This week marks the 13th year of International Women in Engineering Day (INWED), returning in 2026 under the theme #EngineeringIntelligence.
Organised by the Women’s Engineering Society (WES), INWED shines a spotlight on the contributions of women engineers around the world while encouraging the next generation of talent to consider careers in engineering and STEM. It is a moment to celebrate progress, acknowledge what remains to be done, and recommit to building a profession that reflects the full breadth of human talent.
The need for initiatives like INWED remains clear. Despite meaningful advances over the past decade, women still account for less than 17% of the UK’s engineering workforce. Progress has been made, but it has been uneven, and in many areas, far too slow.
Yet the conversation is no longer solely about representation. As engineering faces increasingly complex challenges, from decarbonisation and ageing infrastructure to digital transformation and the rise of artificial intelligence, the industry’s success will depend on its ability to bring together different experiences, viewpoints and ways of thinking.
That is what engineering intelligence looks like in practice.
What Does Engineering Intelligence Really Mean?
When people hear the word “intelligence” in an engineering context, they tend to think of technology: automation, data analytics, machine learning, AI. These tools are undoubtedly reshaping the profession, and we will return to them. But engineering intelligence is also, fundamentally, human.
It is the ability to solve problems creatively under constraint, to challenge inherited assumptions, collaborate across disciplines and find solutions that a more homogeneous group might never have considered. It is the kind of thinking that emerges when people with genuinely different backgrounds and experiences are working on the same problem.
The strongest engineering outcomes rarely come from a room full of people who think alike. They come from teams who bring different perspectives to a shared challenge, and who have the psychological safety to voice them.
Diversity, in this context, is not just an ethical imperative. It is a practical one.
The Diversity Challenge Still Facing Engineering
Engineering has made real progress over the past decade, but significant gaps remain. Women continue to be underrepresented across many engineering disciplines, with the disparity most pronounced in leadership roles, technical specialist positions and construction-focused fields. In some areas, the pipeline remains stubbornly narrow.
This matters from an equality perspective, but it also matters from a business and innovation perspective. Research has consistently demonstrated that diverse teams make better decisions, solve problems more effectively and generate stronger innovation outcomes. In organisations where groupthink goes unchallenged, risks are missed, opportunities are overlooked, and the work is poorer for it.
At a time when engineering organisations are being asked to do more with less, embrace emerging technologies and accelerate sustainable development, attracting talent from the widest possible pool has become a competitive necessity.
Starting Early: Building the Pipeline
Creating lasting change requires more than improving recruitment at the point of entry. The challenge begins much earlier, in classrooms, in careers conversations, in the everyday images and narratives that young people absorb about who engineers are and what they do.
Many young women and girls still do not see engineering as a career path that is available or relevant to them. A persistent lack of visible role models and real-world awareness continues to influence career choices long before students enter the job market. That is why early outreach is so important, and why we take it seriously.
At SRC, we work with local schools and educational partners throughout the year to promote STEM careers and encourage more young women to explore what the profession has to offer. Through careers events, site visits, workshops and ongoing partnerships, we aim to demonstrate the genuine breadth of opportunity within engineering, and to challenge the outdated perception that engineers all look, sound or think the same way.
Creating Environments Where People Can Thrive
Attracting talent into engineering is only part of the equation. Organisations must also build workplaces where people want to stay, environments where individuals are valued for their expertise, given genuine opportunities to develop, and empowered to contribute fully.
We are proud that women represent 44% of our permanent workforce, significantly above the industry average. Statistics alone never tell the whole story, but this figure reflects something real: an ongoing commitment to building a culture where talent is what counts, and where people at every stage of their career are supported to grow.
Throughout the year, we support initiatives that celebrate women across engineering and STEM, participating in industry events, collaborating with organisations such as HSBC on programmes that recognise women in engineering and leadership, and hosting internal events that mark key awareness days including International Women’s Day and INWED itself. These moments matter, not because a single day changes everything, but because they are part of a sustained, year-round commitment.
Engineering Intelligence in the Age of AI
This year’s theme feels particularly timely as artificial intelligence becomes an increasingly significant topic across every area of engineering.
AI has the capacity to transform how organisations analyse data, manage assets, optimise complex systems and deliver projects more efficiently. For engineering businesses willing to embrace it thoughtfully, the opportunities are significant.
But technology alone does not create intelligence, and it does not replace the need for diverse human judgment. The most successful organisations will be those that combine technological capability with critical thinking, domain expertise and a wide range of perspectives. An AI system trained on narrow data or deployed by a team that all think the same way, will reflect those limitations in its outputs.
As we continue exploring emerging technologies through innovation programmes, collaborative projects and cross-sector partnerships, we remain committed to one principle: technology should enhance engineering judgment, not substitute for it. The goal is augmentation, not replacement, and achieving that well requires exactly the kind of diverse, questioning, creative thinking that comes from teams built on inclusion.
The future of engineering will require both intelligent systems and intelligent people.
Voices From Our Team
Although I’m not an engineer by profession, working in the engineering industry has given me incredible opportunities to be a part of and lead talented teams and contribute to projects that make a real difference to communities and our clients. I’m proud to be part of SRC, where strong female representation across our workforce and leadership team reflects our commitment to creating an environment where people can thrive and succeed. International Women in Engineering Day is a chance to celebrate that progress and inspire more women to explore the many rewarding careers our industry offers.
– Phoebe Bassett, Associate Director
“Engineering has given me the opportunity to keep learning, solving problems and working on projects that make a real difference. I’d love to see more women and girls consider it as a career, because there are so many different paths within the industry. The more varied the people in engineering, the more creative and effective our solutions can be.”
– Gonca Ulku, Lead Premises Engineer
“Working in the engineering industry has opened so many opportunities for me, allowing me to grow my skills, take on new challenges and contribute to meaningful projects. As a woman in the industry, I hope my journey encourages others to explore a career that offers endless opportunities to learn, develop and succeed.”
– Millie Flynn, Finance Coordinator
Looking Ahead
International Women in Engineering Day is an opportunity to celebrate achievements, recognise the role models who are already changing the face of the profession, and reflect honestly on the progress still needed.
But it is also a reminder that the future of the engineering industry, its capacity to solve the hardest problems, deliver the infrastructure society needs, and lead on sustainability and innovation, depends on attracting, developing and empowering the broadest possible range of talent.
Engineering intelligence is not simply about the systems we build or the tools we deploy. It is about the minds we bring to bear on the challenges that matter most.
And that future will be stronger, for everyone, when more women have a seat at the table.
Happy International Women in Engineering Day 2026. #EngineeringIntelligence