As part of Kent's commitment to Employability and Equality, Diversity and Inclusivity, the School of Engineering and Digital Arts is delighted to offer:

Inclusive Engineering and Technology - by Dawn Bonfield MBE CEng FIMMM FICE FIStructE FWES

Wednesday 17th October from 1 - 2 pm in Jennison Lecture Theatre

Synopsis:

Inclusion in Engineering and Technology is a competence that allows engineers and technologists to ensure that their work is inclusive of and accessible to everybody. It is a methodology to ensure that engineering products and services have been designed with 360 degree visibility, and that the needs and requirements of all users – both now and in the future - have been considered. It takes into account traditionally under-represented groups, ensuring that data sets which have been used to inform design are complete and non-biased, and that these groups are represented in the design process, as well as considering the manufacturers, maintainers and users of the finished product or service. It ensures that technology is appropriate for its environment, and that it is produced ethically and with global responsibility in mind.

This talk will look at a number of examples of where an inclusive outlook would improve our engineering and technology products, and this outlook will – in turn – produce engineers who practice inclusive management and recruitment, and establish teams and working cultures which are open and inclusive of all. Finally, Dawn will also talk about microinequalities and practical ways of dealing with the manifestations of unconscious bias.

Biography:

Dawn Bonfield is a Royal Academy of Engineering Visiting Professor of Inclusive Engineering at Aston University, and Founder & Director of Towards Vision, a Company which aims to work towards a vision of diversity and inclusion in engineering. She is Past President and former Chief Executive of the Women's Engineering Society (WES), and in 2018 is an Ambassador for the Year of Engineering, promoting engineering careers through a roadshow aimed at meeting parents. She is co-founder of IncEng, a platform to bring together under-represented groups in engineering.

Whilst at WES in 2014 Dawn was the founder of National Women in Engineering Day (now International Women in Engineering Day) and in 2015 established the inaugural 50 Women in Engineering List with the Daily Telegraph. She established and still runs theMagnificent Women schools outreach project, and the Sparxx project to support students STEM. Dawn is a STEM Ambassador and regularly promotes engineering and materials in schools.

A materials engineer by profession - having studied Materials Science at Bath University - Dawn has worked at AERE Harwell, Citroen Research Centre (Paris), British Aerospace (Bristol), MBDA (Stevenage), and the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (London).

Dawn received an MBE in 2016 for 'Services to the promotion of diversity in engineering'.
In 2015 Dawn won a WISE Award and an Association Congress Award for the INWED campaign, and in 2016 she won the SEMTA award for Diversity in Engineering. In 2016 she was a finalist in the GEDC Airbus Global Diversity Award, and in 2017 she won the Women's Business Council STEM 'Starting Out' award.

She is a member of other groups including:

• T level panel member: Design, Development and Control
• Member of Women in Materials Committee of Institute of Materials, Minerals & Mining
• Member of the DfE Technical Education Inclusivity Working Group
• Member of the Visiting Professors' Management Group
• Member of the Royal Academy of Engineering Diversity and Inclusion Leadership Group on Measurement
• Member of the Women’s Business Council STEM Starting Out Subgroup
• Member of Bath University Court
• Patron at Alton Convent School, Hampshire
• External Athena Swan Advisory Group Member, City University

Open to all students and staff at the University of Kent