An event last month at London’s Royal Academy of Engineering (RAE) saw 19 more professional engineering institutions, including IHEEM, sign up to the Engineering Diversity Concordat, ‘committing to address the gender, ethnicity, and disability gap, affecting the profession’.
Led by the RAE, the Concordat is a voluntary commitment by professional engineering institutions to take action to attract, recruit, and retain, people from increasingly diverse backgrounds into professional membership and registration. Analysis of those working across professional engineering shows that women make up 51 per cent of the UK population, but only 8 per cent of the engineering workforce. Meanwhile, while 20 per cent of UK resident graduate engineers are from black and minority ethnic backgrounds, they represent only 6 per cent of the engineering workforce. Professor Dame Wendy Hall, DBE FREng FRS, chair of the Concordat, said: “Its ultimate goal is to ensure that our profession and its institutions continue to thrive, both now and in the future. Each and every one of us must play a part in attracting and retaining engineers from increasingly diverse backgrounds into professional membership and registration.” The RAE said: “Last month’s new signatories bring the number of professional engineering institutions that have signalled their commitment to developing diversity in their membership to 26, out of a total of 36, representing over 90 per cent of the professional engineering registrant population.” In addition to the Concordat, over 40 employers from a number of engineering disciplines have joined the Academy’s Diversity Leadership Group, the aim of which is ‘to develop a range of practical actions to widen the talent pool of engineers entering industry in the short term and for years to come’. Chris Parker, IHEEM’s recruitment/ membership manager, who attended the latest signing ceremony, said: “IHEEM is pleased to be included among the 26 signatories. The substance of what we are supporting is: to communicate commitment to equality and inclusion principles and practices; to take action to increase diversity among those in professional engineering membership and registration, and to monitor and measure progress. Council will consider the positive action it needs to take to ensure that our actions meet our commitment, and will welcome the support of all members.” The Concordat was first signed at the Royal Academy of Engineering on May 7 this year by: The Engineering Council, the Royal Academy of Engineering, the Institution of Engineering and Technology, the Institution of Chemical Engineers, the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, the Institute of Physics, the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers, the Institution of Civil Engineers, and the Royal Aeronautical Society.
