INVITATION ONLY
This event is invitation only. If you are interested in being added to the guest list, please complete our Register of Interest form.
Our 2026 Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Conference will centre on the theme Engineering for Communities. The day will explore the power of leveraging the engineering community, bringing together engineers from different sectors, regions and disciplines to collaborate, exchange ideas, and co-create equitable engineering practice that meets the needs of the full breadth of communities in society.
The event will explore the importance of creating psychological safety for the engineering community to enable engineers to speak up, add challenge, and share ideas that lead to more inclusive and equitable engineering outcomes for engineers and for wider society. The conference hopes to balance inspiration and learning with practical application.
A morning keynote address, delivered by Dame Judith Hackitt DBE FREng, and panel discussion will explore what psychological safety means in engineering and why it is critical for enabling physical safety for engineers working in industry and for wider society. Speakers will examine how the everyday mindsets and behaviours of engineers can impact who feels able to speak up, share ideas and raise concerns, and how this impacts engineering culture and outcomes. We hope to offer some practical and actionable steps for delegates to support them to embed psychological safety into everyday practice.
An afternoon interactive workshop will enable delegates to explore practical ways to deliver more inclusive and equitable engineering outcomes for engineers and for wider society. Participants will explore existing good practice approaches in different contexts and opportunities for knowledge sharing and collaboration across sectors and disciplines. The workshop will generate recommendations to shape our strategy on inclusive engineering outcomes to ensure the day generates lasting impact.
Throughout the day, the conference will offer delegates structured opportunities to foster professional connections, share experiences, and co-create solutions that support more widespread inclusive engineering practice.
Programme*
| 9.30am | Registration and refreshments |
| 10.00am | Opening remarks |
| 10.15am | The importance of psychological safety in engineering by Dame Judith Hackitt DBE FREng |
| 10.30am |
Safe to speak: Turning voice into value |
| 11.30am | Break |
| 12.00pm | Micro-presentations |
| 12.45pm | Lunch and exhibition |
| 2.00pm | Creating inclusive and equitable engineering outcomes workshop part 1 |
| 3.00pm | Break |
| 3.20pm | Creating inclusive and equitable engineering outcomes workshop part 2 |
| 4.30pm | Networking drinks |
| 5.30pm | Event ends |
*Programme subject to change
Photography/filming notice
Please note that photography/filming may take place during this event. All photographs and videos will be securely stored on the Academy’s servers and used for editorial, marketing and media use by the Academy and selected press or industry media. Please let us know if you do not agree to this processing. Please refer to our General Privacy Policy for more details.
Venue and accessibility
It is very important to the Royal Academy of Engineering that our events are accessible to all. If you have any accessibility requirements, please contact the Events team more than one week in advance of this event so that necessary arrangements can be made. Contact details: [email protected].
Further information about accessibility at Prince Philip House can be found at: https://raeng.org.uk/about-us/accessibility.
Diversity monitoring form
The Academy is committed to equity, diversity and inclusion and one of our goals is to develop an engineering community fit for the future. To help us achieve this, we would like to collect some basic anonymous data about the event attendees. If you would like to help, please complete the diversity monitoring form by logging into your user account on our website and completing ‘Update my D&I data’
Dame Judith Hackitt DBE FREng
Dame Judith Hackitt is a chemical engineer by training and spent the first half of her career working in the chemicals industry – both in manufacturing and also as an advocate for the industry at national and international level. She is a former President of the Institution of Chemical Engineers and a Fellow and Trustee of the Royal Academy of Engineering. Throughout her career she has championed the importance of Engineering in delivering solutions which provide benefit to society and has been a role model particularly for young women wanting to enter the profession. She cares deeply about safety in the workplace and more broadly. From 2007 to 2016 she was Chair of the UK’s Health and Safety Executive and in 2017 conducted an Independent Review for UK Government into Building Regulations and Fire Safety in the wake of the Grenfell Tower disaster. Since publishing her final report in 2018 she has continued to press for regulatory change and for industry culture change and her recommendations for radical reform of the regulatory system received Royal Assent in the Building Safety Act 2022. The change has been described as the biggest shake up in Construction regulation in a generation. She is currently Chair of the RAE’s Membership Committee and also of the Engineering X Safer Complex Systems programme
