Expansion of Amazon Future Engineer bursary scheme will support women students from low-income households studying computer science and related engineering courses at UK universities

The Royal Academy of Engineering and Amazon have announced the first recipients of the new Amazon Future Engineer bursaries, launched earlier this year. Twelve awards, worth £5,000 a year for up to four years, have been granted to women students from low-income households progressing from A Level, Scottish Highers or technical education courses to university education in the 2021/22 academic year.

The awardees are:

· Samina Bibi, Computer Science, University of St Andrews

· Kirsty Balfour, Computer Science with Mathematics, University of Glasgow

· Finlay Harris, Electronic and electrical engineering, University of Strathclyde

· Neve Hoccom, Computer Science, University of Exeter

· Charlotte Lawrence, Computer Science, Lancaster University

· Eleanor MacCarthy, Creative Computing, Goldsmiths, University of London

· Neda Naseer, Computer Science, University of Reading

· Vanessa Neboh, Computer Science, King’s College London

· Liliana Odjo, Computer Science, University of Warwick

· Islam Salih, Electrical and Electronic Engineering, University of Manchester

· Sadia Wahid, Computing, Imperial College London

· Ellie White, Computer Science with Cyber Security, University of York

The awardees will be offered mentoring from Amazon leaders for a minimum of six months to support them at a formative stage in their professional career. The mentors will help students overcome roadblocks while providing invaluable guidance and career advice. Awardees will also be invited to networking and training events at Amazon and the Royal Academy of Engineering, and have access to a community forum providing a peer-to-peer network.

Women are still significantly underrepresented in engineering and technology in higher education. UCAS data on university application and acceptance figures for the 2020 cycle highlighted that women represent just 16% and 18% of accepted applications to computing and engineering degrees respectively. At the current rate of progress, parity of women in engineering degrees will not be achieved until 2085.

Dr Rhys Morgan, Director of Education at the Royal Academy of Engineering, said: “I am absolutely delighted that, following an extremely competitive process, we have been able to offer these awards to 12 inspirational young women who have all demonstrated a drive and passion for computing and engineering, as well an understanding of how innovation and creativity in their chosen fields can help solve some of the world’s greatest challenges. They are terrific examples of the talent that exists in schools and colleges across the UK, and we will continue to support and encourage them, and others like them, to enter careers in engineering, computing and technology. Our profession and the communities we serve will be the beneficiaries.”

Lauren Kisser, Director at Amazon’s Development Centre in Cambridge: “We welcome these twelve fantastic students onto our new Amazon Future Engineer bursary scheme, which will help more women become the innovation leaders of the UK. More needs to be done to encourage women to enter these fields and break down the barriers which some students face. The Amazon Future Engineer bursary scheme is just one of the ways that we are helping to increase the representation of women in the UK innovation economy and exciting careers in computer science.”