Airbus and Imperial invite girls to explore careers in aerospace engineering

School pupil testing a new method of carrying weight on foam aeroplanes

As part of its ongoing commitment to women in science, Imperial hosted an Aeronautics open day to inspire the next generation of aerospace engineers.

The day, which was sponsored by Airbus, was run by Imperial College London’s Department of Aeronautics on 25 April.

It was a really insightful day - I really enjoyed it. School pupil

After being welcomed by President Alice Gast, 80 girls aged 13-15 from eight different London schools attended workshops, talks, and activities to discover what a career in aerospace engineering looks like.

The Department of Aeronautics' Dr Paul Bruce, who led the open day, said: “The goal for the event was to inspire the next generation of aerospace engineers. We wanted to inspire them, show them what aeronautics is all about, and dispel some of the myths about what engineers really do.

“The highlight of the day was trying out our new flight simulator – the pupils loved it.”

The pupils, who are soon to choose their A levels, gave overwhelmingly positive feedback from the day.

Comments ranged from “Excellent experience! Great to hear from female engineers” to “It was a really insightful day and I really enjoyed it.”

The Department of Aeronautics' Dr Siti Ros Shamsuddin, who led the aircraft stability workshop, said: “It was great to inspire the pupils with our aero activities, as well as during informal interactions with them.

"More importantly, I think we successfully portrayed the many diverse roles you can pursue in engineering.”

Image credits: Thomas Angus, Imperial College London