Engineering leaders have warned that progress on diversity and inclusion across the sector remains incomplete, even as emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence begin to reshape how engineering decisions are made across industry.
Speaking at a panel hosted at the Royal Academy of Engineering to mark International Women in Engineering Day (INWED), senior figures from across UK engineering said the industry must move beyond representation targets and focus instead on psychological safety, accessibility, and inclusive engineering cultures.
Jane Sutton, Head of Media and Engagement at the Royal Academy of Engineering, said the organisation had transformed significantly since its founding fifty years ago. “The academy was founded in 1976 with a cohort of 130 white men as Fellows. We’ve become much more diverse since then with a fellowship that now includes 13% women,” she said.
Yet despite progress at institutional level, speakers said structural challenges persist across the wider profession. Katherine Critchley, President of the Women’s Engineering Society (WES), said women now represent 16% of the engineering workforce, but warned that retention and career re-entry remain key barriers.
“We need to look at ways to bring women back into engineering as many take career breaks in their 30s and 40s to look after their families,” she said. “If they can’t bring their skills up to date after a career break, we lose them forever.”
The discussion also highlighted disability inclusion as a continuing gap. Katy Deacon, Vice President at the Institute of Engineering and Technology (IET), said only 14% of the engineering workforce identifies as disabled, compared with around 24% of the UK population.
“That’s a wakeup call,” she said, highlighting the additional barriers disabled professionals face in accessing work and securing adjustments.
The discussion was framed around this year’s INWED theme, Engineering Intelligence, with speakers also exploring how AI and digital tools may accelerate productivity, while introducing new risks around bias, data quality, and workforce exclusion.
The role of emerging technologies formed a central strand of the discussion, particularly the impact of AI on engineering workflows and decision-making.
Deacon highlighted early use cases such as accessibility-focused design tools that identify barriers for wheelchair users in architectural plans. However, she cautioned against over-reliance on automation. “AI is just a tool to help engineers work faster and be more efficient,” she said.
Isabel Coman, Director of Engineering and Asset Strategy at Transport for London (TfL), said AI and digital tools could improve asset inspection and risk-based maintenance, including the use of drones and camera systems, but stressed that human judgement remains essential in interpreting outputs.
Bruce Price, Head of bp Solutions at bp, Price said faster access to data will change how engineers work, but not the underlying principles of the profession. “At their core, engineers are problem solvers who use data and scientific principles to assess trade-offs and risks,” he said.
Across the panel, speakers pointed to visibility and structured interventions as key drivers of change. Critchley highlighted initiatives such as the Top 50 Women in Engineering awards and the WES “She’s an Engineer” campaign, designed to challenge perceptions of who can work in engineering. Coman also cited sponsorship programmes within the Institution of Civil Engineers, which she said have helped double the number of women fellows in four years.
