SPONSORED
Electric Dreams 2024: celebrating women in energy
Commemorating the centenary of the Electrical Association for Women (EAW)
About
Join us at the IET for an electrifying day of celebration dedicated to women in energy – past, present and future – with an evening keynote by Professor Dame Julia King, Baroness Brown of Cambridge, chair of both the Climate Change Adaptation Committee and the Carbon Trust.
Afternoon panel sessions, with refreshments: 1pm – 5pm
Evening keynote lecture, drinks and networking: 6pm – 9pm
(During the registration process, please select to attend either the afternoon panel sessions (£15), the evening keynote lecture (sponsored), or both.)
Speakers at the afternoon panel sessions – all passionate advocates of diversity in engineering – include Anne Locker, Sahar Danesh and Ann Oakley (session 1); and Lesley Rudd, Yasmin Ali, Kenneth Dunn and Titi Oliyide (session 2). The panels are chaired, respectively, by Henrietta Heald and Dawn Bonfield, and each concludes with a Q&A.
The event marks the centenary of the founding on 12 November 1924 of the Electrical Association for Women (EAW), with Caroline Haslett at the helm. The EAW set out to educate all women in the new science of electricity, to relieve them from domestic drudgery, and to liberate them to pursue careers outside the home.
Branches sprang up across the UK and elsewhere, and the organisation – which helped to introduce labour-saving electrical items into millions of households – continued to thrive for 60 years, becoming a powerful engine of 20th-century feminism.
Building on the unique legacy of the EAW, Electric Dreams 2024 is a nationwide festival that highlights the achievements of women working in the energy sector today and examines the nature of their increasingly important roles in the transition to Net Zero.
Panel 1: What did the electricity pioneers of the past do for us?
Anne Locker, the Library and Archives Manager at the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET), relates the history of the Electrical Association for Women (EAW) and how it transformed the national conversation around electricity in the home.
Sahar Danesh, a chartered engineer and senior manager at the British Standards Institution (BSI) specialising in digital and emerging technologies, explains the role women have played in shaping standards to ensure that everyday household items are safe to use.
Ann Oakley, professor of sociology and social policy at University College London (UCL), is the author of more than 40 books, most recently The Science of Housework. She sets the achievements of the EAW in the context of the movement for science-based housework that swept Europe, North America and other countries in the early 20th century.
Henrietta Heald (chair) is the author of Magnificent Women and Their Revolutionary Machines, a centenary history of the Women’s Engineering Society.
Panel 2: Women and the energy transition
Yasmin Ali, a chemical engineer who develops and manages renewable energy projects, has delivered more than 100 talks about engineering and energy. She reveals the mission that inspired her first book, Power Up, which takes readers across the globe to reveal the bigger picture behind international energy systems.
Kenneth Dunn, an educator and community development activist, outlines how the introduction of a heat-retention cook bag – made by local women from local organic waste – has transformed the cooking process and energy use in rural areas of sub-Saharan Africa.
Titi Oliydie, a senior process safety engineer, was named in 2023 the IET Young Woman Engineer of the Year. She demystifies the facts and fallacies about the green hydrogen industry, where she is a safety and operations lead in innovative electrolyser technology.
Dawn Bonfield (chair) is professor of practice in engineering at King’s College London, working with young engineers to address the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
Lesley Rudd, the Chief Executive of Electrical Safety First, has worked in the energy industry all of her career. Lesley explains in this presentation how ESF strives to achieve its mission of ensuring everyone in the UK can use electricity safely in their home and provides some insights into her own career and what influenced it.
Public lecture by Baroness Brown of Cambridge
Together in electric dreams: tackling climate change
2023 was the hottest year on record - and 2024 is on track to beat it. We are seeing the global impacts of the changing climate. In 2022 we had 40oC temperatures in the UK, in September 2023 we had record temperatures globally – 1.77o above pre-industrial levels, and in April 2024 in India over 900 million people queued to vote in a 47oC heatwave made 45 times more likely by human-induced climate change.
Urgent action is required if we are to have a chance of delivering the goals of the Paris Agreement. Historically the UK has been a leader in climate action, directed by the Climate Change Act 2008, and the UK’s legislated 5 yearly Carbon Budgets. The 2020s were to be the decade of climate action with ambitious emissions reduction commitments set for 2030 in the UK’s Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) submitted to COP 26 in Glasgow. We are almost halfway through the decade and we have some catching up to do.
Underpinning the decarbonisation of our economy is electrification – involving dramatic changes to our use of energy, decarbonising the electricity system and doubling its current size in the next 25 years.
