The two programmes show different pathways and careers into the renewable energy industry whilst meeting real women in the roles currently. Five schools were chosen to take part across the two programmes, which included 71 girls attending this year.
The young people were invited to an onsite visit at the East Coast Hub on Grimsby Docks. The hub is the largest operations and maintenance facility for offshore wind in the world. From tours to talks, a range of activities were provided, including creative workshops where teams from various schools designed and built their own turbines using CAD software, impressing a panel of female Ørsted judges with their fun and innovative creations.
"Seeing the enthusiasm and creativity of these young people was truly inspiring," said Harriet Farmery, community engagement officer at Ørsted. "It's vital that we continue to support and encourage women in STEM, and this collaboration has shown the incredible potential of the next generation."
Darren Ramshaw, head of generation UK East at Orsted, said: "Empowering young girls to consider green energy roles is not just about equality; it's about harnessing the full potential of our talent pipeline. Programmes like Stemettes and WiME are great opportunities for women working at Orsted to highlight their career paths and what they do in the renewable energy industry. Thanks so much to everyone who has supported these initiatives - here's to inspiring more young women into leading the charge towards a sustainable world."
Engineering UK reported in December 2024 that only 15.7% of roles are fulfilled by women in the engineering and technology sector with only 16% of girls thinking engineering is suitable for them. Their research saw that young people were three times more likely to be interested in an engineering career if they had attended a careers event in the last 12 months.
Confidence classes further equipped the young people with essential skills for not only applying to roles in STEM but other career avenues they may take.
Ørsted and Stemettes currently have a three-year national partnership, supporting 90 primary schools in low socioeconomic areas across the UK. On top of the work done in the last month, the second year of the partnership concentrates on schools in North East Lincolnshire, East of England, Birkenhead and Liverpool as part of Ørsted’s outreach in communities close Ørsted’s projects.
Yasmin Lodhi, CEO of Stemettes, said: “The programmes Stemettes deliver in partnership with Orsted allow us to engage young women and non-binary people into STEAM learning; build science capital through connecting them to a diversity of people already in the STEAM sector; and showcase a variety of career options available to them.”
Kirsty Clode, chair at Women into Manufacturing and Engineering, says: “Since 2017 the regional partnership with Ørsted and WiME has seen 1000s of girls and non-binary people to come through the doors. The latest careers event showed incredible results with 54% of the girls were interested in the sectors when they arrived and 98% were interested by the time they left! The aim of the Raising Aspirations programme aims to build girls confidence and inspire them to look at the renewable energy industry and careers in STEM as achievable and real opportunities. This is amplified by meeting real women currently doing the roles.”