Meet our Engineers

WOMEN IN STEM

Women have been underrepresented in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) for years.

In the UK women are in the minority in the STEM sector workforce, the percentage of women STEM employees has increased from 21% in 2016 to 24% in 2019. The gender split difference for engineering professionals ranks lowest with 10% women engineers in 2019 and science professionals much higher with 46% women.

Engineering is part of everybody’s lives and should be open to everyone. Together, NHSG and The Reece Foundation are widening access to careers in engineering. Gender stereotypes should not dictate the outcome of women’s career potential or the direction it takes. Engineers are helping solve some of the world’s biggest problems. By overlooking half of the population of potential engineers we are overlooking huge potential talent and restricting diversity of thought.

NHSG is uniquely placed to support the next generation of young female engineers and with thanks to The Reece Foundation we are able to offer the brightest and most able potential engineers access to an outstanding education without financial barriers. Together we are delivering their mission to improve access to education in engineering and prepare future engineers for a flourishing career in the field for the benefit of not just the North East but our global society.

The Reece Foundation

Alan Reece (1927 – 2012) stood in the grand tradition of northern-based engineers whose practical inventions brought commercial success and an international manufacturing reputation to the region.

Born in London, Reece attended Harrow School which he left during the second world war to become a tractor driver on a nearby farm before enrolling aged 17 at King’s College, Newcastle (now Newcastle University) to study mechanical engineering. His apprenticeship took place at the mighty Vickers-Armstrong works, once dubbed ‘the workshop of the world’ it was responsible for countless feats of engineering and industrial development.

With substantial industrial experience and a deeply embedded passion for engineering, Alan Reece returned to work at Newcastle University. He taught there for nearly 30 years, gaining a reputation as an encouraging teacher and imaginative researcher. His research led him to invent a pioneering subsea plough that cut the costs of installation and provided greater protection for subsea cables, increasing the reliability of international telephone connections and leading to a huge contract with the US construction and oil services giant Brown and Root.

The contract to design and build a complete subsea trenching machine in 1983 could not be accommodated under the university’s arrangements, then much less alive to the benefits of entrepreneurial spin-offs. At the age of 57, Reece reluctantly left to set up his own company, Soil Machine Dynamics (SMD), to deliver the project.

Starting with a three-person team operating from his front room, SMD turned over £100,000 in its first year and £1.5m in its second. Alan Reece was a pioneering engineer who had the rare ability to develop engineering ideas through to successful business enterprises. From the age of 57 through to his death at 85 in 2012 he built the highly successful Reece Group of innovative engineering companies, operating across the globe in defence, oil and gas, subsea

and road construction. An extraordinary man, Alan Reece was a gifted educator, innovative researcher, prolific inventor, pioneering entrepreneur and philanthropist. One of the most successful entrepreneur engineers of his generation, Alan was a passionate believer in engineering as a provider of prosperity and enjoyable employment and in 2007 set up the Reece Foundation to: ‘increase the long term and sustainable prosperity of the North East of England primarily through the promotion of engineering and manufacturing with a particular focus on the improvement of education in engineering and related scientific and mathematical subjects, training in engineering skills, and the development of employment opportunities’.

In 2011 Alan Reece was named the third biggest philanthropist in the UK, just before his death in 2012. His family has carried on running the family business as well as the Reece Foundation.

The Foundation has given millions of pounds to support engineering education and touched the lives of thousands of potential engineers. The Trustees feel that it is vital to encourage a new generation of engineers by supporting education in engineering and enterprise in the North East and we are proud to work in partnership with the Reece Foundation to continue to deliver Reece’s extraordinary vision for engineering education.

Every year at NHSG, we welcome applicants for our Reece Awards, Sixth Form bursary places for girls from maintained schools wishing to take a higher education course and pursue a STEM related career. If you know someone who would be interested in this opportunity, or you would like further information about making an application then please get in touch with our Admissions Manager Julia Howe at j.howe@ncl.gdst.net or on 0191 281 1768.