Thousands of participants, including young people, their parents, teachers, engineers and industry are set to take part in over 600 events nationwide – from hands-on engineering challenges in classrooms and libraries to onsite engineering tours and open days – as part of Engineers Ireland’s Engineers Week 2019.

Starting tomorrow Saturday, 2 March and running until Friday, 8 March, Engineers Week is coordinated by Engineers Ireland’s STEPS programme and funded under Science Foundation Ireland’s (SFI) Discover Programme Call. The annual campaign aims to promote engineering as a career choice and the importance of the profession to Ireland.

From Clonakilty to Enniscrone and Castlepollard to Listowel, engineers from all over Ireland will engage with their communities to showcase their profession to primary and secondary students in their locality, highlighting the amazing ways Irish engineers are pushing the limits of creativity and ingenuity.

Caroline Spillane, Director General of Engineers Ireland said that she was delighted that many of Ireland’s large engineering employers, local authorities and engineering departments of Higher Education Institutes are getting involved to showcase their work, to help spark children’s imaginations about STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) and to provide them with role models and real-world opportunities to engage with the engineering community.

Ms Spillane commented: “Engineers Week, in this its 13th year, is reaching out to all facets of industry to showcase the dynamic world of contemporary engineering and to demonstrate to young people that engineering is a diverse career which is both satisfying and far-reaching.   Engineers are critical to our environment, to our economy and improve the way we live and work. Engineering affects all aspects of life, from tangible works such as the roads we travel on, to bridges and flood defences, to developing life-changing heart stents and prostheses, as well as advancing the invisible technologies that are all around us.

“We are delighted to see so many engineering organisations, libraries, schools and third level institutes getting involved and showcasing the engineering profession to primary and secondary school students nationwide and inspiring today’s children to engineer the Ireland of tomorrow.”

Additionally, during Engineers Week, Engineers Ireland is calling on Girl Guide and Brownie Units nationwide to take the Engineers Week Challenge to become Ireland’s Top Guide and Brownie Engineers.  They are encouraged to work towards gaining the Guide Engineering Badge or Brownie Engineering Badge with their Unit and devise an innovative project that could be commercially produced. Each entry submitted before the 15 March deadline will be judged by the Engineers Ireland STEPS Dragons, with the winners crowned ‘Ireland’s Top Guide Engineers’ or ‘Ireland’s Top Brownie Engineers.’

Caroline Spillane added: “The Guide Engineering Badge and Brownie Engineering Badge helps to engage young girls to work through a variety of fun engineering challenges based on creative thinking, curiosity and team-work.  We hope as many Units will engage in this Engineers Week Challenge and we look forward to crowning Ireland’s Top Guide and Brownie Engineers.”

In addition to SFI support, Engineers Ireland’s STEPS programme, which is a year-round programme is also supported by the Department of Education and Skills, and a number of major engineering employers – Intel, Arup, ESB and TII.

Click the link to find out more about events taking place as part of Engineers Week