This week, I have been at the Royal Academy of Engineering in London. This was an opportunity for the Royal Academy to welcome the new visiting professors for 2024-2027, of which I am one.
From October 2024, I will be a Royal Academy of Engineering Visiting Professor at the University of Huddersfield and Aston University, specialising in inclusive engineering design.
It was brilliant to meet the other visiting professors and talk about my project to improve inclusive engineering training within the university landscape. It is my aim to ensure that new engineers, leaving university after 2027 will all have a better understanding of their responsibility to ensure their designs are accessible and inclusive for everyone and the skills to be able to deliver this.
It was great to learn from other professors about the work they have been doing to improve matters around deaf awareness. Just being shown a quick tip to ensure PowerPoint presentations always have transcripts and subtitles was really powerful.
I have also been in conversation with my MP’s office this week, discussing how we can improve accessibility and inclusion within my local region. My MP had suggested I contact the disability minister, to see how Towards Belonging Ltd can help him.
I’m really pleased to share that I have been asked by the disability minister, to let him know which areas of my field we could mostly make some progress. Whilst I have some key thoughts around much of this, I wanted to ask my communities if you had any thoughts.
I am looking to put together a priority list because I know the list will be endless. I would appreciate it if you could send me your comments below, and I will be able to create a priority list from those.
Everything immediately obvious is wheelchair related
I think support for people with low vision is key as well as quiet spaces and sensory spaces