WES Projects for Volunteers 2016

The following projects (in no particular order) are examples of volunteering roles for the Women's Engineering Society. If you would like to take on – either individually or as part of a group – the organisation of any of these activities then please get in touch with Cath Heslop on . Please note that these voluntary roles are unpaid but that expenses can be covered where agreed in advance. Please see the WES website at for more information on volunteering for WES and our code of practice.

Cluster Co-ordinator
This is one of the most important roles for a WES volunteer, and can be very rewarding and allow much scope for innovation and growth. Cluster co-ordinators take on the organisation of WES activities within their own local area, and are responsible for passing on communications to local members. Further information on this role, and the cluster areas can be seen on the website at You can either work alone or as part of a team. If your area already has a co-ordinator then it is worth getting in touch and offering your support, as this role can be strengthen by the input from a number of volunteers.

Schools Outreach - Magnificent Women and Their Flying Machines
This is the WES schools outreach activity which is based on the work that women did during the First World War in the manufacture of aircraft wings. It is delivered by WES to schools around the country and we are looking for women engineers to help with the delivery of this activity - either as supporters for the hands on part or as role models to talk about their careers in engineering. The whole activity can also be delivered independently by volunteers and is available to download from the website where full instructions can be found. This activity is also suitable for delivery to Girl Guides, Scouts, Air Cadets or any other group of young people. WES can support this with the supply of the equipment (stixx machines).

Speakers for Schools
WES is often asked to provide speakers for schools, who are willing to talk about their careers in engineering or attend a school careers event. A register of speakers is kept on the WES website. If you would like to be added to this list, please see the details about how to be added to the list of speakers on the website at

WES Award Co-ordinator
WES has two annual awards - the Karen Burt Award for best newly qualified chartered engineer, and the WES prize for best young woman engineer. The Karen Burt Award currently needs a co-ordinator for 2016. This is a role which spans the year from February when the nomination forms are created, to October when the award is given. A judging committee is in place to judge the candidates. For further details on this please contact Dawn Bonfield on .

Event Organisation
If you are interested in getting involved with the WES annual conference (Spring annually), the WES student conference (November annually), or the WES Prestige Lecture (October annually) as an organiser or helper, then there are great opportunities here to add a substantial project to your CV.

Roles include:

  • Conference Producer (bringing together the whole conference, including speakers, venue, marketing, budget)
  • Conference publicity
  • Marketing
  • Help on the day

Please get in touch and specify which event you would like to get involved in.

University/College Link
We would like to appoint one WES member as the named link to each University or College. If you would like to become the named WES link to your educational establishment please let us know. Your role would be to co-ordinate communications between WES and your educational establishment, and to keep abreast of the Diversity and Athena Swan work undertaken.

Professional Engineering Institution Link
We would like to appoint one WES member as the named link to each of the Professional Engineering Institutions (PEI). If you would like to become the named WES link to your professional institution please let us know. Your role would be to co-ordinate communications between WES and your PEI, to encourage the nomination of Karen Burt Award candidates, and to keep abreast of the Diversity work of the Institution.

Co-ordinator ofWES Affiliated Student Group
Student Groups are being set up at colleges and universities to support women engineering students. If you would like to set one up at your place of study, then please see the website for further details and get in touch to register as a student group co-ordinator. We have a pack of information to download that will help you to set up your group, and give you 101 ideas of what you can do.

Communication, Marketing and Writing
WES needs to promote itself and the work that it does more widely, in order to obtain more members and encourage greater participation by women in engineering. If you are interested in communications work then you can help by:

  • Writing a blog or opinion piece that can be featured on the WES website
  • Identifying news to go into the WES e-newsletter or journal
  • Identifying ways to promote the WES brand more widely
  • Becoming a role model so that WES can use you for comment and media work where necessary
  • Tweeting and re-tweeting @WES1919 tweets
  • Becoming a guest tweeter for a week or two
  • Finding a story that WES can utilise
  • Posting comment on Facebook or Linkedin or starting a new discussion

A review and update of our media and marketing strategy would be also be useful.

