Dr Mark Jabbal, Assistant Professor in Aerospace Engineering, has joined the ranks of individuals recognised for making a difference to women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) as a finalist for the 2019 WISE Man Award.

The WISE Man Award is for men who are agents of change; those that are improving gender balance in their organisation and beyond. Judges will be looking for evidence of their actions in education or industry that go beyond their day job and which have delivered results. The award winner will be a key influencer that inspires others to improve gender balance in STEM, from the classroom to the boardroom.

After attending an aerodynamics conference in which there were very few women presenters, Mark felt he needed to do more to change this and bring a greater awareness of women’s contributions and achievements in this field. Mark took the initiative to lead a set of questions and answers with more than 50 women across a range of levels in industry (graduate engineers to directors) and academia (PhD researchers to professors) working in aviation, automotive and energy aerodynamics. These have been published on Twitter @AeroWomen, and are helping to make women in aerodynamics more visible to an international audience.

Through @AeroWomen, Mark built a successful case to nominate a woman for the prestigious RAeS Aerodynamics Award, which only had one woman recipient in 1999 out of 57 recipients in its 60-year history. He has also arranged for a woman keynote speaker at the next RAeS Aerodynamics Conference and has introduced women speakers in his teaching and research activity to help achieve gender parity.

Speaking about being chosen as a finalist, Mark said: “It was a real surprise but a great honour to find out that I was selected as a finalist for the WISE Man Award. I hope that the initiatives I have led will help to increase awareness of women in engineering and, in doing so, attract more women into the field, especially at a time when the UK is facing a shortage of engineers.”

Helen Wollaston, Chief Executive of WISE said: “The WISE Awards are an incredible opportunity to find role models who are blazing a trail and inspiring others to follow in their footsteps. From the classroom to the boardroom – there are some truly fantastic examples to show what can be done to get more girls and women into STEM as well as truly inspiration stories from women making a difference through science, technology and engineering. Congratulations to all our finalists. We look forward to celebrating with you in November and working with you to grow the reach and impact of the campaign.

The awards will be presented at a gala dinner on 7^th November in London with 450 leading women from STEM.