Ahead of INWED 2024, The Manufacturer’s James Devonshire sat down with Brill Power’s Carolyn Hicks to discuss the existential challenge of how to attract more women and young girls into STEM careers.
Every year on 23 June, International Women in Engineering Day (INWED) celebrates women engineers and the amazing work they do across a broad range of industries. The theme for 2024 – INWED’s 11th year – is #Enhancedbyengineering, celebrating the amazing work that women engineers around the world are doing to support lives and livelihoods every day.
INWED started in the UK back in 2014 as a national campaign from the Women’s Engineering Society to celebrate its 95th anniversary. Since then, it has grown tremendously, receiving UNESCO patronage in 2016 and expanding internationally the following year.
Today, as the only platform of its kind, INWED’s role in raising awareness of women in engineering and encouraging more young women and girls to take up engineering careers is crucial. In fact, with new EngineeringUK data revealing that there has been a spike in the number of women leaving engineering, initiatives like INWED are more important than ever.
Someone who knows first hand what it’s like to be a woman in engineering is Carolyn Hicks, CFO/COO and Co-Founder of Brill Power, a start-up with roots in the University of Oxford’s Engineering Department, and whose mission is to make batteries smarter, cleaner, safer and longer-lasting.
‘Here I am now, an entrepreneur’
JD: What’s your background and how did you end up in engineering?
CH: Engineering definitely wasn’t on my roadmap. While I can’t remember exactly how old I was when I started thinking about my first job, I recall asking every adult I knew how they decided what they wanted to do.
There were so many available options and different paths I could have taken. But I chose civil engineering for my university studies, mainly because I was good at maths and science and found them interesting. I then went on to do a Masters Degree in my two favourite aspects of civil engineering: transportation and construction management.
I worked in engineering for around five years, in transportation, before realising there were a number of other areas I wanted to know more about, such as business, economics and finance. I was fortunate enough to be accepted into an MBA programme and that’s when I was introduced to the concept of Brill Power, which I initially got involved with for a course credit. But I soon realised, the more I learned about batteries, the more I could see there was a huge need for what my co-founders had invented. Here I am now, having followed my curiosity, an entrepreneur.
Tell us a little more about Brill Power
Brill Power came about because a significant proportion of battery cells are sent to waste when they actually still have some useful life left. In fact, half of lithium ion cells sent to waste still have half their remaining capacity. That’s because battery packs comprise many cells connected in series and if one fails, the whole pack will too, even if other cells are still in good working order.
What Brill Power does is use intelligent methods of diagnostics and optimisation to better manage the individual cells within a battery pack. We do this with a hardware solution to better control the current and a software solution to handle the diagnostics and optimisation. It’s an end-to-end solution, from the cells to the user interface.
You don’t have to be ‘one of the guys’
What are some of the perceived obstacles stopping women pursuing STEM careers?
So two things come to mind. The first is the perception that it’s too difficult to become an engineer. And I think that’s because many people see learning as uncomfortable and engineering, indeed any STEM career, requires a fair bit of learning.
But there is a huge amount of resources available and I found that, the more I chatted to my peers and professors, the more help I received and the easier it became.
Secondly, I think there is a perception that you have to be ‘one of the guys’ and get your hands dirty constantly. And while you can choose to do that, it’s often not the bulk of many engineering careers; there really is something for everyone because STEM is such a broad area, which is why it’s such a shame to see people reluctant enter into it because of ill-conceived perceptions.
Would more female engineer role models help?
To be fair, there is a history of male leadership in most sectors. And so it’s not unreasonable that they are the people whose portraits are up, or the people who have been credited with making progress. That said, when you’re in a room surrounded by men, and even the portraits are men, it can feel additionally lonesome. There are so many amazing contributions from female engineers and it’s helpful to highlight them to change the perception of who can become great engineers.
