Tinkering, Tailoring, and Transforming: Retention of Scientific Excellence of Women Researchers through WiSER mentoring

Women are under-represented in academic grades in Higher Education, but more so in science, engineering and technology (SET) disciplines. This under-representation of women undermines the potential gains the community of science can attain by utilising the skills, talents and knowledge of all those who are trained to work in SET. The European Union statistics show that women are equally represented at undergraduate stage but become progressively more under-represented in the more senior academic positions. This article presents a case study of a mentoring programme in the Centre for Women in Science and Engineering Research (WiSER) at Trinity College Dublin. Its aim is the recruiting, retaining, returning and advancing women in academic science, engineering and technology. WiSER seeks to develop sustainable practices to ensure that women can compete in research in an equitable manner with male colleagues using their scientific expertise, knowledge and potential. The outcomes of the programme are reported for mentors, mentees and Trinity College and retention data are given for the women a year after the programme ended

Danger! men at work: a study of the underepresentation of women in third-level engineering

peer-reviewe

Diversity in engineering: tinkering, tailoring, transforming

peer-reviewedDiversity is essential for creativity and innovation, which are at the heart of engineering. Thus engineering can benefit from the richness and varied perspectives and expertise which individuals from different ethnicity, culture and gender can bring to problem-solving. Furthermore promoting diversity in the workforce provides greater access to talent by increasing the pool of qualified and skilled professionals. This chapter focuses on gender diversity as an area which has received considerable attention for many years from both the research community and policy makers. Researchers seek to explore the reasons for the continued under-representation of women in engineering in spite of numerous policies, initiatives and interventions. The subject will be explored through the role of female engineers in academia as it is the education sector which has the most critical influence on recruitment and retention, not just in academia itself but in the public and private sector generally. Using the ?tinkering, tailoring, transforming? model developed by Rees (1995), the chapter will explore the history of women in engineering, highlighting those interventions which appear to be having the greatest positive impact. In spite of the dearth of rigorous evaluation in terms of sustainability and scaleability, there is a growing body of evidence pointing to best practice in this area. This indicates that a significant shift in attitudes and culture is required in order to reach the critical mass of 30% when the process becomes embedded and sustainable