2023-03-31-accounts

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Women’s Engineering Society

2022/23 Annual Report

www.wes.org.uk

CONTENTS

Women’s Engineering Society Report of the Trustees 2022-23

ANNUAL REPORT OF THE TRUSTEES 2022-23

Legal and Administrative Information

The Women’s Engineering Society was founded in 1919 and is governed by its Articles, amended in 1970, 1991, 2006, 2014 and 2020. It constitutes a charitable company, limited by guarantee, as defined by the Companies Act 2006 and in the event of WES being wound up, Members are required to contribute an amount not exceeding £1.

Charity No. 1008913, Company No. 00162096

Directors/Trustees

The Directors of the Charitable Company are its Trustees for the purposes of charitable law, and throughout this report, are collectively referred to as the Trustees.

Trustees who served during the year

Trustees Dame Dawn Childs DBE FREng Paul Cliff Dr Katherine Critchley Aniela Foster-Turner Appointed 22 March 2023 Professor Elena Gaura Sarah Haslam MBE Elected 29 October 2022 Chrisma Jain Dr Tosha Nembhard Elected 29 October 2022 Emma Nicholson Term of office ended 29 October 2022 Professor Vincenzo Pizzoni Elected 29 October 2022 Susan Robson Mamta Singhal MBE Dr Pauline Smith Term of office ended 29 October 2022 Emily Spearman Adriana Vargas-Colwill Term of office ended 29 October 2022 President Dame Dawn Childs DBE FREng Chief Executive Officer Elizabeth Donnelly MSc FRSA MRAeS MINCOSE Registered Office Futures Place, Kings Way, Stevenage, Hertfordshire. SG1 2UA Independent Examiner Moore Kingston Smith LLP, 4 Victoria Square, St Albans, AL1 3TF Bank Barclays Bank, 21 Hanover Square, London, W1S 1JW Investment Funds CCLA Investment Management Limited, One Angel Lane, London, EC4R 3AB Employment Lawyers Worknest Limited Woodhouse, Church Lane, Aldford, Chester, CH3 6JD

Women’s Engineering Society Report of the Trustees 2022-23

INTRODUCTION FROM THE PRESIDENT

The beginning of the 2022-23 financial year saw both society and the Women’s Engineering Society transition into a more usual way of life with global travel increasing, face masks no longer required, and some movement back towards officebased working. Technology, scientists and engineers drove us through and out of the pandemic; and it was an opportunity to use the positive aspects of increased flexibility to act as an accelerator and to enlighten employers into what it is possible to achieve. In WES we enjoyed the multiplier effect of our virtual events; but missed the closer and more personal networking. The 2022 WES Annual Conference was held for the final time in virtual form, with a great line up of interesting presenters and was well-attended but was not close to achieving the previous year’s level of attendance. It seemed attendees had had enough of virtual meetings.

INWED on the other hand, with the WES global webinar and hundreds of other in person and online events, was as incredible as ever. It achieved an extended reach of over 150 million more than the phenomenal half a billion achieved in 2021 and had greater endurance by trending at number one on Twitter for longer.

The third quarter of 2022-23 saw the annual Board elections and Adriana Vargas-Colwill, Emma Nicholson, and Dr Pauline Smith’s terms of office come to an end. Their dedication and hard work have been greatly appreciated and, though they chose not to seek re-election, each has continued to provide help and support through other volunteer positions. WES was delighted to welcome the election of Sarah Haslam MBE, Dr Tosha Nembhard and Professor Vince Pizzoni as Elected Directors in October 2022. Professor Pizzoni’s election created a Co-opted Director vacancy, and WES welcomed Aniela Foster-Turner in March 2023 to support us with her legal expertise.

The autumn also saw a full diary of events and sessions including the Lottie tour, which is always well-supported, the Apprentice Showcase, the first in-person Student Conference since 2019, and a continuing series of Partner and Member webinars with a different theme each month. It was great to see the students enjoy networking in person. This cohort has had their education severely curtailed by the pandemic, having their final school years and first university experiences conducted virtually, at a crucial time for establishing their independence. We don’t yet know the longer-lasting effects of the pandemic on their careers, so it was marvellous that WES could support them with career advice and an introduction to each other. After all, these women engineers will be the engineering leaders of the future and it is so important for them to have each other to lean on as they navigate their way through their future careers.

Career planning is often an art rather than a preset plan, and this can yield different and positive pathways as they present themselves, sometimes allowing us to go further and faster than we ever dreamed of. Very few people follow the career path they envisaged, and often those we consider to

Women’s Engineering Society Report of the Trustees 2022-23

be the highest achievers feel like they have followed a career path by luck rather than judgement. One thing that is very clear is that engineering is the key to unlocking so many of the world’s issues and as women engineers, we have incredibly exciting prospects. Only by exploring and keeping an open mind will we discover a pathway that we may never even have considered before. As the Women’s Engineering Society goes from strength to strength, we hope to support all women engineers in whatever path they choose.

Dame Dawn Childs DBE FREng President, Women’s Engineering Society

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“As the Women’s Engineering
Society goes from strength to
strength, we hope to support
all women engineers in whatever
path they choose.”
Dame Dawn Childs
President,
Women’s Engineering
Society
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Women’s Engineering Society Report of the Trustees 2022-23

REPORT FROM THE CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER

As the world emerged from the pandemic the Women’s Engineering Society built on its success in 2021-22 to expand even further and become a larger charity with an income over £500,000 in 2022-23. We moved to working fully remotely, and hired expertise regardless of location, recruiting Candi Colbourn as our Events and Marketing Manager and Meurig Lloyd as our Partner Manager for the south of England.

Our theme for 2022 was Inventors and Innovators and we were able to hold an in-person celebration for the Top 50 Women in Engineering, remarkable women engineers who have created or improved a product or process and supported other women to do the same. Every year it seems impossible that International Women in Engineering Day will be even better than previously, so we were astounded that our potential reach on Twitter rose from 526 million in 2021 to 656 million in 2022 and we trended at No 1 on Twitter in the UK for most of the day. Established during the pandemic, the official INWED webinar is now a permanent fixture to engage with our many international supporters. Over 1,000 people across the globe registered for the webinar and over 600 attendees joined us live.

The 2022 Annual Conference was our final virtual conference from the pandemic era, and we were joined by keynote speaker, Katherine Bennett CBE FRAeS, Chief Executive Officer of the High Value Manufacturing Catapult. The Student Conference was held in-person for the first time since 2019 and it was a joy to see these amazing young women engineers working together in the Army’s bridge-building exercise and encouraging each other in public speaking.

The Caroline Haslett Lecture was given by Dr Bola Olabisi, founder and CEO of the Global Women Inventors & Innovators Network, and the WE50 Head Judge, showcasing the work of inventors and Innovators across the world. We were delighted to run the Apprentices Showcase again, this time over a week, showing up to 7,000 girls (and boys) the diversity of engineering careers.

Our membership increased by 21% and we engaged with 148 corporate partners throughout the year. Financially we achieved a comfortable surplus of just under £28,000, less than last year because we gave the staff a cost-of-living bonus to support them through this difficult time. We have now recovered all the income lost during the first year of the pandemic and can be confident that WES will continue to flourish.

In the next year we plan to survey women engineers about their PPE and develop properly designed clothing to protect women at work. We will also introduce a certification scheme for engineering companies, so they can assess and enhance their inclusiveness. WES’ longevity is due to our ability to adapt to changing circumstances and to match our activities to the needs of the current generation. We’re proud of our record of supporting women engineers for over a century and will continue to build on this in the future.

Women’s Engineering Society Report of the Trustees 2022-23

Finally, we are thrilled that a Damehood was awarded to our President, Dame Dawn Childs in the New Year’s Honours List 2023. This marks the second Damehood in our history, following Dame Caroline Haslett, and I’m sure you will agree with me that it is well-deserved, and a recognition of Dame Dawn’s remarkable career in engineering.

Elizabeth Donnelly, MSc FRSA MRAeS MINCOSE Chief Executive Officer

Elizabeth Donnelly

Women’s Engineering Society Report of the Trustees 2022-23

ANNUAL REPORT OF THE TRUSTEES FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023

The Trustees of the Women’s Engineering Society, colloquially known as WES, present their report and the independently examined financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2023.

The reference and administrative information set out on page 1 forms part of this report. The financial statements comply with current statutory requirements, the Articles of Association, the requirements of a Directors’ Report as required under company law, and the Statement of Recommended Practice – Accounting and Reporting by Charities: SORP applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with FRS 102 (second edition – October 2019). The Trustees have considered how the Society’s activities contribute to the Society’s Objects.

Objects

The Women’s Engineering Society (WES) is an educational charitable company and membership society. Women engineers may become Members and Fellows and women who are not engineers, along with men, may become Affiliate Members and Affiliate Fellows according to the Articles of Association.

The Objects for which WES is established are:

1. To promote the education of women in engineering sciences and other skills, the better to fit women to the practice of engineering.

2. To advance the education of the public concerning the study and practice of engineering among women.

3. To relieve poverty amongst women who are or have been professional or technician engineers or technologists in allied sciences or educated in science or technology or in the art of techniques of engineering and allied sciences in other disciplines considered by the Directors to be complementary, their dependants and (if they are deceased) their former dependants.

The Trustees review the WES objects and activities each year. This report looks at what WES has achieved and the outcomes of its work in the reporting period. The Trustees report the success of each key activity, and the benefits WES has brought to women engineers, the engineering industry and wider society. The review also helps the Trustees ensure WES’ objects and activities remained focused on its stated purposes.

Women’s Engineering Society Report of the Trustees 2022-23

The Trustees have complied with the duty in section 4 of the 2006 Charities Act to have due regard to guidance published by the Charity Commission. In particular, the Trustees refer to the Charity Commission’s general guidance on public benefit both when reviewing how well past activities have satisfied WES’ stated objects, and when planning how future activities may best continue to do so.

WES Strategy 2021-2024

Following thorough engagement with the WES community in 2020-21, the Board reviewed WES’ direction and operations to ensure alignment of its aspirations to those of the Members and provided guardrails that empower decision-making at all levels of the organisation. The outcome of the engagement activity and reviews was a very clear architecture that forms the basis of WES’ activities and can be seen on the following page.

According to data provided by Engineering UK on 8 March 2022, 16.5% of all engineers are women, an increase from 10.5% in 2010, representing an increase from 562,000 women working in engineering roles in 2010 to 936,000 in 2021. WES welcomed this increase but is frustrated that over 100 years of campaigning for women to become engineers has not yet resulted in equivalent numbers of women in engineering compared to other professions such as law, medicine and accounting.

The data indicate the continuing need for WES’ mission of supporting women engineers to fulfil their potential and supporting the engineering industry to be more inclusive, and this report aligns WES’ activities to its objects to demonstrate how it is achieving its mission.

