On the 21st of October 2022, InterEngineering and the Royal Academy of Engineering hosted the second LGBTQ+ in Engineering summit. The aim of the day was to analyse insights from the Royal Academy of Engineering’s Inclusive Cultures survey, the largest collation of insights into culture, inclusion and diversity for LGBTQ+ Engineers to have ever existed.
The day was attended by 30 leaders from industry, academia and the engineering professional bodies, which included Rolls-Royce, Plastek, Thermo fisher, Mott MacDonald, National Grid, AGAIN, Entia Ltd, Air Products, AECOM, Arup and Gavin & Doherty Geosolutions.
The day was started with an introduction by the Operations Director of InterEngineering John Bradbury discussing the work which InterEngineering has achieved in the last years following our new strategy formed as part of the summit last year. Polly Williams, Head of Diversity and Inclusion at the Royal Academy of Engineering then outlined the Academy’s diversity and inclusion strategy and aims for the future. Yohannes Scarlett, Policy and Research Advisor from the Royal Academy of Engineering introduced the attendees to the Inclusive Cultures Survey which has recently been completed by the RAEng. This year’s survey is the largest-ever collation of insights into the culture, inclusion, and diversity of LGBTQ+ Engineers. John Bradbury, Operations Director of InterEngineering then took the attendees through a workshop to address the five emerging themes from the Inclusive Cultures Survey:
These points were then used to construct a plan into how the culture of engineering can improve for LGBTQ+ Engineers
We will now we analysing the results of the workshop to establish what InterEngineering and the Royal Academy can do to improve the culture of LGBTQ+ Engineers. We are planning to establish working groups, if you are interested in getting involved or would like to sponsor/support our work please reach out to us at team@interengineeringlgbt.com
The day was concluded with a panel discussion on what can industry or academia can do to improve inclusion for trans, queer and non-binary engineers? The panelist, Avery Cunningham, Poggy Murray Whitham, and Rose Taylor shared their insights whilst being chaired by InterEngineering founder Mark McBride-Wright.
We would like to thank our wonderful attendees for showing us the pathway to shape our future, the Royal Academy of Engineering for sponsoring the summit and our dedicated and fantastic volunteers.