15th International Conference for Women Engineers and Scientists (ICWES15)

Event: 15th International Conference for Women Engineers and Scientists (ICWES15)
Delegates: Expected to attract approximately 500
Destination: Adelaide, Australia
Duration: 19-22 July 2011

Since 1964, the International Conference for Women Engineers and Scientists has been held every three years to provide an important forum for the exchange of information and ideas for women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

The 15th conference in the series, “ICWES15”, will be hosted in Adelaide, Australia, in July 2011, and is expected to attract around 500 delegates from many countries around the world.

Co-chair of the organising committee, [Dr Marlene Kanga], is thrilled that Australia was successful in its bid to host the event.

“This conference series is incredibly important in providing an opportunity for women in our profession to discuss innovative engineering, science and technological practices, to network with colleagues in business, academia and government, and to showcase and celebrate the valuable contributions women have made,” [Dr Kanga] said.

“The problems that engineers must solve today are critical to the survival of future generations. The need for women’s creativity and know-how has never been greater, as the best possible solutions will be found if men and women combine their considerable talents together to lead and work in engineering teams.

“We are so proud to be hosting this prestigious event in Adelaide. This is the first time such an international conference for women will be held in the Southern Hemisphere, and is testament to the attraction of Australia as a destination as well as the health of our profession,” she said.

The idea to host the event in Australia was initially seeded more than 10 years ago. Since that time many people – including those from the Engineers Australia National Committee for Women in Engineering, the International Network for Women Engineers and Scientists, and the Adelaide Convention Bureau – have been committed to successfully securing the bid and developing an extremely high quality programme.

[Dr Kanga] said she believed the choice of Adelaide was driven by well established local support, particularly from the South Australian business event industry and the engineering profession, the high distinction and prominence of the local coordinating team, and the attractions offered to delegates by Adelaide.

“The extremely high calibre of the keynote speakers we’ve already attracted gives us certainty of a thought provoking and successful conference,” [Dr Kanga] said.

“We are delighted that we’ll be hearing from distinguished astrophysicist Dame Professor Jocelyn Bell Burnell, from the UK, who worked on the Nobel winning discovery of the first radio pulsars; Dr María Jesús Prieto-Laffargue, a telecommunications engineer and the first woman to be President of the World Federation of Engineering Organisations; and Emeritus Professor Elizabeth Taylor, AO, a leading academic and Executive Dean of the Faculty of Sciences, Engineering & Health at Central Queensland University.

“These addresses, plus a carefully designed programme of workshops and other sessions, will provide a wonderful platform for participants to discuss innovative technology in the 21st century and, through collaboration, to advance the profession globally,” she said.

Delegates will also have a choice of three optional pre-conference workshops to undertake intensive professional development, as well as site tours to five unique Adelaide destinations. These include tours to BioInnovation SA, home to the BioSA Incubator which was opened to fast track the growth of local companies; and the SA Water Desalination Plant which is scheduled to be commissioned in April 2011.

Tours further afield will also be on offer, enabling participants to enjoy more of Australia’s unique attractions, including carefully organised tours to the Barossa Valley, Melbourne, Perth, Tasmania, Alice Springs and Uluru.