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The Academy's Diversity
Programme
The Academy is committed to
diversity in all its activities. Through our own
approach and active cooperation with others across
the profession we aim to increase diversity and
improve access to science, engineering and
technology (SET) professions.
From April 2011 the
Academy received funding from the Department for
Business, Innovation and Skills to take the lead
role in addressing diversity across the engineering
profession. This work is in conjunction with the
Royal Society which has been charged with a parallel
role for the sciences. We know that those from low
income backgrounds and disabled people, certain
ethnic minorities and women are currently
under-represented within Engineering. The Academy’s
Diversity Programme seeks to engage the Professional
Engineering Institutions (PEIs), the Royal Society,
industry, education and other STEM and diversity
organisations, and focuses on 6 key areas:
Diversity
strands - Working across 7 diversity strands – with
a particular focus on ethnic minority and disabled
people, women and those from low income backgrounds
Data - Collating and generating qualitative and
quantitative data to understand levels of
under-representation and how best to address it
Stakeholder community - Bringing the stakeholder
community together to inform the scope and focus of
the programme
The engineering brand - Supporting and
influencing the way engineering is perceived by
diverse groups
Sharing best practice - Developing
communications and publications to inform the
profession – especially as regards examples of best
practice
Internal work – Integrating diversity into
our internal processes to to drive our external work
and reflect the diversity of the profession
Working
in all 6 areas, the Academy aims to be an exemplar
of good practice across all aspects of equality and
diversity in engineering.
Academy Schemes and Awards
In additional to the Diversity Programme, the Academy continues to support and deliver a number of initiatives and activities aimed at increasing diversity in SET:
 The
Academy has signed up to the UKRC’s
CEO Charter as a visible commitment to
increasing women in SET.
Best Programme: to encourage early career engineers and undergraduates from a wide range of backgrounds, including women and members of ethnic minority and socially deprived communities, to fully exploit their potential by embracing SET careers.
Athena Forum:
The Academy is a founder member of the
Athena
Forum, which was set up in 2008 following on
from the Athena Project. Its focus is to provide a
strategic oversight of developments particularly
aimed at supporting women in science, technology,
mathematics and medicine in UK higher education.
Within this area, the Academy also supports the
Athena SWAN Charter as a Steering Committee
member.
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