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In most countries, women still represent less than 20% of the engineering workforce in industry and academia. Organized by the DEI committee, the DS is launching a series of online talks to encourage women to explore opportunities for careers in engineering, fostering diversity, innovation, and equality in the field. Women from academia and industry will describe their experiences and efforts to encourage more women to pursue an engineering degree and subsequently enter engineering leadership. These talks are motivated to inspire change and provide insight into creating inclusive environments.
These talks are open to everyone, and you're encouraged to invite colleagues and interested students. All sessions will take place online on the first Wednesday of each of the next six months, at the same time. Recordings will be available on the Design Society website.
Episode 1 Speaker: Prof. Dr.-Ing Lucienne T.M. Blessing
Title: A woman on the move – a life of experiences in engineering design
The number of women studying engineering and engineering design has increased substantially over the last decades and is now showing some effect on the number of women with a career in academia or in public and private organisations. However, their percentage remains low. This lack of diversity (as with any other diversity dimension) has a clear effect on the solutions that are created to address the issues individuals, groups and society are facing. In the lecture I will reflect on my experiences in academia against this backdrop, highlight the lessons I learned, and conclude with some recommendations that – as part of this series - hopefully encourages and helps those at the beginning of their career to continue in this field and contribute to positive change in our society.
Bio
Currently semi-retired and Adjunct Professor at Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD). Full-time academic and managerial positions at: SUTD, University of Luxembourg, University of the Greater Region, Berlin Technical University, Cambridge University, and University of Twente. Visiting professor at MIT and Indian Institute of Science. 38 years of teaching experience, supervised 30 PhD students and co-supervised 6. Nearly 500 PhD students participated in her Summer School on Engineering Design Research. Research: education, science, methodology, UX, transdisciplinarity and ethics, over 220 peer-reviewed publications, among the top 2% scientists in Design Practice and Management (Stanford Uni List 2021). Design Society co-founder and past Editor-in-Chief (Europe) of Research in Engineering Design.