Our vision is of an engineering industry that employs the diversity of the society it serves, to solve the biggest societal issues of our time; and our mission is to support women in engineering to fulfil their potential, and support the engineering industry to be inclusive.

We are a charitable company that is driven by our stakeholders: the members and partners who support us in our mission, and the wider engineering society which we serve.

We have set out what we will do and how we will do it against three stakeholder-focussed priorities:

OUR MEMBERS OUR PARTNERS OUR SOCIETY We will support women in We will support businesses and We will shape the engineering engineering at every stage institutions to attract and retain gender diversity debate in society, of their career women in engineering industry and with government We will provide our Members with the network We will support our Partners in creating great places We will identify issues on gender diversity in engineering opportunities and products and service platforms for women to work and study. Through access to our that we need to influence, and using data and working that support each stage of a career in the engineering membership offerings, our partnership events and with relevant actors will engage in effective campaigns industry, particularly, but not exclusively, addressing collaboration campaigns, we support our Partners in that contribute to a more equal, diverse and inclusive barriers that disproportionately affect women. becoming leaders for gender diversity in engineering. engineering industry. We will do this through We will do this through We will do this through Skills & career development: mentoring, collaboration Skills & career development: mentoring, collaboration Regular communications: including publication of the programmes with Professional Bodies and Partners, job programmes with Professional Bodies and other Woman Engineer Journal and volunteer opportunities Partners and volunteer opportunities to your people Collaborating in research: enabling insights into EDI Raising personal profiles: awards and campaigns, and Raising institutional and company profiles: campaign & in engineering committee and board opportunities research opportunities Shaping and delivering campaigns: influencing policy Access to networks: conferences and events (local and Access to networks: partnering at events & conferences, and debate in engineering, and celebrate the contributions national, intra- and inter-sector), and our job board and access to our job board of women to engineering

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www.wes.org.uk
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Women’s Engineering Society
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Women’s Engineering Society Report of the Trustees 2022-23

Activities

WES’ Activities are aligned to its Objects which in turn are aligned to its three stakeholder-focused areas as laid out in the 2021-2024 WES Strategy. Though the focus areas specifically say Our Members , and Our Partners , the activities are open to all women engineers and all engineering businesses and institutions.

Supporting women engineers to fulfil their potential

Promote the education of women in engineering sciences and other skills, the better to fit women to the practice of engineering

The WES membership objectives for 2022-2023 supported women engineers to fulfil their potential as follows:

Attracting and retaining Members and engaging with women engineers
Supporting regional clusters
Providing conferences and other events for women engineers to meet and share experiences
Offering mentoring via MentorSET, the WES mentoring programme

Women’s Engineering Society Report of the Trustees 2022-23

WES Membership

WES offers four types of Membership as follows:

Fellows and Associate Fellows who have shown meritorious achievements in engineering.
Individual Members, Associates and Students
Sponsored Members supported by their employer.
Patrons and Honorary Members who are invited to join WES due to their place in the engineering community and/or their contribution to engineering.

WES delivered a data-led Members strategy that has progressed well. As Table 1 shows, the total number of paying Members grew by 21.3% from 2022. The biggest increase in membership came from Sponsored Members, rising by 31.8% reflecting that more organisations and companies have partnered with WES over the last financial year, and the Partner Managers are proactively encouraging existing partners to take up their allotted WES Membership. There has also been an increase of 14.6% of individual Members and a greater increase is anticipated in the forthcoming financial year as part of a planned Membership recruitment strategy.

Table 1: WES Membership Figures 2022-23

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31 March 31 March % change
Partnership Type
2022 2023 from 2022
Members 930 1,066 14.6%
Sponsored 708 933 31.8%
Patrons, Honorary Members & Fellows 96 101 5.2%
Supporters 233 113 -51.5%
TOTAL 1,967 2,213 12.5%
TOTAL PAYING MEMBERS 1,715 2,080 21.3%
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Membership Subscriptions

Despite the increase in paying members, subscription income decreased by 20.5% from £52,958 to £42,085. Some of the decrease was due to an overrepresentation of membership in the accounts from 2021-22. Members who renewed subscriptions in March 2022 were counted in that year’s fees accounts instead of the 2022-23 financial year as has been WES’ practice. Some of the decrease was also due to teething problems with a new membership database and it is anticipated that these issues will be resolved by the end of the next financial year.

Women’s Engineering Society Report of the Trustees 2022-23

Supporting Regional Clusters

WES has regional clusters to support Members at a local level and this work is undertaken through the volunteer efforts of our Cluster Coordinators. WES is sharing good practice across the UK to encourage increased regional networking including with other regional groups and networks and local companies.

WES was able to fill all but one gap in the Cluster leadership and communication has improved through all-Cluster-led sessions. There is an improved system for connecting Cluster Members with Cluster Co-ordinators and vice-versa. There is still an opportunity to amplify work across the Clusters and it is hoped this can be improved in the next financial year.

As of the end of March 2023, there were 20 active Clusters:

Berkshire • London • Surrey & Sussex
• Bristol, Bath, Gloucs & Somerset • Manchester • Tees & Tyneside
Cumbria and Lancashire • Merseyside & Wirral • Wales
East Anglia (Norfolk, Suffolk & Cambs)
Essex
Midlands • Yorkshire
Northern Ireland
Heart of England • Nottinghamshire
Herts, Beds & Bucks
Scotland
Kent • South Coast

Membership Engagement

WES provides three Boards for Members starting out in engineering, the Early Careers Board , the University Groups’ Board and the Apprentices’ Board . These Boards give young women valuable experience in committee work and governance, allowing Members to progress to the Directors’ Committees and the Board of Directors, which also assists them in their work life. WES gains valuable diversity from the perspective and viewpoint of the younger Members.

Early Careers Board

The Early Careers Board (ECB) welcomed five new members in June 2022 and delivered a wide range of projects to engage women in their early careers throughout the year.

The ECB collaborated with the Apprentices’ Board, University Groups Board and other WES Members on various social media campaigns and launched a new WES ECB LinkedIn group to facilitate professional discussions around career and engineering related topics. The Board also ran numerous events, including Speed Networking and Meet the WES ECB , which featured guest speakers and saw high levels of attendance and engagement.

The ECB launched an Engineering Agony Aunt column in the WES Newsletter to highlight issues such as negotiating pay and how to be an ally. This year also saw the launch of an ECB podcast, covering topics including settling in to a first job, how to talk to friends and family about engineering roles, setting goals, what makes a good project, supporting each other at work, workwear, and imposter syndrome.

Women’s Engineering Society Report of the Trustees 2022-23

The ECB once again played an integral role in organising the annual WES Lottie Tour, which saw Lottie dolls being issued to 115 participating organisations. An Imagine the Future competition was run in partnership with Arklu, where children were encouraged to build a Lottie-sized futuristic building using recyclable materials. A social media campaign was run during Tomorrow’s Engineers week to promote the activities.

University Groups’ Board and supporting women engineering students

The University Groups’ Board (UGB) is comprised of individuals from respective WES-affiliated university societies. The UGB aims to facilitate conversations and develop links between each WESaffiliated student society and develop safe spaces for important conversations to be had.

In 2022-23 the year was packed with exciting events and the WES UGB inspired and supported a variety of female engineering students around the UK. They hosted a variety of events including online socials, podcast review sessions, committee and Member mixers, where students from a variety of universities all over the UK could meet and build relationships. The WES UGB collaborated and worked more closely with the other WES boards, including the Apprentices’ Board (APB) and Early Careers Board (ECB), developing stronger ties with each board that will continue in the future. The Chair of the UGB was interviewed by the APB for their Christmas podcast special, again developing a great relationship with the other WES boards.

The UGB’s social media presence continued to be strong, with over 100 followers on Instagram and the growing WES UGB LinkedIn page was used to promote events and source leading professionals in industry and academia.

A highlight of the year was the WES Student Conference held in Manchester where the UGB ran a successful and productive workshop titled, Building Confidence through Presenting , to give attendees a safe and supportive environment to demonstrate their presentation skills. Constructive feedback was provided by the participants and the UGB, improving their ability to give and receive feedback.

WES Affiliated Student Groups

There were 19 WES-affiliated Student Groups in 2022-23:

Aston
Bath
Birmingham
Coventry
Dyson Institute
Glasgow
Heriot-Watt
Imperial College • Surrey
Leeds • Sussex
Loughborough • Swansea
Nottingham • University College London
Open University • Warwick
Queens, Belfast
Southampton

Apprentices’ Board

The Apprentice Board (APB) had a busy and successful year, welcoming five new members in June 2022.

In November 2022, the APB supported the WES Student Conference, taking the opportunity to meet in-person and collaborate with the University Groups’ Board and Early Careers Board.

Women’s Engineering Society Report of the Trustees 2022-23

During National Apprenticeship Week, the APB organised a networking event with National Grid called The Power of Networking . This event was presented by Natasha Dunkinson (Chair) and Jade Kimpton (Vice Chair) and brought together 50 engineering apprentices from various companies to share their experiences and learn about WES. Following its success, the APB hopes to host similar events in the future.

The APB produced and released multiple podcast episodes which included interviews with WES Chief Executive Officer, Elizabeth Donnelly, and influential engineers from across the industry. The APB also produced an apprentice guide booklet providing advice on leadership, management, LinkedIn profiles, imposter syndrome and personal development.

Conferences and Events

Following two years of restricted activities due to the Covid-19 pandemic, WES saw a gradual return to in-person conferences and events as restrictions were lifted. WES took the opportunity to evaluate each event to reach the maximum possible numbers in the circumstances. Thus, the 2022 annual conference was held online due to long lead times in booking venues, and the Apprentice Showcase and INWED webinar were transformed to permanent online events to gain a greater reach.

Annual Conference 2022

The 2022 Annual Conference was held online using the Hubilo platform. There were 153 attendees, 142 of whom attended the event across the two days. The event was based on the theme of Inventors and Innovators and began at midday on the 28 April and finished at midday on the 29 April.

The conference was opened by Conference Chair, Elizabeth Donnelly, Chief Executive Officer of WES and started with a talk on the nine principles of innovation mastery by Katherine Bennett CBE FRAeS, Chief Executive Officer of the High Value Manufacturing Catapult, with sessions continuing throughout the afternoon focusing on innovation. The day was closed by Sue Harnett of Rewriting the Code, talking about supporting the next generation of innovators.

The second day began with Eno Essien, the Founder/Chief Executive Officer of Rheytrak Limited, a Vehicle Tracking and Recovery company licensed by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC). This was followed by inspirational talks throughout the afternoon before it was closed by Emily Burchell from Costa Coffee Ltd. Feedback from the conference was very positive with attendees saying the theme and the talks were all very inspiring.

14th Student Conference

The Annual Student Conference was a one-day event held in person at the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester on the 27 November 2022. There were 91 attendees in total and three sponsors. It is hoped that attendance and sponsorship will increase in future years as the benefit of in person events are seen.