The lecture will look at the growing impacts of climate change, underlining the need for urgent action. It will examine the implications of electrification for the UK’s path to Net Zero by 2050. Finally, it will touch on the need for adaptation even if we achieve the global goal of the Paris Agreement.
12 Nov 2024
12:30pm - 9:00pm
Organiser
- IET Events
Registration information
During the registration process, please select to attend either the conference (£15), the lecture (sponsored), or both.
Speakers
The Baroness Brown of Cambridge DBE FREng FRS FMedSci Julia King
Engineer and Crossbench Member - House of Lords
A career in academia and industry - Cambridge University and Rolls-Royce plc - led to ten years as Vice-Chancellor of Aston University in Birmingham, before joining the House of Lords as a Crossbench Peer in 2016. She currently chairs the House of Lords Science and Technology Select Committee.
Interests include climate change, innovation and technology. Current and recent appointments: Vice Chair of the UK Climate Change Committee 2008-2021; Chair, CCC Adaptation Committee; Jet Zero Council climate advisor; Senior Advisor to Holtec UK; Chair, BGF Cleantech Advisory Group; Chair: The Carbon Trust, Frontier IP; Non-Executive Director (NED): Ørsted, Ceres Power. President of The Welding Institute 2022-2025. Past appointments include: Chair of the King Review on decarbonising transport; Chair of the Henry Royce Institute for Advanced Materials; NED, Innovate UK; NED, UK Green Investment Bank; UK Low Carbon Business Ambassador; NED, Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult; Sector Champion for the Offshore Wind Sector Deal.
Toni Allen
Chief Engagement and Growth Officer - The IET
Toni Allen, Chief Engagement & Growth Officer at the IET, has over 20 years’ experience in driving forward thinking integrated sales, marketing, and commercial strategies to maximise B2B and B2C opportunities, launch new propositions and deliver sustained profitable growth in complex marketplaces. Working across diverse multi-cultural markets, she has driven multi-sector strategies and market approaches in sectors such as Food, Healthcare, FMCG, Technology, Education, Aerospace, Automotive, Building Services, Cybersecurity, Arts, Charities and Non-Profit Organisations
Yasmin Ali
Engineer, writer and presenter
Yasmin Ali is a chemical engineer, dedicated to developing renewable energy projects. Having worked in coal- and gas-fired power stations, oil and gas, district heating systems, and energy innovation, Yasmin transitioned away from fossil fuels into more sustainable energy systems over the course of her career. She has given over a hundred talks on engineering and energy, written for the BBC and Metro, and appeared on TV and radio. Yasmin also completed a British Science Association Media Fellowship with the BBC's Science Unit.
Her first book, Power Up (Hodder Press, 2024), takes readers on a journey across the globe to reveal the bigger picture behind global energy systems. Yasmin has been recognised for her public engagement work, receiving, and being shortlisted for several industry awards, including the 2020 Women’s Engineering Society’s Top 50 Female Engineers in Sustainability.
Dawn Bonfield MBE FREng
Professor of Practice in Engineering for Sustainable Development - King's College London
Dawn Bonfield MBE FREng is a Professor of Practice in Engineering for Sustainable Development at King's College London working with young engineers to address the Sustainable Development Goals. Since 2017, she has been a Royal Academy of Engineering Visiting Professor of Inclusive Engineering at Aston University, and is the Founder & Director of Towards Vision, a not-for-profit which works towards a vision of diversity and inclusion in engineering. She is the President of the Commonwealth Engineers’ Council and is a Past President and former Chief Executive of the Women's Engineering Society (WES).
Dawn is Deputy Chair of the Women in Engineering Committee of the World Federation of Engineering Organisations working on the application of engineering and technology to address gender inequality globally. She is founder of the social enterprise ‘Magnificent Women’ which celebrates the history of women in engineering, and she was the founder of International Women in Engineering Day (INWED) which takes place on 23 June annually.
Sahar Danesh FIET
Senior Government Engagement Manager - BSI
Sahar Danesh is the Senior Government Engagement Manager at BSI, the UK’s National Standards Body. She leads on BSI’s engagement with the UK and Devolved Governments on digital and emerging technology and works alongside regulators and government partners to utilise international standards in delivering the UK’s policy objectives.
BSI has a public function in support of the UK economy and brings together stakeholders, including government, industry, and consumers to facilitate the development of international standards which underpin products and services globally.
Sahar is a Chartered Engineer and Fellow of the IET, and an advocate for encouraging more women in to engineering and STEM subjects.
