Dawn Bonfield MBE (former Chief Executive of the Women’s Engineering Society) to deliver ‘Inclusive Engineering and Technology’ lecture

As part of our commitment to Employability and Equality, Diversity and Inclusivity, the School of Engineering and Digital Arts is delighted to announce that on Wednesday 17th October at 1 pm in Jennison Lecture Theatre, we will be welcoming Dawn Bonfield, MBE to the University of Kent for an inspirational lecture on Inclusive Engineering and Technology.

Inclusion in Engineering and Technology is a competence that allows engineers and technologists to ensure that their work is inclusive of and accessible to everybody.  It is a methodology to ensure that products and services have been designed with 360 degree visibility, and that the needs and requirements of all users – both now and in the future – have been considered. It takes into account traditionally under-represented groups, ensuring that data sets which have been used to inform design are complete and non-biased, and that these groups are represented in the design process, as well as considering the manufacturers, maintainers and users of the finished product or service. Dawn will also talk about micro-inequalities and practical ways of dealing with the manifestations of unconscious bias.

Dawn Bonfield is a Royal Academy of Engineering Visiting Professor of Inclusive Engineering at Aston University, and Founder & Director of Towards Vision, a Company which aims to work towards a vision of diversity and inclusion in engineering. She is Past President and former Chief Executive of the Women’s Engineering Society (WES), and in 2018 is an Ambassador for the Year of Engineering, promoting engineering careers through a roadshow aimed at meeting parents. She is co-founder of IncEng, a platform to bring together under-represented groups in engineering.

Whilst at WES in 2014 Dawn was the founder of National Women in Engineering Day (now International Women in Engineering Day) and in 2015 established the inaugural 50 Women in Engineering List with the Daily Telegraph. She established and still runs the Magnificent Women schools outreach project, and the Sparxx project to support students STEM. Dawn is a STEM Ambassador and regularly promotes engineering and materials in schools.

To book your ticket for this event, please book via Eventrbite.  Alternatively, just turn up.  All welcome.