Women in Nuclear’s (WiN) North East group recently held a ‘Motivation and Mentoring’ Networking event, sponsored by Jacobs. Presenters from North East-based companies, including EDF Energy, PDL Solutions and Assystem, shared experiences from their own careers, the support, encouragement and ‘key motivating influencers’ that enabled their personal and professional development, and key advice for others.
Our presenters came from a variety of backgrounds from early-career level to those holding senior management positions and discussed career progression through apprenticeships, academia within the UK and abroad, affiliations with UK Sport and by holding roles with companies in and out of the Nuclear Industry. All the presenters showed passion, and enthusiasm to share their experiences with others, and provided inspiration and encouragement to the audience during the Q&A session.
We were all encouraged by the openness of each of the presenters. Recognising that, whilst we work for different companies in different geographical locations and associated organisational cultures, our perceptions and experiences towards mentoring and career progression are very similar. We identified, as a consensus, that mentoring is a process and involves a group effort of identifying people’s strengths and, giving people the opportunities, tools and skills they need to be successful, self-confident and self-sufficient.
North East WiN ‘Motivation and Mentoring’ Networking Event Presenters (Left to Right): Anita Lall (Jacobs), Heather Barton (EDF Energy), Terri McPartland (Jacobs), Alan Davies (North East Nuclear Institute), Michelle Rooney (Jacobs), Elizabeth Waterman (PDL Solutions), Dean Clarke (Jacobs), David Matthews (Assystem)
Anita Lall, Project Manager at Jacobs and the WiN UK North East Regional Lead is passionate about strengthening our North East Network by getting everyone involved in WiN and the Nuclear Institute: “WiN North East is focused on helping us to address the Industry’s gender balance and raise the profile of women in engineering and leadership by increasing our awareness of everyone within their careers (i.e. not just women). By working together to share our learning and career experiences, and identify opportunities for progression within the Nuclear Industry, we can strengthen our North East Network.”
Fanny Fouin, Senior Mechanical Engineer at Assystem and Chair of the Nuclear Institute North East branch : “Today’s WiN event was a very positive session, our presenters shared interesting and insightful accounts of their careers that gave us all something to think about. Mentoring like this is such a key part of career development for everyone but especially for women as we aim to remove the old barriers to progression and take an active role in promoting gender equality in the nuclear industry."
