Making The Future Brighter With Tomorrrow’s Engineers

‘Engineers are on a mission to make the world a better place.’ This is the banner headline for ‘Tomorrow’s Engineers Week’ an initiative led by the engineering community which runs from November 4^th-8^th. The aim of this ambitious project is to encourage employers, universities and schools to showcase engineering in all sectors through hands on activities and inspirational personal stories. It is hoped that the initiative will shine a light on the huge variety of jobs and careers available within engineering, change perceptions of what an engineer ‘looks like’ and encourage more young people, especially girls, to consider it as a career choice. With a vision of a network of STEM employers working locally to contextualise engineering, the ‘Tomorrow’s Engineers’ programme has produced toolkits for schools, short inspirational and informative #EngineerOnAMission videos and a live streamed event midweek with inspirational engineers.

Wednesday also marks ‘This is Engineering Day’ when the Royal Academy of Engineers will celebrate more diverse and representative images of engineers. In a drive to move away from the ‘man in the hard hat’ they aim to celebrate engineers as they ‘problem solve’ their way through so many aspects of our lives where perhaps we don’t expect an engineer to be. From structures and drainage systems to space operations and aeronautics, via environmental and medical developments with some mechanical and chemical engineering thrown in for good measure (and that’s just scratching the surface) maybe we underestimate just how much our future engineers will indeed make our world a better place.