24 school girls take on Amey's engineering challenge

22 Jun 2017

Download a high res copy of this image

24 girls, from four schools in and around Birmingham, are taking on the Amey Challenge Cup to project manage , design and build a new road bridge using a real life example of a bridge collapse in Worcestershire – with the aim of encouraging more women into the engineering sector.

Lisa Ingram, Head of Business Improvement, is once again spearheading the team organising the event in Birmingham, which has been run annually for the past three years to coincide with International Women in Engineering Day (Friday 23^rd June).

Lisa says: “There are so many different roles and types of jobs within engineering and we often find that young people just aren’t aware of the opportunities available. The idea behind the Challenge Cup is to break down some of the barriers that we know exist and help girls understand where a career in engineering could take them.”

The Challenge Cup involves teams of 6 girls, aged 13 – 15, looking at all aspects of an engineering project including planning, budgeting and managing risk. It has been designed to show how many different roles there are available within the engineering sector.

Noshin Yasin, CEIAG and WRL Manager at Shireland Collegiate Academy said: “The Women in Engineering event is a brilliant initiative by Amey to promote engineering related careers to young girls. We took part last year as well (and won!!) and the students not only found it insightful within this sector, the activities throughout the day also helped them brush up on their skills such as team work, logic and planning. Overall a well worth it event and brilliantly organised.”

Winners each receive £15 high street shopping vouchers and a trophy for their school. And all the participants get an Amey goodie bag.

Lisa continues: “I really believe that school outreach is critical to addressing the gender imbalance within engineering. That’s why myself, and our team of STEM Ambassadors, are so passionate about events like this, and why Amey has committed to reaching 1,000 school aged girls every year for the next five years.”

“But while there’s a practical, and serious, reason for these events, we’ve made them really fun too. I’m always so impressed by the level of talent, enthusiasm and creativity we see during these events – and for me, the mark of success is seeing the girls’ confidence grow.”

Watch our highlights video from last year’s event here.

The Amey Challenge Cup is just one of the events planned to mark International Women in Engineering Day. Follow all the activities on twitter by following @Ameyplc

Press Contacts