Young Women In Engineering (YoWIE)
Register for YoWIE 2024
Our 2024 YoWIE event will be scheduled during the April school holidays. Please check back in November 2023 for registration details.
More information
Discover how you can change the world
As an engineer, your world is full of opportunities. UNSW Canberra’s YoWIE Program is committed to inspiring young women currently in Years 9 - 12 to consider a future in engineering. This free three-day workshop aims to show how maths and science studies at school can help shape your future.
The YoWIE program began in 2016, and has grown in popularity as more young women join us each year to experience what it’s like to be an engineer. By participating in the YoWIE program, you’ll have access to a range of hands-on activities, talks by practising female engineers, and the chance to meet other like-minded young women in a fun and supportive environment.
Be inspired to explore a career in engineering
We’re excited to share our passion for engineering and encourage students currently in Years 9 - 12 to apply for our next round of YoWIE. Discover your potential and join young women from around Australia to create the next generation of leaders in engineering.
The YoWIE checklist
All our workshops will give you a flavour of university-level engineering across six different disciplines – space, aeronautical, electrical, civil, mechanical, and software engineering. Over three action-packed days, you will have:
- built and flown a rocket
- built a gas turbine engine and learned how they power aircraft
- analysed signals to return an astronaut to her rocket
- built your own YoWIE keepsake in a mechanical engineering workshop
- soldered and programmed an electrical circuit
- programmed a robot to solve a series of complex problems
- disassembled and reassembled a lawnmower engine and learned how engines work and fit together
- designed, built, and tested your very own dam.
Why we need more female engineers
In Australia in 2023, women make up less than 14% of degree-qualified engineers. While there has been an increase in young women selecting to study tertiary-level STEM subjects, the numbers still fall short.
Discover how UNSW Canberra’s YoWIE program is disrupting the imbalance in the gender make-up of the Australian engineering industry and changing the way we talk to young girls about engineering.
YoWIE stories
Hear from some of our YoWIE graduates about their experience and how the program has inspired their love of STEM.
For more information about the program contact
The YoWIE Team
Neda Aboutorab (YoWIE Co-Chair)
Matt Barrett (YoWIE Co-Chair)
P: +61 2 5114 5247
E: yowie@unsw.edu.au