Black and Minority Ethnic (BAME) Network

A culture change to improve inclusion for all engineers & scientists

The BAME Student in Engineering Network aims to raise awareness of the challenges faced by BAME groups in the work place by facilitating different workshops and events to promote diversity and to prepare students to enter the workforce.

Currently, the network has three work streams: Educate, Create Change, and Empower.

The network's objective is to:

Raise awareness of the challenges that BAME individuals face in organisations; the impact on their engagement, performance and career progression
Provide knowledge on how we can collectively create a more inclusive environment to support our BAME students
Provide tips for BAME students and staff on how to navigate institutions successfully

Engineering Network Motivations

There are distinct gaps in the representation of BAME engineers in the workforce and Universities in the UK.

The Royal Academy of Engineering called for "a culture change to improve inclusion for all engineers" after a study revealed that out of the 7.8% of UK engineers who identify as BAME, 85% reported that assumptions are made about them based on their ethnicity or nationality.

Advance Higher Education (HE), Equality in HE: statistical report 2015, reports that out of 14,315 professors in the UK, only 1,050 identify as BAME.

Meet the Team

Charlotte Ajomale-Evans – Chair

My full time job in Engineering is within Student Recruitment, but I was elected as Chair of the BAME Network in August 2020. I studied my undergraduate degree in Swansea’s Arts and Humanities department. Since graduating I have worked for the Students’ Union, Residential Services, The International College and the College of Engineering, as well as a travel agents and in the finance sector. Eliminating racism has long been a passion of mine which I’m looking forward to using to benefit our community.

Dr. Natalie Wint

I am a researcher within the Materials Research Centre. My technical research is focused on corrosion but I am also interested in helping students to understand their social responsibility as engineers, to question what constitutes engineering knowledge, the value of local knowledge, and the need to provide technical solutions in the context of social, political and environmental issues. I am passionate about promoting inclusive engineering curricula and incorporating the social sciences into engineering education.

I teach maths to Foundation Year students and the Design Module ‘Engineering for People’ to First Year students. This is a new module run in collaboration with Engineers Without Borders and I am really excited about delivering it!

Professor David Penney

I am a professor in the Materials Research Centre and Co-Director of the EPSRC funded Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT) on functional industrial coatings. My research is focused on continuous galvanising and steel technology. Research can be lonely and frustrating, in my role as co-Director of the CDT, I am trying to create an environment where doctoral researchers have the confidence and freedom to thrive in their chosen area.

Our BAME support

Provide safe spaces for students and staff to talk about their experiences, both inside and outside of the university
Hold the department, academics, support staff and other students’ accountable for any racist treatment
Host events to empower BAME individuals within engineering and the professional world
Offer focus groups to help us understand the problems surrounding race barriers and discrimination in the department
Run schemes to encourage progression, both professional and academic
Organising socials to celebrate our diversity

Opportunities for non-BAME students

Everyone has an obligation to make changes to help those who are disadvantage by systemic racism. We want you to become passionate about equality, tackling racism and increasing your knowledge about how you can help to make lives and systems better for others.

Listening events – these will be opportunities to hear experiences directly from others of how racism has impacted their lives
Webinars and workshops – learn about how to become a better advocate to the anti-racist movement
Socials – where you can come along and learn from and about others
Events – come along to our monthly events with speakers covering a range of topics
Book club – attend the ‘BAME Book Club’ where we will discuss articles, books and papers around race in engineering, and race in wider society
Focus groups – share your experiences so we can improve the departmental knowledge around issues facing student and staff teams

Learning Resources

If you want to learn more about the topic of race, we will be posting new content here every few weeks for you to engage with.

To get you started, here is a very short video on White Privilege - https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zrvkbqt

Contact Us and Get Involved

This network is designed to raise your voices, confidence and awareness. We would love you to be as involved and vocal as possible! There are plenty of ways to contribute to the Network, but the first step will be to join our mailing list.

The mailing list will make sure you are the first to know about our activities. Complete the short form here

If you would like us to promote something you are doing or you have an idea of an activity, target area or event you want to run, contact us! We are here to enable the conversations around race and support you to grow and follow your interests.

You can reach the committee by emailing BAME-Engineering@swansea.ac.uk

Events Calendar

Our network will be hosting events every month of the academic year, covering a range of topics, cultures and platforms.

If there is something you would like to organise, or a topic you think our network should be engaging in, please let us know by emailing or signing up to the mailing list!