Ken Dunn MBE, FRGS, MFA
Educator and community development activist
Ken Dunn is an educator and community development activist. Following 23 years of secondary school teaching in South Yorkshire – the last 6 years in leadership – Ken resigned his post to turn his full attention to engagement with and within African communities. Working with extraordinary community matriarchs, his partnerships have addressed food security, soil erosion, conservation agriculture and clean cooking. Ken is the Founder and Chairperson of the charity Africa’s Gift and Founder and Managing Director of the social enterprise start up Eternal Flame Worldwide Limited.
Henrietta Heald FRSA
Writer and historian
Henrietta Heald FRSA is a writer and historian with a particular interest in pioneering engineers who have changed the world. Her most recent book is Magnificent Women and Their Revolutionary Machines, a centenary history of the Women’s Engineering Society – which Caroline Haslett helped to found before she became, in 1924, the first director of the Electrical Association for Women. Among Henrietta’s other books is Magician of the North, an acclaimed biography of the Victorian engineer and industrialist Sir William Armstrong (later Lord Armstrong of Cragside).
Anne Locker
Library and Archives Manager - The IET
Anne Locker is the Library and Archives Manager at the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET). She has worked with engineering archives for over 20 years and has written on the history of engineering and technology and the history of women in STEM. Her focus is on telling the stories of engineers and engineering, and how these are important in our understanding of the modern world.
Ann Oakley
Writer and researcher
Ann Oakley is a researcher and writer specialising in the fields of gender, health care and methodology. Over a 60-year (still continuing) career, she has founded two research units, published over 40 books and many other publications, and is widely acknowledged as having made a major contribution to the development of modern social science.
Titi Oliyide
Charted Engineer
Titi is a Chartered Engineer with a background in chemical engineering and experience in safety and reliability engineering for major projects in the energy and transport infrastructure industries. She is currently a senior process safety engineer in the green hydrogen industry, leading the safety and operations of innovative electrolyser technology development.
She is also passionate about demystifying and encouraging diversity in the engineering profession. She does this by leading STEM outreach programmes, authoring blog articles and mentorship of other engineers on their chartership journey in her spare time. She has recently received awards such as the 2023 IET Young Woman Engineer of the Year Award and the Women’s Engineering Society’s Top 50 Women in Engineering award.
Lesley Rudd
CEO - Electrical Safety First
Lesley Rudd is the Chief Executive of Electrical Safety First, a campaigning charity dedicated to reducing deaths and injuries caused by electricity in UK homes. She has worked in the energy industry all of her career. Starting originally with British Gas in Newcastle she moved to London and worked on both gas and power projects in the UK and abroad. She later joined the Sustainable Energy Association, becoming Chief Executive of the organisation and spending around eight years campaigning on sustainability and Net Zero issues. In 2020 Lesley joined Electrical Safety First – a place where she was able to combine her twin passions for safety and sustainability.
Lesley was awarded an Order of the British Empire Medal in the 2020 New Year Honours list for services to UK energy markets and clean growth.
Programme
Afternoon panel sessions (£15 to attend – spaces limited) |
|
| 12.30 | Registration Networking and refreshments |
| 13.00 | Introduction and welcome Dawn Bonfield and Henrietta Heald |
| 13.15 | Emancipation from drudgery: the history of the Electrical Association for Women Anne Locker |
| 13.35 | Electrical women and the household science movement Ann Oakley |
| 13.55 | The role of women in standardisation Sahar Danesh |
| 14.10 | Panel session Anne Locker, Ann Oakley, Henrietta Heald, Sahar Danesh |
| 14.40 | Break Networking and refreshments |
| 15.00 | A safer future for an electric world Lesley Rudd |
| 15.25 | Hydrogen: worth the hype? Titi Oliyide |
| 15.45 | Eco cook bags, still escaping the drudgery Kenneth Dunn |
| 16.05 | Power up Yasmin Ali |
| 16.25 | Panel session Lesley Rudd, Titi Oliyide, Kenneth Dunn, Yasmin Ali |
| 16.50 | Thanks, and finishing comments Toni Allen |
| 17.00 | Conference ends Networking and refreshments |
Public lecture by Baroness Brown of Cambridge, talking about climate change and the energy transition (free to attend – spaces limited) |
|
| 18.00 | Registration Networking and refreshments |
| 18.30 | Baroness Brown Public Lecture - Together in electric dreams: tackling climate change Followed by a discussion and Q&A chaired by Yasmin Ali |
| 20.00 | Evening drinks reception |
| 21.00 | Reception ends |
