engineering. Its main objective is the identification and recruitment of female STEM talent.
- In-company mentoring program in which professionals with positions of responsibility in companies accompany and share their experience with engineers and other professionals who have just joined the company. Program developed at ADIF.
- Agreement with the association "empoWErment4STEAM" to carry out workshops to promote entrepreneurship in women.
- Conferences within the "They, leaders of technological change" program, organized with ORACLE, with the collaboration of ADIF, RED Eléctrica and NIPPON GASES.
- M&I Start! (W&E Start) Initiative to help young women with an entrepreneurial vocation to design new business models and develop their startups.
PHOTO / IMAGE
From the left, Antonio Colino, president of the Royal Academy of Engineering, and Elena Salgado, the president of the Council. In the center right, Almudena Bautista.