Elspeth Kenny recently produced a short video about women in engineering at Sheffield. In this blog she talks about taking on the project, learning about engineering in everyday life and meeting some of the talented researchers that make up the Faculty.
We were thrilled to be asked to take on this project, and excited to get stuck in. A few weeks later we realised the full scope of what we had taken on! It was fascinating learning what engineering can do, and seeing the breadth of the subject unravel as we moved further into the project. As two biology students and a philosophy graduate, our classic misconception that engineering only involves fixing greasy cars was quickly broken as we met a wealth of people designing iPhone apps, 3D printers, racing car parts, pedal powered cinemas, dental prosthetics, shoe materials, and much more.
"Filming relatable objects, from tennis rackets to trams and X-ray machines, really showed that engineering is everywhere and has a huge impact on our lives."
We aimed to show the diversity of engineering, how design and research is used in everyday life, and of course that women enjoy it. Charis Lestrange and the Women’s Committee helped us understand the differences between the departments of engineering and gave us ideas for how to represent each. Filming relatable objects, from tennis rackets to trams and X-ray machines, really showed that engineering is everywhere and has a huge impact on our lives.
Juggling filming with the researchers, the timing of their experiments and our own schedule was challenging, but not as challenging as including everything we had filmed! We were keen to represent engineering as accurately as possible, especially after realising the importance of our project in crashing through the stereotype and attracting future engineers, particularly women. It became very clear that there is no sound reason for the huge gender divide!
Despite the many appointments I made with specific researchers, a lot of our footage came from the friendly people we met while filming who wanted to share their research or newest piece of lab equipment with us. The flight simulator and the high speed sintering machine were highlights, as was the positive reception the video received. Thanks to everyone who helped us out!
Elspeth Kenny is currently working in public engagement designing an artificial human-sized RoboPlant (http://roboplant.wordpress.com/) before starting her PhD in behavioural ecology in October.
The production team were Kate Ford, Guy Smith, and Elspeth Kenny.
Juggling filming with the researchers, the timing of their experiments and our own schedule was challenging, but not as challenging as including everything we had filmed! We were keen to represent engineering as accurately as possible, especially after realising the importance of our project in crashing through the stereotype and attracting future engineers, particularly women. It became very clear that there is no sound reason for the huge gender divide!
Despite the many appointments I made with specific researchers, a lot of our footage came from the friendly people we met while filming who wanted to share their research or newest piece of lab equipment with us. The flight simulator and the high speed sintering machine were highlights, as was the positive reception the video received. Thanks to everyone who helped us out!
Elspeth Kenny is currently working in public engagement designing an artificial human-sized RoboPlant (http://roboplant.wordpress.com/) before starting her PhD in behavioural ecology in October.
The production team were Kate Ford, Guy Smith, and Elspeth Kenny.
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