JIVE - Creating Change for Women & Girls in Science, Engineering, Construction and Technology

University of Bradford - Key Achievements

The pioneering ARNWESS Project (A Regional Network of Women’s Engineering Student Societies), run in partnership with JIVE, is an innovative scheme that builds on the success of the University of Bradford’s FAIRER (Females Actively Involved in Rewarding Engineering Roles), the University’s first women’s engineering society set up by the School of Engineering, Design & Technology.

The aims of the project are:

Establish a network of Women’s Engineering Student Societies across Yorkshire and Humber
Identify partner institutions in the region and form a cross-working group
Share best practice in setting up student engineering societies across the region
Create an inclusivity policy for the Societies, encouraging membership from all groups – such as disabled and ethnic minority communities
Develop a programme of networking events
Organise a major networking seminar bringing together all partners

The positive outcomes so far are:

The initiative has been found to fill a need – providing valuable morale support for women students in SET to meet and share ideas and experiences; meet women who are already pursuing successful careers in SET.
As well as the social side of the project, women have also benefited from support in how to advance their careers in a male-dominated environment.
ARNWESS, in addition, has allowed links to develop between various higher and further institutions across the region, new contacts to be formed, the swapping of best practice ideas, and insights into how different universities and colleges run their engineering societies and support their students. As institutions often work in isolation, these links have allowed an opening up of communication and more effective sharing of knowledge and expertise.
As the first project of its kind, ARNWESS has the potential to be a role model for similar initiatives in other parts of the country. It also has scope for media coverage – which would raise awareness of both women in SET and the scheme as a whole.
When the ARNWESS initiative is outlined to prospective member institutions, there is usually a positive response to the idea, and comments along the lines of what a great idea it is and how valuable the project sounds.