WeAreTheCity’s 2020 Rising Stars in Science and Engineering alumni helped inspire Year 9 students in Leicestershire, through 3M’s STEM careers Q&A.
3M sponsors the Science and Engineering category of the Rising Star Awards programme, championing females working in the industry who help to highlight the wide range of STEM careers available.
The Q&A session was attended by teachers from Soar Valley College, the Jameah Girls Academy and South Charnwood High School who put forward questions to the panel on behalf of their students. In addition, questions from students attending Orchard Mead Academy and Lancaster Academy were invited.
Amber O’Connor, Hannah Ratcliffe, Katie Burnell and Rebecca Cocklin were joined on the panel by 3M’s Sarah Chapman, EMEA market segment Application Engineering manager for the Industrial Adhesives and Tapes Division and a Science and Engineering Rising Star in 2016.
During the session, the Rising Stars were asked a wide range of questions, covering topics such as the skills and qualifications needed to become an engineer; what they enjoy most about the job; who inspired the panellists to study STEM subjects; and how much they earn.
The event was promoted to local schools by the Leicestershire Education Business Company. The organisation’s STEM manager, Judith Payne, said, “The Rising Stars were all fabulous.”
“They gave some really interesting and thought-provoking answers to the questions, especially around how doing projects outside their comfort zone has helped them to develop new skills.”
Watch a recording of the session below
Nominations for the 2021 Rising Star Awards are now open.
Now in its seventh year, the Rising Star Awards are the first to focus on the UK’s female talent pipeline below management level. Our strategic goal, set in 2015, aims to showcase 1,000 outstanding women by 2022. By highlighting the accolades of these women, WeAreTheCity are not only promoting the amazing female talent that exists across the UK, but actively encouraging organisations and business leaders to invest in and recognise these women as leaders of tomorrow and individual contributors to their respective industries.
These awards will recognise and celebrate a further 100 female individual contributors from over 20 different industries that represent the leaders and role models of tomorrow. These winners will join our award’s alumni of 650 previous winners, across the UK and India.
New for this year, we are also excited to introduce a new “Global Award for Achievement” category to our awards to expand our search for global talent. This category is a female individual who works within any industry, outside of the UK, whose current position is below director level.
Alongside these categories, we are also calling for nominations for Champions, Men for Gender Balance and a Company of the Year. Our Champion award recognises the achievements of five senior individuals, of any gender, who are actively supporting the female pipeline outside of their day job. Nominations for this award are individuals who have demonstrated their commitment to gender, e.g. HeForShe supporters, network leaders, directors, MD’s & C-Suite individuals who are championing women either inside or outside their organisations.
The Men for Gender Balance category is for men who are championing women and gender balance either inside or outside their organisation. Nominees must be at least Director level (or equivalent) or above, and must demonstrate that they have actively supported the female pipeline either through their current work role or external activities.
The Company of the Year award recognises the achievements of a company who can clearly demonstrate that they are actively supporting its female talent pipeline through their initiatives, training, development programmes and internal employee relations and diversity network groups.
You can find out more and nominate here.