The day began with a keynote talk from former Olympic swimmer, Camilla Hattersley of Siemens, a Project Engineer working on the Elizabeth Line/Crossrail signalling project. Throughout the day there were a range of exciting sessions including a team building exercise run by SSgt Barbara Vinden-Cantrell of the Royal Engineers, as well as workshops on presentation skills, networking, and resilience. The final session of the day was a keynote talk from multi-award-winning Aerospace Engineer Krystina Pearson-Rampeearee.

Women’s Engineering Society Report of the Trustees 2022-23

WES Lottie Tour

The seventh annual Lottie Tour took place during Tomorrow’s Engineers Week in November 2022 and was sponsored by GKN Automotive, McLaren Racing and Fugro, who were supplied with their own branded Lottie Dolls and proved to be great ambassadors for the tour.

The 2022 tour was another great success. Over 115 dolls were sent out to women engineers across the UK to showcase their engineering work in the run up to Tomorrow’s Engineers Week, and the social media campaign gained over 34,000 impressions, with close to 1,500 engagements.

Apprentice Showcase

In 2022, the Apprentice Showcase was expanded to run across almost a full week with a different session daily. The showcase was sponsored by BAE Systems, whose apprentices featured in an online session. Other sessions featured Question and Answer sessions with current and former apprentices giving insights into their personal experiences. The final session was a face-to-face networking event run by the WES Apprentice Board and hosted by National Grid. More than 300 schools and colleges signed up for the online Apprentice Showcase, and they indicated that potentially over 7,000 students would be watching live or on demand afterwards.

Mentoring via MentorSET

MentorSET is a unique, cross-sector mentoring scheme first developed by the Women’s Engineering Society in 1998 to support women working in STEM. The scheme provides independent mentors who understand the challenges faced by women engineers and who provide support and advice.

WES continues to offer mentoring to individual Members for a fee of £48 as well as managing the mentoring programme for STEM Returners and as part of its Company Plus Partnerships. Non-members can also join the scheme for £120, priced to encourage women to join WES to take advantage of the reduced fee.

The scheme software is provided by Mentorloop and continued to expand in 2022-23, with a total of 232 participants (35.7 % increase on 2022’s total of 171) comprised of 109 mentors, 83 mentees and 40 dual profiles. Positive user feedback included, “I love my mentor’s approach as she is using various tools to help me identify my strengths”, and “My mentor has been supportive to me from day one. I got in contact with her initially and she signposted me where I can get further help to improve a skill gap. I look forward to continuing working with her as she is so understanding of my situation”.

Women’s Engineering Society Report of the Trustees 2022-23

Supporting the engineering industry to be more inclusive Advance the education of the public concerning the study and practice of engineering among women

As well as supporting women in engineering to fulfil their potential, WES’ mission is to support the engineering industry to be more inclusive. Many women still experience prejudice, harassment and scepticism of their abilities in the engineering workplace, and this is a major barrier to women and girls entering and staying in the industry.

WES works with companies, universities, and other institutions to remove workplace barriers so that working in engineering is a positive experience for women engineers and their employers.

Achievement and Performance

Corporate Partners

In 2022-23 WES continued to work with its Corporate Partners to remove workplace barriers for women engineers and encourage more women to apply. The WES Partnership Programme enables organisations to support women engineers and their own diversity and inclusion programmes.

Benefits include:

Knowledge and experience sharing opportunities among Partners
Support for developing an organisation’s Diversity and Inclusion strategy
Opportunities to raise the company profile as an investor in women engineers

The Partnership Programme has continued to strengthen in 2022-23, with 148 organisations

engaging in a partnership with WES at some point during the year. Net partner numbers saw an 8.5% net increase from 118 in March 2022 to 128 by the end of March 2023. This produced a 29.5% increase in income to £344,070 (2022: £265,759). While some Partners left during this period, mostly due to budget restraints, WES has been able to replace business and secure 35 new Partners, including one returning company.

A further £107,124 (2022: £81,971) was forthcoming from event sponsorship, notably International Women in Engineering Day (INWED), an increase of 30.7%.

Women’s Engineering Society Report of the Trustees 2022-23

Table 2: WES Partnership Figures 2022-23

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31 March 31 March % change
Partnership Type
2022 2023 from 2022
Event Partner 2 3 50.0%
Bespoke Partner 3 1 -66.7%
Company Partner 55 61 10.9%
Company Plus Partner 6 6 0.0%
Education Partner 22 28 27.3%
Not For Profit 11 11 0.0%
Recruitment Partner 0 2 N/A
SME Partner 13 14 7.7%
Start Up 6 2 -66.7%
TOTAL 118 128 8.5%
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Income from the WES job board, which is included in the total income from partnerships above, increased by 35.8% to £38,970 (2022: £28,700) as more companies want to reach women engineers seeking new employment. WES’ rates for job advertising are well below the industry average and have not been increased for five years, so there is scope in 2023-24 to raise advertising rates with a view to securing more income.

The introduction of Bespoke Packages enabled WES to offer a personalised and flexible solution tailored to the specific needs and objectives of Partners. With this mindset and the growing interest of recruitment companies wishing to collaborate with WES, a new recruitment offer was also established. The Recruitment Partnership Package gives agencies and talent acquisition Partners an opportunity to align with WES and enable their clients to advertise roles through the WES Jobs Board. As a result we are seeing more recruitment companies wanting to work with us to improve their services to women in engineering.

WES continues to work with STEM Returners to enable more women to return to engineering roles after a career break, by offering mentoring to all STEM Returner participants. The mentoring platform for the MentorSET programme has been effective and makes it easier for women engineers to engage with mentors.

The WES Partnership Programme supports organisations to empower their women engineers and drive their own diversity and inclusion policy and activities. The benefits include:

Empowering women engineers to develop their career
Inform industry of best practice guidelines for diversity and inclusion strategies
Elevate company profiles as investors in women and equal opportunities
Supporting partners to attract and retain female talent

Women’s Engineering Society Report of the Trustees 2022-23

During 2022, the Partnership team was reduced to one person between June-August, and Meurig Lloyd joining the team in late August 2022 to take on responsibility for Partner accounts in the south of England. The team has since continued to build on its strategy for delivering excellent account management by forming rapport and strengthening relationships to retain partnerships year on year. This has created opportunities for Partners to collaborate with WES and support their diversity and inclusion strategy through joint events, supporting employer women networks, and sharing expertise. This approach has seen a significant increase in Partners engaging in WES events, the Jobs Board, sponsorship of our programmes, and take up of sponsored memberships (individual membership of WES paid for and offered to employees by partners).

The WES Partner Webinar series has been inspired by the conversations the team have with Partners to create content that will bridge the gap in gender equality knowledge. This has had a positive impact on Partner engagement and delivering best practice for diversity and inclusion strategy.

LIST OF WES PARTNERS

ABB LTD 2. ABB Ltd
AB Dynamics
Accenture
Adacore
Airbus
Alexander Associates Technical Recruitment Ltd
Allianz
Amazon
Arup
Aston University
AstraZeneca
Avove
AXIAH Ltd
BAI Communications
Ball Corporation
Blue Ocean Seismic Services
Building Engineering Services Association
Burns & McDonnell
Cadent Gas Ltd
Capula Ltd
CBRE
CityFibre
Colchester Institute
Collins Aerospace
Costa Express
Coventry University 28. Crane Building Services and Utilities
Cubic
Dialog Semiconductor – A Renesas Company
Digital Catapult
DP Squared Ltd
DP World London Gateway
Dynamon
Durham University
Dyson Institute
East Sussex County Council
Eco Textura
Edinburgh Napier University
EEMUA
Electricity North West
Equinix
Evolito
FCDO Services
FIND CDT EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Future Innovation in NonDestructive Evaluation
Firstco
FM Global
Focusrite
Frazer-Nash Consultancy
Freudenberg
GCHQ
General Dynamics
GKN Automotive
Glasgow Caledonian University
Gratte Brothers
Harbour Energy 57. Haizol Global
Heathrow
Henry Royce Institute
Heriot-Watt University
H&H Fire
Hitachi
HMD Sealless Pumps 64. Imagination Technologies 65. Imperial College London 66. Inclusivity Partners 67. Indicatura
Institute of Refrigeration 69. Jaguar Land Rover
JLA
Johnson Controls
Kingston University London
KLA
Kone

LIST OF WES PARTNERS

Konecranes
Laing O’Rourke 77. Leaders Plus
Legrand 79. Leonardo
Liverpool John Moores University
Malvern Panalytical
MBDA Missile Systems
McLaren Racing
Mercedes AMG High Power Trains
Metis Consultants
Metropolitan Police Service
Mettler-Toledo Safeline
Middlesex University London
MI- GSO PCUBED
MOD Defence Equiptment & Support
Mott MacDonald
Muddy Machines
National Grid
NES Fircroft Engineering Recruitment
Network Rail
Newcastle University
NMITE
Nova Systems
Open University
PPA mechanical and electrical consulting engineers
Procter & Gamble
Pure DC
Queen Mary University of London
Ramboll
Royal Academy of Engineering
Rotork
RNLI
RWC
Safran Landing Systems
Scottish Power
Scottish & Southern Energy
Siemens Healthineers
Smallpeice Trust
SME Graduate Employment
Smith and Nephew
Smiths
SMS Corporate Services
Software Institute
Spirax-Sarco Engineering PLC
STEM Returners
Stirling Dynamics
SusHy - The EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Sustainable Hydrogen
Thales
Thames Water
Toyota Motor Manufacturing
TP Group
Transport for London
Two Sigma
Ulster University
Uniper UK Ltd
University of Birmingham
University of Bristol
University College London
University of Edinburgh
University of Greenwich
University of Hull Online MSc Engineering Management
University of Leicester 139. University of Sheffield
University of Surrey
University of Warwick
Vestas Wind Systems
Volvo Group
Warwick Business School
Wave Energy Scotland
Wikifactory Ltd
Yasa
Zurich Engineering
Sellafield Ltd

Women’s Engineering Society Report of the Trustees 2022-23

The following activities also contribute to WES’ promotion of the education of women in engineering:

International Women in Engineering Day
WES Annual Conference (see above)
WES Lottie Tour (see above)
Caroline Haslett Prestige Lecture
WES Awards including
Top 50 Women in Engineering (WE50)
Karen Burt Memorial Award
WES Prize at the IET’s Young Woman Engineer of the Year
Representation at external events and in the media

International Women in Engineering Day 2022 (INWED22)

Impact Highlights

Women’s Engineering Society Report of the Trustees 2022-23

INWED is an international awareness campaign which raises the profile of women in engineering and focuses attention on the amazing career opportunities available in this exciting industry. Since its origins on the 23 June 2014 to celebrate the 95th anniversary of the Women’s Engineering Society, INWED has grown enormously and 2022 was no exception, with social media engagement surpassing expectations at all levels. INWED22 attracted 14 sponsors, up a third from the previous year.

