This is Engineering campaign expanded to challenge perceptions of profession

A new season of films launched today featuring four young engineers working in a range of industries, from robotic farming to sustainable cosmetics. These films form the third phase of the pan-profession This is Engineering campaign to give more young people from all backgrounds a chance to explore how they could follow what they love into a varied and fulfilling engineering career.

Season three coincides with the publication of a major review of engineering education and skills, Engineering Skills for the Future, and builds on the first twelve films in the campaign with four new role models showcasing a greater variety of engineering jobs, impacts and educational backgrounds. The films bring to life engineering that we rely on every day, engineering that entertains, and engineering that protects the environment, and communicate the excitement of roles in start-ups and newer fields of engineering, as well as large engineering companies and more established engineering disciplines. The engineers featured are:

• Halvard, who grew up in Norway where he and his brother loved exploring surrounding farms and playing with Lego. As a robotics engineer he combines his love for nature and his love of making things to create robots that will revolutionise farming.
• Jahangir, who used to make cardboard cameras and pretend he was behind the scenes of his favourite TV shows. Now he works for the BBC as a broadcast engineer, keeping programmes on air. Broadcasting everything from music festivals to political debates, Jahangir makes sure viewers don’t miss a moment.
• Olivia, who has always been interested in sustainability and wanted to work for a company passionate about the environment. Keen to do her bit to address environmental sustainability, Olivia decided that being an engineer was the best way to make an impact. Working for Lush and sourcing and creating their chemicals in a sustainable way has given Olivia the power to make a difference.
• Sophie, who fell in love with the idea of becoming an astronaut at age 16 after visiting Kennedy Space Centre, but didn’t know how to achieve her dream. It was only when she met astronaut Dr Helen Sharman, the first British person in space, that she realised that becoming an engineer was the route to space. Sophie now works at BAE Systems, where she helps to develop the revolutionary high-speed planes of the future.

This is Engineering was created in response to significant demand for engineering talent in the UK – according to the latest EngineeringUK figures the annual shortfall is up to 59,000 – and narrow public perceptions of engineering and engineers. The campaign will help to change the conversation about engineering, appealing to young people’s passions for subjects such as sport, technology and design, and illustrating through social media that the profession is diverse, challenging and creative.

The campaign launched in January last year and the first two series of films have been viewed more than 28 million times by teenagers on social media. A survey of GCSE and A Level students following the first year of the campaign revealed that consideration of engineering as a career option has now almost doubled among those who have seen the campaign, and the increase is even more significant among females and BAME students.

This is Engineering is led by the Royal Academy of Engineering, in collaboration with EngineeringUK, and with the generous support of corporate partners.