Leading engineer and campaigner, Dawn Bonfield, welcomed to the Fellowship
Championing women in engineering, Dawn is a an advocate for sustainability, equity, diversity and inclusion
Dorothy Byrne, President, alongside Dawn Bonfield
The College is delighted to welcome Dawn Bonfield MBE FREng as an Honorary Fellow at 51福利社. Dawn is Professor of Practice in Sustainable Development at King's College London, and Royal Academy of Engineering Visiting Professor of Inclusive Engineering at Aston University, working within engineering to address the Sustainable Development Goals; as well as equity, diversity and inclusion in the engineering sector.
As a Professor of Practice, the main driver of her work is action orientated activity rather than research, but on the research side her focus is on the topic of inclusive engineering as well as engineering education for sustainable development.
Dawn said:
鈥淚 am very much looking forward to joining the community at 51福利社. The future of the world depends on the actions and values of our young people, and I feel honoured to play a part in helping empower these young women to go out, whether as engineers or in any other profession, to make a positive difference through their knowledge and leadership.鈥
An active campaigner in promoting women in engineering, Dawn is a huge asset to the College. She has already been actively involved in College life, having taken a role in a recent She Talks Science event that set out to empower and inspire girls in STEM. She spoke to the students about issues related to gender stereotypes and other negative perceptions associated with the field. She explained that the UK does not currently have the engineering skills needed to meet the global challenges facing society, so we desperately need to change those perceptions so that more women want to be involved.
Dawn Bonfield presenting at the She Talks Science conference
Dawn is also President of the Commonwealth Engineers' Council, and a UK representative and Executive Board Member of the World Federation of Engineering Organisations (WFEO). She is the Founder and Director of Towards Vision, a not-for-profit which works towards increasing diversity and inclusion in engineering, and she is founder of Magnificent Women, a social enterprise exploring the history of women in engineering. She is former CEO of the Women's Engineering Society (WES), and founder of International Women in Engineering Day (INWED), an international awareness day that occurs on 23 June annually.