Mentoring
WES has a mentoring scheme called MentorSET and we are looking for mentors to volunteer their services to mentor other members of the scheme. Further details at

Sponsorship
Sponsorship from companies (or individuals) is sought to support the current WES work. If you think that your company would be interested in becoming a sponsor or partner of a WES project then please contact Dawn Bonfield on .

ProBono Support of WES
WES is a small charity and is often in need of professional services, such as legal advice, HR advice, and graphical design. If you are able to provide any of these services please contact Dawn Bonfield on .

Grant Applications
As a small charity WES relies on income from grants and awards. We are currently looking for somebody to compile a list of possible grant funds, and also for some help with writing grant applications.

Website Content Editing
Somebody with time and an interest in website editing is required to update parts of the WES website and add content such as news items and events. In 2016 WES is moving to a new website and we will require content from the old website to be moved across to the new one. WES also maintains the National Women in Engineering Day, Magnificent Women and Sparxx websites as well as the main WES website.

List updater
WES has a number of databases and lists that require updating, and this role related to updating some of the WES databases with latest information. Examples of lists that we need updating are:

  • Grants and Awards
  • University summer schools
  • National Awareness Days
  • Events and Open Days

WES Historian
WES has a 95 year archive, and somebody interested in this historical work could really make use of our archive in terms of looking through its content and deciding how it could be used more effectively to draw attention to the amazing work that WES has done since 1919. For our 100th anniversary (if not before) we would like to produce a History of WES. We are also interested in making some oral histories of WES members, and would like to record the voices and stories of these members for our archive.

WES Documentary
A film documentary looking at the technical and engineering work of the women in World War One and the subsequent set up and progress of WES would be an amazing project to co-ordinate for our 95th or 100th year anniversary. If this is something that you could scope - in line with the contents of the WES archive, then please get in touch.

WES Ambassadors
This role is to represent WES at schools careers fairs, events or conferences where we are asked to send representatives. You could wait to be asked (infrequent), or be proactive and offer your services to your local schools/colleges.

Micro Volunteering
There are many small volunteering roles that you can undertake in a small but effective way, such as:

  • Pass on details to the WES office of any statistics relating to women in engineering that you see
  • Let us know when you see a relevant article in the press that we could list on our website
  • Mention the work of WES to a colleague, friend or student
  • 'Like' a page on our facebook site (WES1919)
  • Re-tweet something that WES has posted on Twitter (@WES1919)
  • Join the Linkedin site (Women's Engineering Society)

WES Membership Drive

A co-ordinated membership drive to increase Members, Fellows, and Student memberships is needed, as we would like to grow our membership in 2016.

#whatengineersdo

A campaign to capture the work of engineers and why they do it, so that we can show young girls what engineering is all about and why it is so important. A co-ordinator is needed.

Media work

Are you good at speaking to the press? Do you want to get some publicity for what you do, and why we need more women in engineering? We are always looking out for media savvy members. Could you compile a list, or just go on the list?

National Women in Engineering Day Volunteering
National Women in Engineering Day (NWED) takes place on 23 June annually. Why not get involved and organise your own event to celebrate NWED, either as an individual or as a company. Further details at

Despite this being very long, this is not an exhaustive list, and if you have ideas of your own, then please feel free to phone us at the office for a chat. We are happy to support all volunteers working in any relevant area.

These projects have varying degrees of difficulty and would take varying amounts of time, and in most cases you would be working independently (or with a team that you are able to pull together). The bad news is that no budgets are available for the work unfortunately, and any funding needed would have to be raised. The good news is that these are all important projects, and anything you can do to contribute to this work will allow us to make progress. Please note, all volunteers must be members of WES.

For further information on any of these projects, or to discuss any other ideas you may have in mind, please contact Dawn Bonfield on , or telephone 01438 211403 or Cath Heslop on tel. 01438 765506.

WES Volunteer Roles 2016Registered no. 162096

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