WES Annual Conference

The WES Annual conference for 2023 took place in Birmingham at Millennium Point on the 27 and 28 April.

The 2 day event was attended by over 200 delegates and exhibitors who enjoyed talks, workshops and networking opportunities.

The event was opened by WES CEO and Chair of the Conference, Elizabeth Donnelly, before the first key note address of the day from Alison Baptiste, Director of Public and Security Services at the Infrastructure and Projects Authority. Elizabeth was then joined on stage by Paula McMahon who is co-chair of the SRM Gender Equality Network, Sir Robert McAlpine. Paula is also a member of the WES Climate Emergency Group (CEG) who ran a panel discussion on the second day of the conference.

The afternoon on the Thursday started with 2 sessions one run by STEM Returners on developing an effective returners programme, whilst the main stage saw representatives of some of our sponsor companies join WES Trustee Vince Pizzoni to discuss how their companies are improving safety for women. The event then continued with a practical session on cyber security from Kuzuko Group, before another WES Trustee Dr Tosha Nembhard, joined Elizabeth to present on the Struggle Of Ethical Engineering In The Competitive Aerospace Industry. Delegates then had the pleasure of hearing from one of the WE50 winners from 2022 Ama Frimpong, before the closing speech of day one was given by Sarah Dragoiu from Jaguar Land Rover. After the conference closed attendees were invited to a drinks reception sponsored by Smith Group which gave a great opportunity for networking.

Day two of the WES annual conference began with Emma Taylor, RAEng Visiting Professor in Digital Safety and Security, Cranfield University before delegates split into groups one to join the CEG whilst the others went to talk about overcoming barriers with Speak Out Revolution. The morning finished with The Genderfication Of Industry, Is It A Safety Thing And What Does It Mean For Climate Change? by Kerry Evans from EcoScope. After lunch attendees were able to choose from either How Digital Technology And Innovation Can Improve Safety
And Security For Women with Anni Feng from Arup or Building A Career with our CEO Elizabeth Donnelly. The conference then ended with two talks, firstly from Eversheds Sutherland and finally Andrea Macfarlane from the AWE closed the event.

WES Annual Conference 2023 Programme 786.5 KB