RAeS crowned Best Professional Engineering Institution of the Year

Image courtesy RAeS

The award recognises Professional Engineering Institutions who go above and beyond to support their members, and who are particularly increasing awareness of diversity, inclusion and positive mental wellbeing.

The Royal Aeronautical Society has a multi-strand Diversity and Inclusion Strategy, led by its Diversity and Inclusion Working Group, which aims to improve the Society’s own approach, alongside providing wider leadership on the subject. The RAeS reached a number of milestones in 2019, such as:

• The launch of Alta, a mentoring platform for women.
• The continued success of The Amy Johnson Lecture, which draws in senior women from across the aviation and aerospace sector.
• The Society’s Women in Aviation and Aerospace Group celebrated its 10th anniversary, and is a founding member of the Women in Aviation and Aerospace Charter which now has over 200 signatories.
• Work began with Aerobility on Falcon 2, a new initiative which will challenge secondary school pupils to develop a flight simulator for disabled flyers, increasing STEM uptake in schools, and encouraging inclusive engineering solutions.
• Cool Aeronautics, the Society’s school outreach programme, engaged with almost 2,000 children in 2019
• Collaboration on D&I continued with the RAeS Branches and Committees, through presentations and a 1-day D&I forum.
• The commissioning of a Pride flag to show increasing support for the LGBTQ+ community in aviation and aerospace.
• The RAeS published how to hold an inclusive meeting and how to run inclusive events good practice guides for National Inclusion Week.
• A two-day conference on “Aerospace Mental Health and Wellbeing” which brought together psychologists, medical practitioners, and human factors experts

The Engineering Talent Awards recognise high-achieving engineers from diverse backgrounds, but also challenges organisations on what good practice looks like through real-life case studies which are having an impact.

Lt Cdr Richard Gearing, Chair of the RAeS Diversity and Inclusion Working Group, said: “The Royal Aeronautical Society is honoured to win this award. It is recognition of the hard work our volunteers an staff have put in to not only support our members but also the wider aviation and aerospace community.

"Diversity and Inclusion sits at the heart of the Society’s values and vision and whilst we pride ourselves on the progress that has been made to date, we recognise that more still needs to be done within the aviation, aerospace and space sector, and we will continue to identify opportunities to break down barriers”

To see the full list of winners click here .