Humanitarian engineering projects often focus on bringing western technologies to non-industrialised societies; but environmental and cultural factors in these locations may be very different from conditions in the west, and the projects may not meet client needs if engineers do not fully understand the context in which they are operating.

By any measure, the pharmaceutical industry in Ireland has been one of the country’s major success stories. From a virtual standing start 20 years ago, some 120 overseas companies have established operations in Ireland and 9 of the biggest 10 pharma global companies have a presence in the country. Pharmaceuticals accounts now for more than 50% of Irish exports, employ almost 25,000 people directly with the same number employed in supplying products and services to the pharma companies ...

Initiatives like the STEPS programme are in place across our schools and universities to encourage female students into STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics), but what is available to support those talented women who took a break from the corporate world mid-career to look after their children or elderly relatives? The numbers are significant. According to the most recent Irish census data, female workforce participation during the ages of 35 and 55 years is 72%, some ...

In Ireland, just one engineer in ten is female, according to Engineers Ireland. In the UK, according to the Women’s Engineering Society, less than 10 per cent of engineering professionals are women, which is the lowest figure in Europe. Latvia, Bulgaria and Cyprus are leading the way, with female engineers making up almost 30 per cent. As World War I began to fracture the map, the National Council of Women was created in the UK in 1914, with the aim of getting women into work as men ...

The beginning of the 20th century was a seismic historical period in which advances were made in philosophy, political thinking, science, literature, engineering and equality. In particular, gradual strides in female equality were made in accessing third-level education (for those that could afford it) and subsequently in employment. As these ground-breaking women entered the workforce, they proved more than equal to their male counterparts. At first, this manifested itself by way of the ...

The public lecture by Prof Dame Ann Dowling OM DBE FRS FREng, entitled ‘Diversity and Inclusion: A Value Proposition for Engineering’, took place in Trinity College on 26 October. Prof Dowling, a world authority on combustion and acoustics, is professor of mechanical engineering and deputy vice-chancellor at the University of Cambridge and the first female president of the Royal Academy of Engineering (RAE). The event marked the tenth anniversary of the WiSER (Centre for Women in Science ...