About Us
FemEng is a society run by female engineers at the University of Glasgow. Our annual International Project has been run since 2017, and includes a team of 8 female engineers from a variety of engineering backgrounds spending three weeks completing outreach workshops to primary and secondary schools. This year, we have travelled to Francistown and Kasane, Botswana to deliver engaging workshops at government schools, reaching over 1,500 students.
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These workshops enrich the academic curriculum with creative, hands-on activities where students work together to build model stethoscopes, design and test wind turbines, or investigate earthquake proofing techniques, using recyclable materials such as card and paper to demonstrate key engineering problems.
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FemEng outreach encourages more students to pursue studies in engineering by teaching the variety of fields available, and, run by a team of 8 driven female engineering students, we also inspire and empower more girls to consider STEM fields. We have received positive feedback from all previous projects, with teachers and universities reporting an increase in university, particularly STEM, applications. In this year’s project, we have returned for the third and final year to Botswana, reaching for the first time more remote schools around Kasane, and founding new connections with students and professors at the University of Botswana (UoB) and Botswana International University of Science and Technology (BIUST) to run the workshops, ensuring that the impact our project will have continues after we return to Glasgow.
Project Objectives 2025
Here are our updated project objectives for this years visit,
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Deliver STEM-related workshops to primary and secondary government schools across Botswana teaching the variety of engineering fields available.
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Aim to reduce the gender disparity that currently exists in engineering disciplines by encouraging young girls to explore opportunities that they may pursue in the future. We aim to work towards UN Sustainable Development Goal 5: ‘Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls’. Through our creative, educational, immersive workshops we equalise career opportunities and encourage and empower young girls to consider fields in STEM which they previously may have been unconfident to consider.
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Collaborate with the communities and STEM students, professors and researchers to improve the workshops, and create a sustainable impact after our visit.
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Engage with local industry and learn about the engineering careers and opportunities in Botswana.
Learning Outcomes
Understanding Career Pathways
Students will gain an understanding of different engineering types and potential career pathways within them.
Challenging Stereotypes
Students will gain a new and deeper understanding of engineering - learning that engineering is not only about maths and physics but is also about creativity, teamwork and communication. Students will see that engineering is a diverse and inclusive career field.
Engagement with University Students
Students will engage and learn from university students, providing a positive role model. University students will provide insight to their own experience as an engineer.
Broader Awareness of Engineering
Students will broaden their knowledge of engineering - more unique engineering types such as biomedical engineering, product design engineering and sustainable engineering will be discussed.
Creative Problem Solving and Teamwork
Students will participate in workshops promoting problem solving alongside teamwork and communication.