The Go Beyond Women in STEM Celebration was held on the March 6th, at the University of Salford with the objective of uniting female students across various STEM disciplines within their School of Science, Engineering, and Environment (SEE), spanning all year groups. This event marked the first time such an occasion was hosted on campus.
Pictured left to right: Melissa Ahmed (Managing Director at TechWuman) Maria Williamson (Head of Engineering Delivery at Morson Projects), Chloe Hughes (Stress Engineer at Morson Projects) and Dr Shini Somara (Panel Moderator).
The event aimed to inspire conversation, debate and industry networking and featured a range of panel sessions from industry speakers, trend setters, researchers and university experts.
Dr. Maria Stukoff, University of Salford’s Maker Space Director, said:
“Go Beyond focuses on students’ future readiness and its collaboration with industry mentors to foster employment opportunities for women in engineering. The continued support from the Morson Group and our Alumni network is a testament to our strong partnerships and joint commitment to nurturing talent pipelines for the next generation of women in engineering.
“The event aimed to underscore the significance of Women in STEM, aligning with the recent Women in STEM campaign launched to encourage more women to pursue STEM studies at Salford. Salford University is very fortunate to have industry partners Morson Group who campaign to support Women in Engineering, along with their goals to inspire the next generation of STEM leaders.”
Head of Engineering Delivery, Maria Williamson and Stress Engineer, Chloe Hughes have been integral people in the development of ‘Go Beyond’, which began as a mentoring programme and has since evolved into a wider programme as part of the Morson Group STEM Foundation.
Maria Williamson, Head of Engineering Delivery, commented:
“I was delighted to be invited to speak at the event, along with my colleague Chloe, we joined a panel to discuss ‘Developing our Superpowers’ touching on how students can really embrace themselves and make the most of every opportunity. Encouraging them to identify their own strengths and push themselves in such a challenging industry.
“The day was inspiring, hearing from follow industry professionals, all of which had fantastic knowledge and experiences to share. We also heard from some PhD students about their truly incredible research.
“As a women in industry, the passion I saw was outstanding and I hope to surround myself with more of these like-minded women in the future.”
In addition to the event, Morson Projects also support the Go Beyond programmes mentoring initiative. Maria added:
“I’ve served as a mentor with Go Beyond for four years and have had the privilege of meeting inspiring women who have pursued exciting careers in STEM. It’s incredibly fulfilling as a mentor to witness their achievements and assist in shaping their new careers, especially considering I never had a mentor to guide my journey into engineering. Having a female role model is pivotal for the future of our industry to expand opportunities, and I am very excited to be mentoring another Go Beyond student this year.”
Chloe, who pursued Aeronautical Engineering at Salford, now works as a Stress Engineer. She expressed:
“Go Beyond really helped with my transition from university to a professional role, as my mentor (Maria Williamson) provided support throughout this phase. Having an industry mentor was priceless, and I’m now honoured to return as a mentor myself, aiming to support the transition for the next cohort of female students entering the STEM workforce.”