The global reach of INWED grew substantially in 2022, and the event is now a feature in the engineering industry calendar across the world from Australia to the west coast of the USA, including countries across Asia, Africa, Europe and South America. WES firmly believes that INWED will be celebrated for decades to come, with or without our input.

The INWED theme changes annually to illustrate the wide range of women engineers across the world and in 2022 the hashtag was #InventorsAndInnovators, focusing on those women engineers who would change the engineering industry for the better.

Established during the pandemic, the official INWED webinar is now a permanent fixture to engage with our many supporters internationally, with 1,098 registrants and 634 live attendees. Speakers included Dr Gillian Youngs, Eno Essien, and a panel featuring some of the Top 50 Women in Engineering 2022.

The 2022 campaign had a potential reach of 656 million users on social media.
INWED social media accounts gained over 1,400 new followers and saw more than 24,000 engagements.
There were over 15,000 individual online conversations about INWED.
INWED22 was the number one trending topic on Twitter in the United Kingdom for most of the day.
Top tweets from: National Security Agency (USA), Royal Aeronautical Society, Red Arrows, The British High Commission in India, Sir Patrick Vallance, Lord Alan Sugar, Australian Space Agency, NASA Langley Research Center, Kennedy Space Center, Department for Education, GCHQ, Royal Navy, Ministry of Defence, HMS Defender, Met Office, Rolls Royce, Nissan Motorsport, Mercedes AMG Petronas, Aston Martin F1, McLaren F1, Huawei, Hitachi, BT Openreach, Virgin, Sky, Dyson, LinkedIn, National Grid, Williams F1, BP and Iberdrola Renewables.
Over 50 events were registered on the INWED website.
4,800 individuals made enquiries and downloaded resources from the INWED website.
International Women in Engineering Day was reported in over 200 news stories across global media.

Women’s Engineering Society Report of the Trustees 2022-23

Awards

Caroline Haslett Lecture

The 2022 Caroline Haslett Lecture was held at the Geological Society of London on 18 January 2023. The Lecture was delivered by Dr Bola Olabisi , founder and CEO of the Global Women Inventors & Innovators Network. The event also celebrated our annual award winners.

Karen Burt Memorial Award

This prestigious WES award was established to encourage more women to aim for and celebrate the achievement of Chartered Engineer status. Nominations are invited from the Professional Engineering Institutions for their best newly chartered female engineer, from which a winner is chosen.

The 2022 Karen Burt Award Winner was Dr Emma Walton of Oxford Nanopore Technologies, nominated by the Institute of Physics (IOP). Dr Walton, who was recognised for miniaturising the functions of an entire medical laboratory with her “lab-on-a-chip” along with her active approach to promoting women in engineering, gave a presentation on her work at the Caroline Haslett Lecture.

Amy Johnson Inspiration Award

This award was created in 2016 to honour an individual not currently working in engineering or the applied sciences who has made a truly remarkable achievement in furthering diversity in these fields. The 2022 winner was Natasha Kelly , Program Manager at Intel Corporation. Chair of UK Women at

Intel, Natasha was recognised for her dedication to promoting diversity and encouraging action to improve the number of women in leadership roles at Intel Corporation.

Men As Allies Award

Launched in 2017, this award celebrates a male engineer, or professional male working within the engineering, technical and applied sciences sectors, who has gone above the call of duty to support his female colleagues and address gender imbalance. The 2022 winner was Stephen Gill , Secretariat of World Refrigeration Day. A three-times runner-up, Stephen has continued to demonstrate his support for female engineers by providing mentorship and financial support through numerous programs and initiatives.

Women’s Engineering Society Report of the Trustees 2022-23

Top 50 Women in Engineering 2022

The theme for 2022 was Inventors and Innovators , celebrating women engineers who had created or improved a product or process and supported other women in engineering to do the same. The 2022 awards were held in association with the Guardian newspaper and Ball Corporation.

The names of the winners were published by the Guardian and announced during the online celebration of International Women in Engineering Day on 23 June 2022.

The winners were celebrated at an Afternoon Tea awards ceremony held at the Institute of Civil Engineers on 14 July 2022. The ceremony, hosted by WES CEO Elizabeth Donnelly, featured speakers from the Guardian and STEM Returners, and the awards were presented by WES Trustees Professor Vince Pizzoni and Chrisma Jain.

THE 2022 WE50 (in alphabetical order):

Hannah Abend Chief Operating Officer, Wood Thilsted

Dr Tosin Adedipe-Elusakin Technical Project Coordinator, Cranfield University

Ruth Amos

Inventor, Stairsteady / Kids Invent Stuff

Mercedes Ascaso Til

Principal Engineer, DLT Engineering Ltd. (formerly Dorman Long Technology)

Eleanor Ball Co-founder and Director, Graphic Structures

Hani Baluch Solutions Delivery Manager, BP

Divya Bhanderi Senior Engineer, Arup

Dr Qianyu Chen Research Fellow, University of Birmingham

Jessica Coldrey Digital Skills Mentor, Birmingham Open Media

Evelyn Cropper Technical Manager, Stirling Dynamics

Philippa Davies Engineering Director, Reaction Engines Limited

Beth Dickens Director, Quoceant Ltd

Dr Ama Frimpong Head of Product Development, 52 North Health

Dr Jennifer Glover Graduate Acoustic Consultant, AECOM

Bethany Hall

Electrical Engineer Aerospace, Rolls Royce/Aerospace Technology Institute

Dr Yiheng Hu PhD researcher, University of Huddersfield

Rowena Innocent

Group Head of STEM strategy, Spectris PLC

Tina Irvine

Engineer, Arup

Dr Ornella Iuorio Associate Prof., University of Leeds

Prof Caroline Jay

Head of Research, School of Engineering, University of Manchester

Alice Kan

Pharmaceutical Director, Kan Do Ventures

Prof Eiman Kanjo Professor & Head of Smart Sensing Lab, Nottingham Trent University

Natalie Kerres

CEO, founder, NK Technology Ltd. (SCALED)

Palvisha Khan

EMEA Strategy and Transformation Lead, Reliance Worldwide Corporation

Dr Alalea Kia

Research Fellow, Imperial College London

Lucie Killen

Structural Engineer, Price & Myers

Guneet Kohli

Engineer, Arup

Marisa Kurimbokus

Mechanical Engineering Team Leader, Aeristech Ltd.

Sarah Lu

PhD Researcher, University of Southampton

Noor Mansur

Senior Electronics Engineer, Dyson Technology Ltd.

Prof Serena Margadonna Head of the School of Engineering & Applied Sciences, Swansea University

Prof Gabriela Medero

Professor, Geotechnical & Geoenvironmental Engineering, HeriotWatt University

Dr Nausheen Sultana Mehboob Basha

Project Manager and Researcher, Imperial College London

Prof Aline Miller

Professor and Associate Dead, University of Manchester

Dr Sophie V Morse Research Fellow, Imperial College London

Dr Youmna Mouhamad

Royal Academy Enterprise Fellow 2020, Myana Naturals Ltd.

Dr Priti Parikh

Associate Professor, Bartlett School of Sustainable Construction, Head of Engineering for International Development Centre

Krystina Pearson-Rampeearee Senior Flight Systems Engineer, BAE Systems

Rachel Pether

Director of Water Utilities, Consultancy, Binnies UK

Dr Agnieszka Rutkowska Electrochemistry Lead, Depixus

Prof Lidija Šiller Professor of Nanoscale Science, Newcastle University

Radhika Srinivasan

CEO & Founder, EcoTextura

Swati

Director, Anant Biomedical Ltd.

Sarah Teliani

Project Manager, Arup

Dr Navya Thomas

Research Fellow in Membrane Crystallisation, Cranfield University

Georgia Thompson

Assistant Design Programme Manager, BAM Nuttall

Carolina Toczycka Co-founder and Chief Commercial Officer, Lenz Labs

Georgina Wharton

Director of Technology, Parkside Community School

Jane Wright Emerging Leaders Scheme (Decarbonisation Strategy & Engineering), Transport for London (TfL)

Nadja Yang President, European Young Engineers

Women’s Engineering Society Report of the Trustees 2022-23

JUDGES OF THE WE50 AWARDS

The judges for the WE50 2022 awards were as follows:

Dr Bola Olabisi

Founder & CEO Global Women Inventors & Innovators Network (GlobalWIIN). (Head Judge)

Lauren Touré

Diversity & Inclusion Manager Ball Beverage Packaging EMEA

Dawn Childs

CEO

Pure Data Centres (Operations), and President, Women’s Engineering Society

Carl Hayward

Business Excellence Manager Costa Express

Dr Giorgia Longobardi CEO Cambridge GaN Devices

Mara Makoni

Consultant, PA Consulting & Board Member, Association for Black Engineers

Dr Mark McBride-Wright

Founder and Managing Director Equal Engineers, Equal Engineers

Libby Meyrick

Chief Executive

Institution of Engineering Designers

Susan Robson

Principal Consultant National Grid & Board Member, Women’s Engineering Society

Emily Spearman

Head of PMO

Orsted & Board Member, Women’s Engineering Society

Women’s Engineering Society Report of the Trustees 2022-23

WES Prize Winner

WES is a sponsor of the WES Prize , awarded at the Young Woman Engineer of the Year Awards organised by the IET. WES Trustee Dr Pauline Smith was a member of the judging panel and this year’s winner was Eneni BambaraAbban , a Robotics Engineer, and the founder of two organisations, the Techover Foundation and Anime and Chill. The Techover Foundation is an international NGO that focuses on encouraging, educating, and supporting individuals from underserved communities into technology. Anime and Chill is a safe and inclusive community of people interested in anime and/or gaming to come together and network irrespective of gender, sexual orientation, or race.

Isabel Hardwich Medal

The Isabel Hardwich Medal is presented to WES Members who have made an outstanding contribution above the call of duty to the Society over a sustained period. Two medals were awarded in 2022. Dawn Childs was recognised for her instrumental role in steering the success of the Women’s Engineering Society since becoming President in 2018. Dr Katherine Critchley received the award in recognition of her dedicated roles as Trustee, Chair of the Events Directors’ Committee, and Head Judge of the Karen Burt Memorial Award.

Gillian Skinner Award

The Gillian Skinner Award recognises ‘behind the scenes’ contributions to WES undertaken by volunteers. The 2022 winner was Susan Robson . Susan was recognised for her work with the Board of Trustees and the pivotal role she has played in the development and implementation of the WES operational strategy.

Shaping the engineering gender diversity debate in society, industry, and with government

To relieve poverty amongst women who are or have been professional or technician engineers or technologists in allied sciences or educated in science or technology or in the art of techniques of engineering and allied sciences in other disciplines considered by the Directors to be complementary, their dependants and (if they are deceased) their former dependants.

