The Ripple Effect Conference, curated by Warwick alumna and University Council member, Yewande Akinola, took place at The University of Warwick recently. The event offered valuable insights from industry experts and inspiring women in engineering, technology, innovation and business.

At the event the audience heard key insights from Dr Mel Loveridge, Associate Professor at WMG and Jacqui Murray, South Wales Regional Director for High Value Manufacturing Catapult, who took part in a panel discussion with Innovate UK.

Dr Mel Loveridge said, “I felt privileged to participate in the recent Ripple Effect Conference, mainly (but not exclusively) aimed at women in engineering and technology. The gathering and programme was an inspiring creation and very impactful in its endeavour. The delegates were from very multi-disciplinary areas across engineering and technology, which represented great networking possibilities. The conference provided very powerful environments and events; from expert talks, panels, workshops and roundtable discussions. Such events are like ‘nectar’ for innovators.

“Indeed, one meaning of The Ripple Effect abstract metaphor is ‘the continuing and spreading results of an event or action - which seems a very apt name for such an event, with such an inspiring collective of demonstrated innovators and changemakers.”

There was also a keynote address from Dr A-Marie I., co-founder of Stemettes, a social enterprise which encourages women and non-binary people to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and maths. Nav Sawhney, founder of The Washing Machine Project, also attended the conference and discussed an initiative which aims at reducing the burden of hand washing clothes for women and girls worldwide, allowing them more time for rest, work, and education.

Jacqui Murray said, “Being part of something as inspiring as the Ripple Effect Conference, alongside women such as WMG’s Dr Mel Loveridge and Innovate UK’s Emily Knott, who has changed the way Innovate UK funds women entrepreneurs and some of their award-winning Women in Innovation, was a privilege and not something to miss! I even brought along my 14-year-old daughter Evelyn.

“From finding your own truth in feedback you have been given, to supporting other women around us in their careers - all the way through to how one of the entrepreneurs juggled the demands of the aerospace industry as well as chocolate manufacturers, discussions were full of lived experience and flavour! It provided food for thought on the need for more women to join non-exec and executive boards, and how we should be able to leverage any part of our journeys that have been made harder in our lives – after all we have learnt more!”

As part of the event, there was also guided tours of WMG’s International Manufacturing Centre led by the Technical Services team.

If you would like to find out more about WMG's women in engineering visit: https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/wmg/about/equality-diversity-and-inclusion/