Overview
This year’s International Women in Engineering Day (INWED) theme is enhanced by engineering. It recognises the incredible contribution women engineers are making to the profession and encourages more women and young girls to pursue a career in engineering.
Join us for an evening of celebration and insight as the Women in Engineering Sydney and Young Engineers Australia Divisions are again collaborating to bring you the annual Winter Gala on Friday the 21st of June.
This year we will celebrate International Women in Engineering Day (INWED), through the theme of "Enhanced by Engineering" – how Engineering can bring positive social impact to people’s everyday lives. Throughout the night our incredible panel will explore this theme through varying avenues looking at the intersection between Engineering and Social Impact, and the importance of Industry Gender Equality within this discussion. Through this event our panel will highlight how greater diversity within the Engineering industry translates into more inclusive societal designs and discuss what actionable steps can be taken to achieve this. Furthermore, the panel will explore questions such as: can showcasing the positive social, environmental, and economic outcomes of engineering attract and retain more women in the field? How can STEM solutions reduce gender disparities within our social structures? And how can all genders, including men, act as agents of change in fostering gender equality within engineering? One of the main focuses of this year's theme of "Enhanced by Engineering” is showcasing the positive contributions Engineering can have and the importance of diverse teams in developing inclusive solutions for society.
This event will provide an opportunity to continue to push for progress in Gender Equality within Engineering and society as a whole exploring what tangible actions we can take and how the focus on positive societal impacts can encourage more women to pursue careers in engineering. The event will bring together all engineers, managers and leaders from diverse disciplines and industries to share their experiences and knowledge on how Engineering can bring positive social impact to people’s everyday lives.
The Winter Gala Dinner will feature an expert panel with four incredible guest speakers, dinner and drinks.
Further information
Dress
- Dress to impress!
Ticket inclusions
- a selection of delicious canapes
- Premium Banquet Menu - 3 course dinner
- 3.5 hour Vineyard beverage package
Learning outcomes
- Highlight the importance of diversity within the engineering industry and how this translates into more inclusive solutions for society.
- Inspire the next generation of Engineers by highlighting the positive social, environmental, and economic outcomes that Engineering can have.
- Promote tangible actions to progress gender equality within the Industry.
- The role STEM can play in addressing gender inequalities within Society.
Event program
- 6.30 pm AEST - Registration and networking
- 7.00 pm AEST - Welcome and dinner commences
- 7.30 pm AEST - Expert Panel with guest speakers
- 9.00 pm AEST - Close formalities (continue networking)
- 10.00 pm AEST - Event close
About the speakers
An award-winning business leader, engineer and entrepreneur, Felicity Furey has made a career out of making the ‘impossible’, possible.
Named one of AFR’s 100 Women of Influence by age 26 and BOSS Magazine’s Young Executive of The Year, Felicity has led multi-million-dollar engineering projects across Australia, founded several successful businesses including WeAspire and Power of Engineering and secured partnerships with the likes of Qantas, Toyota and Energy Australia to bring her vision to life.
Felicity helps find hidden leadership talent, mentors high-performing teams and equips current and emerging leaders across every industry with the skills they need to make an impact and drive meaningful change. Felicity is the CEO of WeAspire, host of podcast Promoted and Emerging Excellence and is undertaking a PhD in emerging leadership.
Associate Professor Cheryl Carcel is the Head of the Brain Health Program at The George Institute for Global Health. She also works part-time as a clinical neurologist. Cheryl is an NHMRC Emerging Leader Fellow, an Australian and New Zealand Stroke Organisation Emerging Stroke Clinician and Scientist and a World Heart Federation Emerging Leader in Stroke. She is a Principal Investigator for the newly established Centre for Sex and Gender Equity in Health and Medicine. A/Prof Carcel’s research focuses on health equity, in particular working on sex and gender differences, women’s brain health and policies encouraging disaggregation of data by sex and gender.
Nicole Waterman is Laing O’Rourke’s a Technical Leader at Laing O’Rourke. She brings more than 20 years of experience in delivering complex multidisciplinary infrastructure engineering projects across Australia, Europe, the Middle East and Asia in a range of sectors.
Nicole was Laing O'Rourke’s Project Technical Lead for Central Station Metro - a Sydney Metro project, recently winning the Engineers Australia Sydney Project of the Year 2023.
Nicole has completed a Bachelor of Science (Architecture) and Bachelor of Civil Engineering degrees at the University of Newcastle and completed a Masters in Business Administration (Technology Management) from La Trobe University. Nicole is a Fellow of Engineers Australia, and a Registered Professional Engineer of Queensland. She is currently Deputy President of the Sydney Division Committee.
Steve is highly experienced in Infrastructure construction management, currently serving as a Project Director at John Holland. With 32 years of cumulative experience, he has led diverse projects at a Project Director and Regional Leadership level. Steve's expertise spans project leadership, management, engineering and delivery, having successfully been part of or overseen over 30 complex projects. He is recognised for his ability to develop and lead high-performing teams and deliver successful project outcomes. Steve is also a dedicated leader in promoting Diversity in companies he has worked for and in the industry more generally. Steve understands that project delivery now is much more diverse that it used to be in expectations, outcomes and client deliverables. To deliver across the many deliverables of safety, people, time, commercial, environment, sustainability, communications and others, the industry is reliant on diversity of thought and diversity in our people. Steve has been recognised for his work in Gender Diversity with his commitment and ongoing support having been recognised by his 2022 NAWIC Award for “Champion of Change”.
Pay it forward: sponsor a ticket opportunity
In the spirit of INWED, Engineers Australia encourage industry to ‘pay it forward’ by sponsoring a high school student or teacher, or current student engineer to attend this INWED 2024 event. Support the next generation of engineers who will shape our future.
To get involved, simply select a ‘pay it forward ticket’ at the time of registration to provide a complimentary ticket for an aspiring engineer or educator.
If you have a recipient in mind, please ensure you invite them to the event and let them know you are supporting them with a sponsored ticket. Please also complete the ‘pay it forward’ box with their name and contact details so that they are formally registered for the event.
If you don’t have someone in mind but would still like to ‘pay it forward’, select ‘Engineers Australia to fill’ option and Engineers Australia will allocate the ticket to a worthy participant on your behalf