The Women’s Engineering Society (WES) has announced the fourth of its Top 50 Women in Engineering (WE50) campaigns. Building on the success of those in 2016, 2017 and 2018, WES is looking to increase its reach, profile and engagement to encourage young women into engineering.

The theme for the 2019 WE50 competition will be Current or Former Apprentices; once again, the competition will follow a public nominations process from which the top 50 will be selected.

While women make up around 14% of the UK’s engineers, just over 7% of UK engineering apprentices are female.

By selecting Current or Former Apprentices as its theme for 2019, WES aims to: highlight the significant range of opportunities that engineering apprenticeships offer women; show that apprenticeships provide an alternative route to a career in engineering; and assure women that female engineering apprentices have the same access to career progression as those who have followed the degree route.

In 2018, there were over 170 nominations for the Top 50 Women in Engineering — Returners and Transferrers. Full details of the criteria that nominees will need to satisfy for the 2019 awards can be found on the WE50 hub on the International Women in Engineering Day Web site (www.inwed.org.uk/we50).

Nominations close on 8 April.