In over 100 years since the founding of the Women’s Engineering Society, the need for poverty relief has mostly been removed following the introduction of the NHS and social security benefits to the UK population. In the 21st Century WES’ focus is now to encourage women to enter engineering as the best way to relieve poverty, given the significantly higher than average salaries commanded by engineers. This object sits within the third pillar of the WES strategy to shape the engineering gender diversity debate.

Women’s Engineering Society Report of the Trustees 2022-23

Relieving Poverty

The Lady Finniston Endowment Fund is a fund held by WES to support women studying electrical engineering. The terms of the legacy state that only the interest in the fund can be spent and low interest rates have resulted in a very low return, so WES has not issued grants for some years. As interest rates have begun to rise, WES will consider issuing grants again in the next financial year.

WES has also been informed of a substantial legacy from Mrs Dianne Winfield, a former WES Member and Council Member who died in July 2022. The legacy is divided into two parts, one for WES to spend as it wishes and a second, restricted fund to support women who wish to study engineering. The exact amount of the legacy is unknown, but it is believed that a five-figure sum will be established as the Dianne Winfield Legacy Fund for this purpose. The Board of Trustees will determine the qualification for grant receipts once the legacy monies have been received.

Shaping the debate

Special Interest Groups

WES has developed two Special Interest Groups (SIGs) to focus on significant issues that affect women engineers. The Climate Emergency Group (CEG) was formed in 2020 from the winners of that year’s Top 50 Women in Engineering, all of whom worked in sustainability. Since its formation, the CEG has featured at COP26, discussing the contribution of women engineers in responding to the climate crisis; and has formed working groups focused on the UN’s Sustainability Development Goals. They are now working towards developing an open letter to government urging it to develop a topdown action plan to achieve net zero.

The Equality Diversity and Inclusion Group (EDI SIG) has worked to ensure that WES is promoting women engineers who also come from other under-represented groups as well as being female. This ensures that WES represents all women engineers and consciously seeks the perspectives of disabled and gay women as well as those from under-represented ethnicities. They are now working with other groups to create an umbrella group to reach women engineers in different sectors and specialities.

WES Heritage

A Heritage Strategy Plan, developed by the WES Heritage Manager in collaboration with the Heritage Working Strategy Group was approved by the Board of Trustees in August 2022. In line with the strategy, the Heritage Manager continues to deal with research and copyright enquiries and has regular meetings with IET archivist Anne Locker.

WES once again took part in the annual Heritage Open Days Festival, delivering Ten Women, Ten Days, a series of in-person events and online talks with guest speakers highlighting women engineers such as Maude Dickinson, Verena Holmes, Hilda Hewlett, and Jeanie Dicks. This resulted in being WES being highlighted in the Heritage Open Days’ alternative New Years Honours List. Some of the talks were recorded and made available on the WES Heritage YouTube Channel.

WES has received some interesting and exciting acquisitions this year, including a black and white photo of the Wings team at Hewlett and Blondeau Ltd, Luton, dating circa 1914-19, a pristine

Women’s Engineering Society Report of the Trustees 2022-23

condition Electrical Association for Women New Colours of 3-core flexibles tea towel and papers relating to the 1984 Verena Holmes lecture.

WES has been instrumental in providing research and support to various organisations recognising past women engineers’ achievements, including RAF Wittering in the naming of an aerospace facility the Hilda B Hewlett Building and Gravitilab in the naming of their newly developed launch pad after Hilda Lyon.

Whenever possible, WES has been present at the unveiling of significant tributes to past Women Engineers, for example the Blue Plaque reveal for Anne Greaves in Goole. WES was also able to confirm the provenance of a portrait at Loughborough University of Claudia Parsons, which was loaned informally by WES to Loughborough University in 2001. This loan has now been formalised and the portrait will be glazed and displayed in the Claudia Parsons Hall of Residence at the University.

WES has worked with Gillingham Library and Archive Services to co-deliver a creative writing workshop using letters from the Verena Holmes collection. Copyright permission from Verena’s family has now been secured and WES is now able to move forward on editing and publishing Verena’s diaries.

WES has also given its support for applications by Historic England and BAE systems on Women in Shipbuilding in Scotland and North of England for projects in 2023 and will be helping to deliver these.

Women’s Engineering Society Report of the Trustees 2022-23

FINANCIAL REVIEW

The Trustees keep income and expenditure under close review. For the financial year 2022-23 WES operated within its income. It is forecast that WES will operate within its income in 2023-24, and withdrawals from reserves will not be needed. All planned spending commitments are covered by income which is designated in the accounts. WES has a policy of only committing to new projects that are self-funding.

The Society continues to perform well above expectations in view of its size. Despite only a small staff of seven led by a Chief Executive Officer, WES is now a stable organisation that is slowly expanding in response to the demand from Members and Partners. The 2022-23 financial year saw the Women’s Engineering Society’s income rise above £500,000 for the first time, making WES a larger charity, with greater reporting responsibilities, and signifying that the Board’s strategic direction continues to be successful. This is despite increased costs as WES emerged from the pandemic and held more in-person events.

2022-23 Financial results

Total income for the year increased by 20.7% to £511,549 (2022: £423,909), and total expenditure rose by 29.5% to £482,881 from £373,020 in 2022, resulting in a net surplus of £27,990 (2022: £50,797). Income increased significantly over the previous year, reflecting the growing number of partnerships and greater confidence after the first year of the pandemic. Expenditure also increased as WES returned to in-person events and meetings and also hired a dedicated Events and Marketing Manager.

WES was sharply aware of the effect the cost-of-living crisis was having on staff, and the Trustees agreed an across-the-board bonus of £1,000 net for all staff at Christmas at a cost of £13,826. This money was taken from reserves in recognition of the team’s hard work during difficult financial circumstances. Consequently the surplus was less than it could have been, and the Board sees this as an investment in WES’ employees.

Principal funding sources

WES’ is funded principally by £50,849 in Donations and legacies, a decrease of 32.5% from £75,344 in 2021-22; and by £457,694 in Charitable activities, an increase of 31.6% from £347,730 in 2021-22 as follows.

Donations fell by 61% to £8,764 from the previous year’s £22,386 due to the end of a grant given in 2021-22, and a significant corporate donation and individual donations given that year in memory of Sir Eric Ash. Membership income also fell by 20.5% to £42,085 from £52,958 in 2021-22. As mentioned above, this was due to recognising membership income in 2021-22 that should have been recognised in this financial year, as the increase in the number of Members indicates.

Income from Charitable activities consists of Conference and event income, up 30.7% to £107,124 from £81,971 in 2021-22; Partnership income up 29.5% to £344,070 from £265,759 in 2021-22, and £6,500 from MentorSET and STEM Returners. These resources continue to support WES’ key objectives as detailed above.

Women’s Engineering Society Report of the Trustees 2022-23

Investment policy

The funds of the Society over and above those needed to manage the day-to-day activities, including reserves, the Lady Finniston Endowment Fund and the Karen Burt Restricted Fund are currently invested in the CCLA’s Charity Official Investment Fund (COIF). This offers an acceptable level of security for the capital invested and the return reflects the recent increases in current interest rates, averaging 2.05% over the year, compared with an annual average of 0.3% in previous years. The average Fund yield for the latest quarter was 3.607% p.a. and is expected to continue increasing in line with anticipated Bank of England base rate increases.

Reserves policy

WES holds reserves that are freely available to fund its general operations that are not subject to commitments, planned expenditure or other restrictions. Consequently, reserves do not include endowment funds, restricted funds and designated funds.

The need to hold reserves in case of sudden and unexpected loss of income is wise, as was demonstrated by the recent pandemic. If WES had to severely cut costs in 2023-24, WES would be liable for statutory redundancy payments over and above the contractual notice period for five staff, due to their length of service.

The Society finished the year with an increase of 10% in total reserves of £298,009 from £270,019 in 2022, of which £12,945 (2022: £12,588) is restricted and £34,574 (2022: £33,705) is in an endowment fund, resulting in £250,490 (2022: £223,726, increase of 12%) in unrestricted funds.

The certainty of WES’ future income continues to increase and previous dips in cashflow have now been resolved. Income has increased considerably as the number of new partners has increased. If the rate of new partners were to begin to fall, WES has adequate income to continue to operate during such time while new sources of income could be developed.

In the event of a sustained drop in income over more than three months, WES can make cuts in staff hours or staff numbers before resorting to winding up. If WES did resort to being wound up, its assets would be transferred to a similar charity as per Article 8 in the Articles of Association. The estimated costs of closure, including a 10% contingency to cover unexpected expenditure such as staff absence, are £112,313 (2021-22 £67,790), leaving reserves of £138,177 over committed activity, restricted funds and cost of closure. This represents 106% of WES’ reserves over liabilities allowing WES to meet ongoing obligations comfortably while seeking additional income.

WES’ policy is to maintain a minimum of £100,000 reserves over and above closure costs. Any further monies above this level should be considered for use in developing more and better services for WES’ Partners and Members to best achieve the charity’s objects.

Restricted fund

The Society maintains a restricted fund which was received for the following purposes:

Karen Burt Memorial Award

Prize for the best newly chartered female engineer; award made from fund interest and further donations.

Women’s Engineering Society Report of the Trustees 2022-23

Endowment fund

The Society maintains an endowment fund which was received for the following purposes:

NEC Lady Finniston Fund

Hardship grants for electronic engineering students starting first degree or equivalent courses who have needs over or above the norm; awards made from the fund interest. As interest rates have remained low for over a decade, no grants have been made from this Fund for some years. With the recent increase in interest rates, WES is considering whether and how it may best allocate funds in future years.

Deferred income

By the end of the 2022-2023 financial year a total of £77,712 received income was deferred to cover anticipated expenditure as follows:

Annual Conference 2023

In 2022-23 £31,147 in sponsorship and ticket sales income was deferred for the April 2023 WES Annual Conference.

International Women in Engineering Day 2023 (INWED)

The sponsorship campaign for INWED 2023 opened in the autumn of 2022 and £27,865 was deferred at the end of the financial year until June 2023.

Partnership funds

As well as the core partnership package, WES offers additional packages for companies who wish to sponsor certain events or initiatives. These funds were deferred until they could be applied to the events. If partners have not yet decided which additional package to use, the income is deferred as Partnership Funds. At the end of the 2022-23 financial year £8,500 was deferred to Partnership Funds, £6,700 was deferred for the November 2023 Student Conference and £3,500 was deferred for the November 2023 Lottie Tour, totalling £18,700.

Gifts in kind

The Society made the decision in 2022-23 to move permanently to remote working. The staff had worked from home successfully throughout the pandemic and WES used the opportunity presented by video and cloud technology to recruit new staff with the expertise required from across the UK. WES is grateful to have had the support of the IET who provided office space and other facilities at a discounted rate until 2020. The WES archive is on permanent loan to the IET Archive, and the IET continues to provide the Society’s registered office address, postal services and a small amount of storage space in their warehouse at cost.