We’re not going to change the gender imbalance right away – although progress is being made, it will take a generation. A good focus would be to emphasise that it’s okay to be in a minority and feel comfortable with it. If you are the only woman in the room, then embrace it and want to make a difference.
Pictured: Jagati Tata, a software engineer at Brill Power
Focus on messaging
What tips do you have for engineering and manufacturing businesses to attract more female workers, whether that’s engineers, maintenance crews or shop floor personnel?
I wish I had the golden answer to this question but I don’t and even at Brill Power, we’re still working on addressing the gender imbalance. While we’ve got female engineers, I’d love it if we had more of them but it’s difficult.
Something we have focused on is our messaging. An interesting fact is that women are less likely to apply for a job if they see any requirement that they don’t meet, whereas men are willing to apply even if they meet only some of the criteria. So we try to split our job advertisements into skills that a candidate must have and skills that are desirable. This helps people more easily hone in on the must-have skills.
I also think branding makes a difference. If your company looks and feels like it’s geared towards men, then you’ll find fewer women will be drawn to it. Without being too stereotypical, businesses can shape their job offerings to appeal more to women.
The fact women are less likely to apply for a role if they don’t meet all the criteria is an incredible insight
Indeed, I find it useful for both our company and also my female friends, who are sometimes reluctant to go for a position because they feel like they don’t tick every box. So I point out that there are likely other people in the same situation and who might get the role simply because they applied. The only way you can avoid that and know for sure is if you apply yourself.
Opportunities beyond your imagination
What’s your advice for women and young girls who are considering STEM careers?
I would absolutely recommend anybody getting into STEM, in particular girls and women. It can open up so many career opportunities, often beyond what you can imagine.
STEM education teaches you a certain way of thinking about the world, one that is helpful in any type of job setting and also in any personal settings; that’s because you become a problem solver.
Don’t be afraid of the things that you might perceive to be barriers. And if you really think they’re real, then maybe chat with somebody in the industry to see if they actually are. There’s a lot of really amazing women who’ve been through it and still love it.
Something we often hear from manufacturers is about the satisfaction they get from solving problems and making things that have a positive impact
I think engineers just see the world in a different way. When we walk through the world, when we go to places, we’re often looking to dig into how stuff works. Like how did this water get to me? How does this building operate?It just makes the world so much more of an interesting place when you see it through an engineer’s eyes.
‘We’re not quite there yet’
How important are initiatives like INWED?
As I’ve already mentioned, there is still a significant gender imbalance in the world of STEM, which is restricting our ability to access the best talent and advance designs to make a greater impact on the world. So initiatives like INWED, which celebrate and raise awareness about women in engineering, are definitely valuable in that respect.
But how do we get to where we ultimately want to be? The path towards a gender balance in STEM ranges from where we can measure the performance at businesses and corporations, all the way down to how we are raising our children. Initiatives like INWED sit in the middle, highlighting progress and celebrating success, while at the same time reminding everyone that we’re not quite there yet.
Closer to engineering now than before
Any final thoughts, Carolyn?
To be honest, I personally feel like a bit of a fraud during conversations like this because I don’t do engineering things on a day-to-day basis. Yet in my role now, I actually feel closer to engineering than I did when I was an engineer.
As an engineer, you make design decisions and think about problems, spending lots of time documenting, reporting, communicating and making sure your organisation is on board with the types of changes you want to make.
Whereas in my current role in operations, I get to be more involved in the technology and the specs that we should be moving towards in order to meet the market requirements. It’s an interesting flip to think I feel closer to engineering than I did when I was in an engineering role.
Not that it ever went out, but has that rekindled your engineering spark?
Yes, it has. I try to see how close I can get to the projects. And even though my background in civil engineering is very different from electrical engineering, a lot of the problem solving skills are transferable.
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You can get involved with this year’s International Women in Engineering Day by sharing your stories on social media using the hashtags #INWED24 and #Enhancedbyengineering. You can also look at the INWED24 events page to see what’s going on near you.
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