Dawn Bonfield
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Dawn Bonfield is a materials engineer and founder and director of Towards Vision,[1] a company which aims to work towards a vision of diversity and inclusion in engineering. She is past president and former chief executive of the Women's Engineering Society (WES),[2][3] and in 2018 was an ambassador for the Year of Engineering,[4][5] promoting engineering careers through a roadshow aimed at meeting parents.
A materials engineer by profession, training and experience - having studied materials science at Bath University - Bonfield has worked at AERE Harwell, Citroen Research Centre (Paris), British Aerospace (Bristol), MBDA (Stevenage), and the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (London).[2]
In 2017, Bonfield was appointed a Visiting Professor of Inclusive Engineers at Aston University,[6] developing undergraduate content on inclusive engineering to equip the next generation of engineers with the skills and competencies they need to be inclusive. She also co-founded IncEng in 2017,[7] a platform to bring together under-represented groups in engineering.
Activism
Bonfield joined the council of the Women's Engineering Society in 2011 and was elected president in 2014.[8] She then became CEO in 2015.[2] Bonfield was the founder of National Women in Engineering Day in 2014 and in 2015 established the inaugural 50 Women in Engineering List with the Daily Telegraph.[2][9] She established and still runs the "Magnificent Women" schools outreach project and website,[10] and the Sparxx project to support STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) students.[11] She is a STEM ambassador who regularly promotes engineering and materials in schools.