The main gifts that cannot be quantified are the valuable volunteer hours contributed to the Society by our Members. This especially applies to Trustees and Members involved with governance, many of whom are highly skilled and valuable professionals.

Women’s Engineering Society Report of the Trustees 2022-23

The Society continues to be grateful to the many Members who continue to make donations and to all those many individuals and organisations that provide time, services and support to help WES to achieve its aims.

Plans for future periods

WES is the oldest network of women engineers in the world and the largest in the UK. Its mission to support women engineers to fulfil their potential and to support the engineering industry to be more inclusive remains unchanged in over a century. Its longevity is due to WES’ ability to adapt to changing circumstances in society and match its activities to the needs of the current generation, and sadly, remains necessary while only 16.5% of all engineers are women. As technology plays an everlarger role in everyday lives, WES is finding innovative ways to use technology to support its mission.

Supporting women in engineering to fulfil their potential

WES plans to continue its programme of events to support women in engineering and to build on the success of INWED, reaching an ever-increasing global audience. WES’ Membership Strategy is being implemented to encourage more women to join the Society and raise awareness of the importance of women in engineering.

The Woman Engineer

We plan to refresh our journal, The Woman Engineer, which has been published continuously every quarter since its inception in 1919. The journal will expand and contain more engineering content and we intend to make it completely digital by the end of 2024. Print copies will still be available on request for Members and will be supplied to the British Library depositories.

MentorSET

2024 marks the 20th anniversary of MentorSET, the WES mentoring programme for women engineers. Mentoring is frequently mentioned by Members and other women engineers as key to their career development and WES plans to celebrate the anniversary by expanding access to the scheme.

PPE Survey

In 2009 WES ran a survey of women engineers and their use of personal protective equipment (PPE) at work and discovered that 74% of women were wearing PPE designed for men, which is unsafe and hampers productivity. The survey was repeated in 2016 and a small improvement to 71% was found. WES plans to repeat the survey in 2023-24 and work with a specialist measuring company to measure thousands of women accurately using a web API and then design PPE that fits women properly. This will vastly improve the working lives of many women engineers. It is hoped this work will be funded by the anticipated legacy from Mrs Dianne Winfield.

Supporting the engineering industry to be more inclusive

As WES expands to become a larger charity, it is important to measure the impact that its work has on the engineering industry. WES plans to instigate a certification programme in 2023-24 for

Women’s Engineering Society Report of the Trustees 2022-23

engineering companies to objectively measure their inclusion of women engineers. The scheme will benchmark engineering companies’ inclusion of women in engineering and encourage them to develop plans and policies to attract more women engineers. Companies are keen to recruit and retain women engineers but find the practicalities difficult in a male-dominated industry. It is hoped that this certification scheme will provide companies with an understanding of the issue. In time the Society plans to develop greater practical support for companies to address the lack of women engineers. WES is working with Network Rail’s leadership programme to develop the scheme and aims to launch it in the next financial year.

Shaping the engineering gender diversity debate in society, industry, and with government

The introduction of the Special Interest Groups has increased WES’ influence in society, including WES’ involvement at COP26 in November 2021. The Group intends to build on its work in the next financial year to demonstrate that women in engineering will be key to addressing the issues arising from climate change.

The WES Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Group is working to identify the myriad of women engineering organisations and aims to create a network of these organisations to learn from each other, share best practice and work together.

WES plans to create a Special Interest Group in the next financial year to work more closely with the professional engineering institutions (PEIs). This will support the institutions to be more inclusive of women engineers and will increase WES’ influence on engineering policy and education.

Going concern

On assessing WES’ ability to continue to adopt the going concern basis of accounting, trustees considered all available information about the future at the date they approved the accounts, including the 2022-23 budget and forecasts for income, expenditure and cash-flows.

WES performed very well in the last financial year, with an increase in income of 20.7% due to increased engagement with corporate partners and increased income from sponsorship, more than recouping the income lost during the first year of the pandemic. This took WES’ income above £500,000 for the first time, making WES a larger charity. The 29.5% increase in expenditure reflected the costs of returning to in-person events and meetings. These investments yielded great success for WES as reflected in the surplus of £27,990 (2022: £50,889). WES’ finances remain stable, and WES is ideally placed to continue its expansion. The surplus of £28,000 could have been higher, but the Board used some reserves to give all employees a net £1,000 bonus in December 2022 to reflect the higher costs of living.

Having made the decision to move to permanent remote working, a monthly in-person team meeting in London has been established to encourage positive relationships between team members. The Chief Executive Officer has also instigated a schedule of weekly one-to-one half-hour chats between the staff so that they can connect socially with each other.

Forecasts for the 2023-24 financial year are very positive, as the dedicated Partner Managers reach out to more engineering firms who are keen to improve their attraction to women engineers. WES’

Women’s Engineering Society Report of the Trustees 2022-23

expenditure has risen as the Society employed an Events and Marketing Manager and as WES has returned to in-person events; however, these costs are being met from sponsorship and other income, and the overheads remain low due to homeworking. The Board notes that WES will receive a substantial six-figure legacy in 2023-24 and will therefore consider returning some funds to the reserves in the next financial year.

Risk management

The trustees have a duty to identify and review the risks to which the charity is exposed and to ensure appropriate controls are in place to provide reasonable assurance against fraud and error. The Society maintains a Risk/Opportunity Register which reviews major risks and establishes mitigation systems and activities to reduce/eliminate those risks. A key element in the management of financial risk is the setting of the reserves policy and its annual review by the Trustees.

The Trustees have assessed the major risks to which the Society is exposed, in particular those related to the operations and finances of the company and are satisfied that systems and procedures are in place to mitigate WES’ exposure to the major risks.

Structure, governance and management

Governing document

The Women’s Engineering Society was founded in 1919 and is a charitable company, limited by guarantee, as defined by the Companies Act 2006. The Society is governed by its Articles of Association, amended in 1970, 1991, 2006, 2014 and 2020. In the event of WES being wound up, Members are required to contribute an amount not exceeding £1. All trustees give their time voluntarily and receive no benefits from the charity.

Structure

The Directors of the company are also Trustees of the charity. The Trustees are responsible for the overall administration of the charity and for making strategic decisions. They meet bi-monthly online and communicate by e-mail and telephone conference as required between meetings. This reduces costs and the carbon footprint of the Board Members travelling to meetings.

The Trustees consult widely with WES stakeholders every three years on the direction of the charity to produce a strategic plan. The current strategy runs from 2021-2024 and the next consultation period will begin in the 2023-24 financial year. Implementation of the strategy is carried out by an executive team of paid staff, comprising a Chief Executive Officer (CEO), seven support staff who all report directly to the CEO, and several contracted professionals.

Election and Appointment of New Trustees

The Board is comprised of the President, nine Elected Directors and up to three Co-opted Directors. The President and Elected Directors are elected for a period of three years in thirds by a ballot of all Members and the ballot results are announced at the Annual General Meeting in October. Elections were held in October 2022 for vacancies arising as the terms of three Directors came to an end.

Women’s Engineering Society Report of the Trustees 2022-23

Following the closure of nominations, 12 Members put themselves forward for election as Directors and, in line with Article 25.4.6, an election took place in October 2022. Sarah Haslam MBE, Dr Tosha Nembhard and Professor Vincenzo Pizzoni topped the poll and were elected for a term of three years from 2022-2025.

The Co-opted Directors are appointed by the Board for a one-year term which may be extended on an annual basis for a maximum of six years. Co-opted Directors need not be engineers or Members of the Society and are appointed for their expertise to support WES.

An induction programme is provided for Trustees joining the Board, including one-to-one meetings with the President, Chief Executive Officer and other relevant members of the Board and staff. Trustees are provided with an induction pack containing essential information to familiarise themselves with WES’ operations.

Staff

WES welcomed two new team members in 2022-2023: an Events and Marketing Manager, and a new Partnership Manager.

Chief Executive Offcer	Elizabeth Donnelly, MSc FRSA MRAeS
	MINCOSE
Executive Assistant to the CEO	Anna Pluck
Events and Marketing Manager	Candi Colbourn	from April 2022
Heritage Offcer	Helen Close
Membership Manager	Tristan Holland
Operations Offcer	Jennie Diston
Partner Managers	Kathryn Tighe
	Richard Moore	to June 2022
	Meurig Lloyd	from August 2022
Contractors
Bookkeeper	Wild Bookkeeping	to July 2022
	CB Accounting	from August 2022
Editor, The Woman Engineer	Lynn Postle
Marketing and Communications	Genius Marketing

Remuneration policy for key management personnel

The pay and remuneration of the Chief Executive Officer is reviewed annually by the Board. Consideration is given to the current cost of living, the level of pay rises for the staff and the Chief Executive Officer’s performance. The Board considers the Chief Executive Officer’s pay and remuneration reflects current market pay for charities of a similar size and sector.

Statement of responsibilities of the trustees

The Trustees (who are also Directors of the Women’s Engineering Society for the purposes of company law) are responsible for preparing the Trustees’ annual report and financial statements in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

Women’s Engineering Society Report of the Trustees 2022-23

Company law requires the trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial year which gives a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charitable company and of its income and expenditure for that period.

In preparing these financial statements, the trustees are required to:

Select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently.
Observe the methods and principles in the Charities SORP.
Make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent.
State whether applicable UK accounting standards have been followed, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements.
Prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the charitable company will continue in business.

The Trustees are responsible for keeping proper accounting records that disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charitable company and enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Companies Act 2006. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charitable company and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.

In so far as the Trustees are aware:

There is no relevant audit information of which the charitable company’s independent examiner is unaware.
The Trustees have taken all steps that they ought to have taken to make themselves aware of any relevant audit information and to establish that the independent examiner is aware of that information.
The Trustees are responsible for the maintenance and integrity of the corporate and financial information included on the charitable company’s website. Legislation in the United Kingdom governing the preparation and dissemination of financial statements may differ from legislation in other jurisdictions.

None of the Trustees had any beneficial interest in any contract to which the Society was party during the year.

The Board of Trustees’ annual report has been approved by the Trustees on 19 July 2023 and signed on their behalf by

Dame Dawn Childs

DBE FREng President, Women’s Engineering Society

Women’s Engineering Society Report of the Trustees 2022-23

INDEPENDENT EXAMINER’S REPORT

I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the above charity (“the Trust”) for the year ended 31 March 2023.

Respective Responsibilities of Trustees and Examiner

As the charity’s trustees, you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 (“the Act”).

I report in respect of my examination of the Trust’s accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination, I have followed all the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act.

Independent Examiner’s Statement

I have completed my examination. I confirm that no matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination which gives me cause to believe that in, any material respect:

the accounting records were not kept in accordance with section 130 of the Charities Act; or
the accounts did not accord with the accounting records; or
the accounts did not comply with the applicable requirements concerning the form and content of accounts set out in the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 other than any requirement that the accounts give a ‘true and fair’ view which is not a matter considered as part of an independent examination.

