ESB showcases opportunities for women in engineering
ESB International’s Cork office has hosted a successful Women in Engineering Programme for Transition Year students.
As part of the programme, female students from schools throughout Cork are attending ESB International seminars, taking on engineering challenges and participating in interactive workshops, along with visiting some major ESB engineering sites.
Already running for a decade on a national level, this is the first time that the programme has run in Cork. It aims to encourage girls to consider engineering as a viable and rewarding career option, despite it being seen as a traditionally male-dominated discipline. It also looks to showcase the opportunities available to them in ESB and the wider engineering industry.
Some 30 students from 15 schools across Cork are participating in the programme, bringing the total numbers who have attended to over 250, many of whom have gone on to study engineering at third level. Some, in fact, are now are well advanced on successful careers at ESB International.
During the three-day programme, students are visiting the ESB Networks Control Centre and Call Centre in Wilton, while also taking in ESB’s Inniscarra Hydroelectric Generating Station and Cappawhite Windfarm, Co. Tipperary. They are also hearing presentations from engineers across ESB about building a long-term career in engineering.
Speaking about the programme, Manager of ESB International in Cork, Mark Lyons, commented that: “We are delighted to run the Women in Engineering Programme for Transition Year students in Cork for the first time. It is important for us to harness the talented graduate pool coming from the third level institutions in the south of the country, and that talent is first nurtured in secondary school with the choices students make for Leaving Cert.
“Our programme is designed to give students a flavour of what a career in engineering and in ESB International looks like, and to help them with the choices they will be making in the coming few years.”
“ESB International in Cork works in many diverse areas, including high voltage electrical engineering, power plant engineering, civil and environmental engineering, and having many experienced female engineers and managers working in those fields, we’re well positioned to help with practical advice. We wish them well in their future careers.”