Academy announced as finalist for the 2019 Responsible Business Awards
The Royal Academy of Engineering is announced as a finalist for Business in the Community’s Responsible Business Awards, the UK’s longest running and most prestigious awards programme, championing responsible business in the UK and abroad.
The awards champion the most inspiring businesses who are taking action to create more inclusive workplaces, build stronger communities and tackle our biggest environmental challenges.
The Academy has been named as a finalist for race equality for the Graduate Engineering Engagement Programme (GEEP). This is an engineering-wide programme to increase the transition of engineering graduates from diverse backgrounds into engineering employment. Delivered in partnership with engineering employers, GEEP works with engineering undergraduates and recent graduates who are female, from ethnic minority or socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds or attended the newer post-92 universities. Following a successful three-year pilot, GEEP launched as a full scale programme last year.
Dr Hayaatun Sillem, CEO of the Royal Academy of Engineering, said:
“The Graduate Engineering Engagement Programme is exactly the kind of activity the Academy should be leading. We know that ethnic minority engineers are underrepresented in engineering employment – while more than 25% of first degree qualifiers are from ethnic minority backgrounds, they make up only 8% of the profession. We are delighted that engineering employers are working with us to increase the transition from university into employment by actively encouraging and engaging with students from all backgrounds, and across all types of universities. Together we are helping to ensure that engineering recruitment is inclusive and based on merit, as well as making an important contribution to addressing the persistent engineering skills gap and creating working cultures that support diversity, innovation and creativity.”
Amanda Mackenzie, Chief Executive of Business in the Community, said:
“Organisations that acknowledge their responsibility to society by evolving their business to be a sustainable one for the long term should be recognised and celebrated. We are proud of the Royal Academy of Engineering, which has been selected as a Responsible Business Awards 2019 finalist. Together, all the finalists are helping to make the UK the world leader in responsible business.”
Today’s announcement coincides with the launch of Responsible Business in Action where Business in the Community will be sharing the very best insight and recognising great examples of impact in responsible business from 29 April to the Responsible Business Gala Dinner on 9 July.
The winners of all ten categories, including the Responsible Business of the Year, will be announced at the Responsible Business Gala Dinner at the Royal Albert Hall on 9 July, in front of 1,200 business leaders. The headline sponsors of the 2019 Responsible Business Awards are Barclays, Bupa, Fujitsu, Unipart, UPS, and Hogan Lovells as well as Lloyds Banking Group, the winner of the 2018 Responsible Business of the Year.
To find out more about Responsible Business in Action visit https://www.bitc.org.uk/awards-events/responsiblebusinessinaction or search for the hashtag #ResponsibleBusinessInAction.
For more information on the Awards visit www.bitc.org.uk/awards and follow @BITC on Twitter #BITCAwards.
ENDS
For more information please contact: Victoria Runcie at the Royal Academy of Engineering Tel. 020 7766 0620; email: [email protected]
Royal Academy of Engineering. As the UK’s national academy for engineering and technology, we bring together the most successful and talented engineers from academia and business – our Fellows – to advance and promote excellence in engineering for the benefit of society.
We harness their experience and expertise to provide independent advice to government, to deliver programmes that help exceptional engineering researchers and innovators realise their potential, to engage the public with engineering and to provide leadership for the profession.
We have three strategic priorities:
- Make the UK the leading nation for engineering innovation and businesses
- Address the engineering skills and diversity challenge
- Position engineering at the heart of society
We bring together engineers, policy makers, entrepreneurs, business leaders, academics, educators and the public in pursuit of these goals.
Engineering is a global profession, so we work with partners across the world to advance engineering’s contribution to society on an international, as well as a national scale.
The Graduate Engineering Engagement Programme. The Academy works with engineering employers and SEO London to deliver the Graduate Engineering Engagement Programme. This follows on from the successful three-year pilot project, the Engineering Engagement Programme, which ran from 2015 to 2018 working with AECOM, Amey, Arup, Atkins, BAE Systems, Capita, CH2M, Leonardo, Metaswitch Networks, Network Rail, Renishaw, Rolls-Royce plc, Siemens, and Thales. The programme is designed to support the transition of engineering graduates from diverse backgrounds and groups including female, ethnic minority, socially disadvantaged and from post-92 universities into engineering employment.
The GEEP formally launched at an Academy event on 25 June 2018: Academy steps up programme to address diversity in early career engineering
Companies currently taking part in the Graduate Engineering Engagement Programme include: AECOM, Atkins, Amey, Arup, BAE Systems, BuroHappold Engineering, ChapmanBDSP, KBR, Leonardo, Metaswitch, Network Rail, Roke, Rolls-Royce, Royal Fleet Auxiliary (Ministry of Defence), Siemens, WSP.
SEO London. We prepare talented students from ethnic minority or low socioeconomic backgrounds for career success. Since its founding in 2000, SEO London’s scale has increased significantly across its three flagship programmes: SEO Careers, SEO Scholars and SEO Connect. SEO London’s Careers Programme is supported by over 70 sponsor firms across eight leading industries and has supported several thousand alumni into undergraduate internships and graduate roles since 2000. SEO Scholars provides hundreds of secondary school students with comprehensive training, mentoring and work experience. SEO Connect links our outstanding alumni professionals with peer networks, mentors and experienced job opportunities around the world.
For more information from Business in the Community please contact:
Cathy Beveridge, [email protected], T: 07776181945
About Business in the Community
Business in the Community, part of the Prince’s Responsible Business Network, is a business-led membership organisation made up of progressive businesses of all sizes who understand that the prosperity of business and society are mutually dependent. We exist to build healthy communities with successful businesses at their heart.
We use our Responsible Business Map to guide members on a journey of continuous improvement, working across the whole responsible business agenda. From community engagement to employment, diversity and the circular economy, we offer expert advice and specialist resources, driving best practice by convening, sharing learning and recognising great performance across our influential Network.
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