I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.

Silvia Vitiello

For and on behalf of Moore Kingston Smith LLP Chartered Accountants 4 Victoria Square St. Albans Hertfordshire AL1 3TF

Sep 6, 2023 Date: ………………………….

Women’s Engineering Society Report of the Trustees 2022-23

Women’s Engineering Society Year Ended 31 March 2023 Statement of Financial Activities

Notes Income and endowments from: Donations and legacies 2 Charitable Activities 3 Investment Income 5 Total Expenditure on: Raising funds 6 Charitable activities 7 Transfer 13 Cost of living bonus 13 Total Net income/(expenditure) Other recognised gains/(losses): (Loss) on fxed assets disposal Net movement in funds Reconciliation of funds: Total funds brought forward 13 Total funds carried forward 13 Income and endowments from: Notes Donations and legacies 2 Charitable Activities 3 Other Trading Activities 4 Investment Income 5 Total Expenditure on: Raising funds 6 Charitable activities 7 Total Net income/(expenditure) Other recognised gains/(losses): (Loss) on fxed assets disposal Net movement in funds Reconciliation of funds: Total funds brought forward 13 Total funds carried forward 13	Unrestricted Funds £ Restricted Funds £ Endowment Fund £ Total 2023 £ 50,849 - - 50,849 457,694 - - 457,694 3,006 - - 3,006
	511,549 - - 511,549
	88,907 - - 88,907 379,148 1,000 - 380,148 2,226 (1,357) (869) - 13,826 - - 13,826
	484,107 357 (869) 482,881
	27,442 357 869 28,668 (678) - - (678)
	26,764 357 869 27,990
	223,726 12,588 33,705 270,019
	250,490 12,945 34,574 298,009
	Unrestricted Funds Restated £ Restricted Funds £ Endowment Fund £ Total 2022 Restated £ 75,344 - - 75,344 347,730 - - 347,730 760 - - 760 75 - - 75
	423,909 - - 423,909
	112,792 - - 112,792 259,228 1,000 - 260,228
	372,020 1000 - 373,020
	51,889 (1,000) - 50,889 (92) - - (92)
	51,797 (1000) - 50,797
	171,929 13,588 33,705 219,222
	223,726 12,588 33,705 270,019

The charitable Company’s income and expenditure all relates to continuing operations. The notes of page 43 to 51 form part of the financial statements.

Women’s Engineering Society Report of the Trustees 2022-23

Women’s Engineering Society Year Ended 31 March 2023

£ £ 6,247 6,247 137,916 284,084 422,000 (130,238) 31 March 2023	£ £ 6,247 6,247 137,916 284,084 422,000 (130,238) 31 March 2023	£ £ 6,775 6,775 130,888 230,202 361,090 (97,846) 31 March 2022	£ £ 6,775 6,775 130,888 230,202 361,090 (97,846) 31 March 2022
6,247 137,916 284,084		6,775 130,888 230,202
422,000 (130,238)		361,090 (97,846)
250,490 12,945 34,574	291,762	223,726 12,588 33,705	263,244

	298,009		270,019

	298,009		270,019

The charitable company is entitled to exemption from audit under Section 477 of the Companies Act 2006 for the year ended 31 March 2023.

The members have not required the company to obtain an audit of its financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2023 in accordance with Section 476 of the Companies Act 2006.

The trustees acknowledge their responsibilities for:

a) ensuring that the charitable company keeps accounting records that comply with Sections 386 and 387 of the Companies Act 2006 and
b) preparing financial statements which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charitable company at the end of each financial year and of its surplus or deficit for each financial year in accordance with the requirements of Sections 394 and 395 and which otherwise comply with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006 relating to financial statements, so far as applicable to the charitable company.

The accounts on pages 39 to 51 were approved and authorised for issue by the Board of Trustees on 19 July 2023 and signed on their behalf by:

Dawn Childs

President, Women’s Engineering Society

The notes of pages 43 to 51 form part of these financial statements.

Women’s Engineering Society Report of the Trustees 2022-23

Women’s Engineering Society Year Ended 31 March 2023 Statement of Cash Flows for the year ended 31 March 2023 £ £ Cash fows from operating activities: Net income for the year as per the Statement of Financial Activities 27,990 Adjustments for: Depreciation (2,958) (Increase)/decrease in debtors (7,028) Increase/(decrease) in creditors 32,392 Net cash generated from operating activities 50,396 Cash fows (used in)/generated from investing activities: Net movements in costs of tangible fxed assets 3,486 Net cash used in investing activities 3,486 Change in cash and cash equivalents in the year 53,882 Cash and cash equivalents at the beginning of the year 230,202 Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the year 284,084 31 March 2023	£ £ 50,797 1,266 (60,510) 21,535 13,088 (2,697) 2,697 10,391 219,811 230,202 31 March 2022	£ £ 50,797 1,266 (60,510) 21,535 13,088 (2,697) 2,697 10,391 219,811 230,202 31 March 2022
	(2,697)
50,396 3,486		13,088 2,697

53,882 230,202		10,391 219,811
284,084		230,202

Women’s Engineering Society Report of the Trustees 2022-23

WOMEN’S ENGINEERING SOCIETY YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023

Notes to the financial statements

1.Accounting policies

General information

The Women’s Engineering Society is a Company limited by guarantee, incorporated in England and Wales. The address of its registered office and principal place of business is disclosed in the Company information.

The financial statements are presented in Sterling and this is the functional currency of the Charity.

Basis of preparation

The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102). The company is a public benefit entity for the purposes of FRS102 and a registered charity established as a company limited by guarantee and therefore has also prepared its financial statements in accordance with the Charities SORP FRS 102 (second edition - October 2019) - Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland and the Companies Act 2006 and Charities Act 2011.

The financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention.

Going concern

The Board have assessed whether the use of the going concern basis is appropriate and have considered possible events or conditions that might cast significant doubt on the ability of the charity to continue as a going concern including the ongoing impact of Covid-19 pandemic. The Board have made this assessment for a period of at least one year from the date of approval of the financial statements. In particular the Board have considered the charity’s forecasts and impact on income sources.

Income

All income is recognised in the Statement of Financial Activities once the charity has entitlement to the funds, it is probable that the income will be received and the amount can be measured reliably.

Conference and event income, partnership income, grants and larges single donations have been treated as income in the year they have been earned or deferred to the accounting period in the year the service will be provided unless agreed by the donors.

Women’s Engineering Society Report of the Trustees 2022-23

Expenditure

Liabilities are recognised as expenditure as soon as there is a legal or constructive obligation committing the charity to that expenditure, it is probable that a transfer of economic benefits will be required in settlement and the amount of the obligation can be measured reliably. Expenditure is accounted for on an accruals basis and has been classified under headings that aggregate all cost related to the category. Where costs cannot be directly attributed to particular headings they have been allocated to activities on a basis consistent with the use of resources.

Fund accounting

Unrestricted Funds are considered by the Directors as funds coming into the Charity and held in reserves to provide for the services of the Charity. Restricted funds are considered by the Directors to be funds that are granted to the Charity with certain additional requirements to provide specific charitable activities. Accounting for restricted activities is maintained separately to unrestricted funds, being reported separately to the commissioning bodies as required under the terms of the grant.

Cash and cash equivalents

Cash and cash equivalents are cash and short term highly liquid investments with a short maturity of three months or less from the date of acquisition or opening of the deposit or similar account.

Fixed Assets

Depreciation is provided at the following annual rates in order to write off each asset over its estimated useful life.

Electronic Equipment 20% of cost

VAT

The Charity is registered for VAT. Irrecoverable VAT is included in the cost of the item to which it relates.

Creditors

The Charity seeks to pay all creditors within agreed credit terms.

Leased Assets

Rental applicable to operating leases, where substantially all benefits and risks of ownership remain with the lessor, are charged to the income and expenditure account as incurred.

Governance Costs

Board expenses, insurances, clinical supervision, HR support and audit fee incurred are reported to comply with constitutional or statutory requirements of the Charity.

Financial Instruments

The Charity only enters into basic financial instrument transactions that result in the recognition of financial assets such as trade and other debtors and short term investments (notice period not exceeding 3 months) and financial liabilities such as trade and other creditors. Basic financial instruments are initially recognised at transaction value and then subsequently measured at their settlement value.

Women’s Engineering Society Report of the Trustees 2022-23

Judgements in applying accounting policies and key sources of estimation uncertainty

Due to the nature of the charitable company’s activities and financial statements, the Trustees do not consider there to be any significant judgements or sources of estimation uncertainty which could influence the reader’s understanding of the financial statements.

Prior year restatement

Prior year restatements are accounted for by restating the comparative figures for the preceding period in the primary statements and notes.

Pension costs

Payments to defined contribution retirement benefit schemes are charged as an expense as they fall due.

Women’s Engineering Society Report of the Trustees 2022-23

Women’s Engineering Society Year Ended 31 March 2023 Notes to the financial statements (continued)

(continued) 2. Donations and legacies Donations Membership 3. Charitable activities Conference and event income Partnership income Mentorset income Stem Returners income 4. Other trading activities Mentorset income Stem returners income 5. Investment income Bank interest received	2023 Unrestricted Funds £ 8,764 42,085 50,849 2023 Unrestricted Funds £ 107,124 344,070 4,300 2,200 457,694 2023 Unrestricted Funds £ - - - 2023 Unrestricted Funds £ 3,006 3,006	2022 Unrestricted Funds £ 22,386 52,958
		75,344
		2022 Unrestricted Funds £ 81,971 265,759 - -
		347,730
		2022 Unrestricted Funds £ 640 120
		760
		2022 Unrestricted Funds £ 75
		75

Women’s Engineering Society Report of the Trustees 2022-23

Women’s Engineering Society Year Ended 31 March 2023 Notes to the financial statements (continued)

Notes 6. Raising funds Grant costs Membership related costs Project Costs General Support costs 8 Employee costs 8 Travel costs 8 Finance costs 8 Governance costs 8	2023 Unrestricted Funds - £ - 27,632 - 5,914 52,111 1,417 1,340 493 88,907	2022 Unrestricted Funds - £ Restated 500 26,733 15,831 6,965 58,521 807 2,490 945
		112,792

Notes 7. Charitable activities Event costs Project costs MentorSET costs Awards Promotional costs General Support costs Employee costs Travel costs Finance costs Regulatory costs Directors’ Expenses Independent Examiners Fees Support Costs 8 Governance 8	Promote the education of women £ To advance the education of the public £ To relieve poverty amongst women £ Support Costs £ Governance Costs £ 2022/23 Total £ 15,197 34,686 - 597 - 50,480 - 1,776 - - - 1,776 5,988 - - - - 5,988 - 2,000 - - - 2,000 - 8,840 - - - 8,840 - - - 22,546 367 22,913 - - - 265,259 - 265,259 - - - 13,164 43 13,207 - - - 5,181 - 5,181 - - - - 492 492 - - - - 592 592 - - - - 3,420 3,420
	21,185 47,302 - 306,747 4,914 380,148
	23,554 267,047 16,146 (306,747) - - 300 4,214 399 - (4,914) -
	45,039 318,563 16,545 - - 380,148

Included in 2023 Awards is £1,000 (2022: £1,000) relating to restricted funds.

