Torness celebrates International Women in Engineering Day

A series of sessions are being held at Torness power station’s visitor centre to encourage girls to find out more about engineering.

The activity is part of EDF Energy’s Pretty Curious campaign and is being held in the run up to International Women in Engineering Day (#INWED) on 23 June.

At the moment just one in four people working in Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) careers in Scotland is a woman. The Pretty Curious campaign aims address the under-representation of women in these roles by sparking girls’ curiosity for science.

The sessions will run from 18-21 June and are targeted at girls aged 7 and over. As well as going on a tour of the power station those attending will have the chance to try some hands-on STEM activities including taking part in a Build-a-Droid workshop. They will also be able to explore the world of virtual reality through 360degree film which takes you inside the core of a nuclear reactor to find out how it works.

Research shows that over half a million job openings in science, research, engineering and technology will need to be filled over the next six years, to replace retiring workers but in engineering, for example, there is an estimated shortfall of people with the right skills of up to 60,000 a year.

Visitor Centre Co-ordinator, Faith Scott, said: “We’re really excited to be holding these sessions. Our Build-a-Droid workshops and virtual reality experience were a big hit recently at the Edinburgh International Science Festival so we hope local school, Brownie and Guide groups will take the chance to come in to try them out and find out more about the opportunities engineering can offer girls.”

There will be two sessions a day; from 10:00-13:00 and from 18:30-21:00. Places can be booked by emailing faith.scott@edf-energy.com or kathryn.brent@edf-energy.com by Friday 1 June.