Women’s Engineering Society Report of the Trustees 2022-23

Women’s Engineering Society Year Ended 31 March 2023 Notes to the financial statements (continued)

Notes 7. Charitable activities Event costs Project costs MentorSET costs Awards Promotional costs General Support costs Employee costs Travel costs Finance costs Regulatory costs Directors’ Expenses Independent Examiners Fees Support Costs 8 Governance 8	Promote the education of women £ Restated To advance the education of the public £ Restated To relieve poverty amongst women £ Restated Support Costs £ Restated Governance Costs £ Restated 2021/22 Total £ Restated 7,039 20,804 - 676 - 28,519 - 16,170 - - - 16,170 4,792 - - - - 4,792 - 1,000 - - - 1,000 - 9,400 - - - 9,400 - - - 17,692 - 17,692 - - - 162,735 - 162,735 - - - 3,466 - 3,466 - - - 10,605 - 10,605 - - - - 1,500 1,000 - - - - 525 525 - - - - 3,824 3,824
	11,831 47,374 - 195,174 5,849 260,228
	15,314 169,909 9,951 (195,174) - - 841 4,645 363 - (5,849) -
	27,986 221,928 10,314 - - 260,228

Included in 2023 Awards is £1,000 (2022: £1,000) relating to restricted funds.

Notes Note 8 - Support & Governance Costs Event costs General Support costs Employee costs Travel costs Finance costs Regulatory costs Directors’ Expenses Independent Examiners Fees Raising Funds 6 Charitable Activities 7	Support Costs £ Governance Costs £ 2022/23 Total £ 597 - 597 28,460 407 28,867 317,370 - 317,370 14,581 48 14,629 6,521 - 6,521 - 547 547 - 605 605 - 3,800 3,800
	367,529 5,407 372,936
	60,782 493 61,275 306,747 4,914 311,661
	367,529 5,407 372,936

Women’s Engineering Society Report of the Trustees 2022-23

Women’s Engineering Society Year Ended 31 March 2023 Notes to the financial statements (continued)

Notes Note 8 - Support & Governance Costs Event costs General Support costs Employee costs Travel costs Finance costs Regulatory costs Directors’ Expenses Independent Examiners Fees Raising Funds 6 Charitable Activities 7 9. Employee costs Analysis of staff costs, Trustee remuneration and expenses Wages and salaries Social security costs Pension costs Other costs	Support Costs £ Restated Governance Costs £ Restated 2021/22 Total £ Restated 676 - 676 24,654 - 24,566 221,256 - 221,256 4,273 - 4,273 13,094 - 13,094 - 1,508 1,508 - 638 638 - 4,648 4,648	Support Costs £ Restated Governance Costs £ Restated 2021/22 Total £ Restated 676 - 676 24,654 - 24,566 221,256 - 221,256 4,273 - 4,273 13,094 - 13,094 - 1,508 1,508 - 638 638 - 4,648 4,648
	263,953	6,794 270,751
	68,783 195,174	945 69,728 5,849 201,023
	263,957	6,794 270,751
	2023 - £ 288,593 15,606 10,315 2,855 317,369	2022 - £ 185,821 14,864 4,521 16,050 221,256

Trustees’ Expenses

There was £592 (2022: £638) of trustees’ expenses reimbursed to four trustees in the year ended 31 March 2023.

Average number of employees by activity

CEO Offce Staff	2023 1 7 8	2022 1 5
		6

There was no remuneration paid to trustees in the year ended 31 March 2023, nor the year ended 31 March 2022. The number of employees whose employee benefits (excluding employer pension costs) exceeded £60,000 was:

2023 No 2022 No

£60,001 - £70,000 1 1

Women’s Engineering Society Report of the Trustees 2022-23

Women’s Engineering Society Year Ended 31 March 2023 Notes to the financial statements (continued)

10. Tangible fxed assets Cost At 1 April 2022 Additions Disposals At 31 March 2023 Depreciation At 1 April 2022 Charge for the year Depreciation eliminated on disposal At 31 March 2023 Net Book Value At 31 March 2022 At 31 March 2023 11. Debtors Trade debtors Prepayments and accrued income 12. Creditors: Amounts falling due within one Trade creditors Social security and other taxes Accruals and deferred income Other creditors 12. Creditors: Amounts falling due within one Deferred income movement: Deferred income b/fwd Utilised in the year Deferred movement increase in the year Deferred income c/fwd	Electronic Equipment - £ 17,323 2,728 (6,214) 13,837 10,548 2,578 (5,536) 7,590 6,775 6,247 2023- £ 121,183 16,733 137,916 year 2023 - £ 5,588 39,895 84,755 - 130,238 year continued	Total - £ 17,323 2,728 (6,214)
		13,837 10,548 2,578 (5,536)
		7,590 6,775
		6,247
		2022 - £ 111,440 19,448
		130,888
		2022 - £ 2,264 30,356 63,370 1,856
		97,846
		58,130 (58,130) 77,712
		77,712

Women’s Engineering Society Report of the Trustees 2022-23

Women’s Engineering Society Year Ended 31 March 2023 Notes to the financial statements (continued)

13. Movement in funds

13. Movement in funds Unrestricted funds General funds Restricted funds Karen Burt Memorial Endowment funds NBC - Lady Finniston	Movement in resources Balance 01 April 2022 £ Income £ Expenditure £ Cost of Living bonus £ Gains/ losses £ Transfers £ Balance 31 March 2023 £ 223,726 511,549 (468,055) (13,826) (678) (2,226) 250,490 12,588 - (1,000) - - 1,357 12,945 33,705 - - - - 869 34,574
	270,019 511,549 (469,055) (13,826) (678) - 298,009

14. Analysis of net assets between funds

Fixed Assets Current assets Debtors Cash and cash equivalent Current liabilities Falling due within one year	Unrestricted Funds Restricted Funds Endowment Funds Total 2023 Total 2022 6,247 - - 6,247 6,775 137,916 - - 137,916 130,888 236,565 12,945 34,574 284,084 230,202 (130,238) - - (130,238) (97,846)
	250,490 12,945 34,574 298,009 270,019

15. Share capital

The charitable Company is limited by guarantee with each of its members liable to contribute £1 in the event of its being wound up.

16. Related party transactions

There were no related party transactions in the year ended 31 March 2023 (2022: none).

17. Control

The Board of Trustees are deemed to be the controlling party.

18. Analysis of cash and cash equivalents

18. Analysis of cash and cash equivalents
Cash in hand Total cash and cash equivalents	Total 2023 Total 2022 284,084 230,202
	284,084 230,202

Women’s Engineering Society

2022/23 Annual Report

www.wes.org.uk

WES Annual Report 2022-23

Final Audit Report

2023-09-06

Created: 2023-08-31 By: Elizabeth Donnelly (ceo@wes.org.uk) Status: Signed Transaction ID: CBJCHBCAABAAv13qDKl3PZ90NV_4ymONFbAQOvdoBmG7

"WES Annual Report 2022-23" History

Document created by Elizabeth Donnelly (ceo@wes.org.uk)

2023-08-31 - 11:32:26 AM GMT

Document emailed to Silvia Vitiello (svitiello@mks.co.uk) for signature

2023-08-31 - 11:34:56 AM GMT

Document e-signed by Silvia Vitiello (svitiello@mks.co.uk)

Signature Date: 2023-09-06 - 1:07:40 PM GMT - Time Source: server

Agreement completed.

2023-09-06 - 1:07:40 PM GMT

Women’s Engineering Society

ANNUAL REPORT OF THE TRUSTEES 2022-23

Legal and Administrative Information

Charity No. 1008913, Company No. 00162096

Directors/Trustees

Trustees who served during the year

INTRODUCTION FROM THE PRESIDENT

REPORT FROM THE CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER

Elizabeth Donnelly

ANNUAL REPORT OF THE TRUSTEES FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023

Objects

WES Strategy 2021-2024

Our vision is of an engineering industry that employs the diversity of the society it serves, to solve the biggest societal issues of our time; and our mission is to support women in engineering to fulfil their potential, and support the engineering industry to be inclusive.

Activities

Supporting women engineers to fulfil their potential

WES Membership

Membership Subscriptions

Supporting Regional Clusters

Membership Engagement

Early Careers Board

University Groups’ Board and supporting women engineering students

WES Affiliated Student Groups

Apprentices’ Board

Conferences and Events

Annual Conference 2022

14th Student Conference

WES Lottie Tour

Apprentice Showcase

Mentoring via MentorSET

Supporting the engineering industry to be more inclusive Advance the education of the public concerning the study and practice of engineering among women

Achievement and Performance

Corporate Partners

Table 2: WES Partnership Figures 2022-23

LIST OF WES PARTNERS

LIST OF WES PARTNERS

International Women in Engineering Day 2022 (INWED22)

Impact Highlights

INWED22 was the number one trending topic on Twitter in the United Kingdom for most of the day.

INWED22 Sponsors

Awards

Caroline Haslett Lecture

Karen Burt Memorial Award

Amy Johnson Inspiration Award

Men As Allies Award

Top 50 Women in Engineering 2022

THE 2022 WE50 (in alphabetical order):

Inventor, Stairsteady / Kids Invent Stuff

Principal Engineer, DLT Engineering Ltd. (formerly Dorman Long Technology)

Electrical Engineer Aerospace, Rolls Royce/Aerospace Technology Institute

Group Head of STEM strategy, Spectris PLC

Head of Research, School of Engineering, University of Manchester

Pharmaceutical Director, Kan Do Ventures

Marisa Kurimbokus

Mechanical Engineering Team Leader, Aeristech Ltd.

PhD Researcher, University of Southampton

Senior Electronics Engineer, Dyson Technology Ltd.

Project Manager and Researcher, Imperial College London

Professor and Associate Dead, University of Manchester

Project Manager, Arup

Research Fellow in Membrane Crystallisation, Cranfield University

Assistant Design Programme Manager, BAM Nuttall

JUDGES OF THE WE50 AWARDS

Dr Bola Olabisi

Lauren Touré

Dawn Childs

Carl Hayward

Mara Makoni

Dr Mark McBride-Wright

Libby Meyrick

Susan Robson

Emily Spearman

WES Prize Winner

Isabel Hardwich Medal

Gillian Skinner Award

Shaping the engineering gender diversity debate in society, industry, and with government

Relieving Poverty

Shaping the debate

Special Interest Groups

WES Heritage