Youth Event

1st August 2023

REflect 2023 - London

People from global ethnic majorities (GEM) are under-represented in STEM fields. With technology increasingly touching most aspects of our lives, it’s of the utmost importance that there is diversity in engineering to ensure that it serves everyone in our society.

The event aims to inspire young people from diverse ethnic backgrounds into STEM. It's an in-person & online event in London on 1st August 2023.
Our young attendees, aged 16-25, will hear from inspirational role models to learn about their journeys into engineering and technology, the barriers that they had to overcome and the amazing projects they’re working on now.

What you can expect:
Main stage speakers | Q+A sessions | Tech Exhibits | Career Stands | Resources to take first steps into STEM | Interactive Activities | Networking Fun!

REflect is in collaboration with the RS Grass Roots is the dedicated Education brand of RS Group, the Association For Black & Minority Ethnic Engineers (AFBE) and The Institution of Engineering & Technology (IET).

If you can see it, you can be it!

Event Schedule:
2.15pm – Open from George Imafidon then hear from; Mohammed Taher, Krystina Pearson-Rampeearee, Ama Frimpong & Navjot Sawhney
3.45pm – Break, head to @weareRSgroup on social media to see behind the scenes from our roving reporter Dr. Shini Somara.
4.45pm – Hear from; Biiftuu Aba-Godu, James Dornor, Jo Da Silva, Veena Kumari.
6.30pm – Event close

WATCH ONLINE HERE

Youth Session

The Speakers

Mohammad Taher

Aerodome Systems Specialist at Heathrow Airport

If you've ever flown out of Heathrow Airport, Mohammad has had an impact on your journey. Having graduated with an Aerospace Engineering Degree, he is now the Aerodrome Systems Specialist for the UKs busiest and biggest airport. His role makes him the subject matter expert for the electrical systems necessary to maneuver aircraft around the airfield. As well as his day job, Mohammad is enthusiastic about educating future generations about the aviation industry, and he has built an online community across various platforms with over 450,000 people, where he shares insights into the industry to spark curiosity in the hearts of the next generation. He is also a motivational speaker and educator, delivering talks and workshops across the country including venues such as Google, TedX and the London Excel.

Krystina Pearson-Rampeearee

Engineering Team Lead at BAE Systems

Krystina Pearson-Rampeearee is a multi-award winning Chartered Engineer and STEM Ambassador who works as an Engineering Team Lead at BAE Systems and owns her own small business, AviateHer. She studied Aerospace Systems Engineering at the University of the West of England and became the first engineer in her family. She is passionate about encouraging and inspiring more young people to consider STEM careers.

Ama Frimpong

Head of Product Development

Ama is Head of Product Development at 52 North Health Ltd, where she leads the company’s engineering teams developing NeutroCheck, a low-cost, portable device that helps identify cancer patients at risk of a life-threatening medical emergency. She is a multi-award-winning engineer including being named the 2022 Young Woman Engineer of the Year by the Institution of Engineering and Technology and Top 50 Women in Engineering (Inventors and Innovators) by the Women’s Engineering Society. Ama has spent her career at the forefront of healthcare innovations and has made significant contributions to the technical development of a wide range of products and processes. She is also passionate about advancing Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics in young people with a particular focus on girls and those from Global Ethnic Majority. She holds a PhD in Medical and Biological Engineering from the University of Leeds.

Navjot Sawhney

founder of The Washing Machine Project

Navjot Sawhney is the founder of The Washing Machine Project. Whether it's building lifesaving cookstoves in rural India, being a trustee of an international development charity, building clean water systems for an orphanage in Namibia or volunteering his time at a local homeless shelter for migrants in London, he has always been passionate about helping others, with a particular interest in International Development. The Washing Machine Project was founded in 2019 by British ex-Dyson, Engineer Navjot Sawhney. After leaving Dyson, he moved to South India to make cookstoves with Engineers Without Borders UK, where he met his neighbour Divya. Divya's struggle with everyday tasks inspired Navjot to find a solution. He promised her a washing machine, and he developed the first prototype when he returned home. Since then, The Washing Machine Project has conducted ethnographic research in 17 countries, interviewing over 3,000 families, including Uganda, Jamaica, Nepal, India and the Philippines, to gain insight into their washing tendencies. The Washing Machine Project has partnered with some of the most prominent international NGOs, such as UNCHR, Save The Children, Oxfam, Care International and Plan International.

Biiftuu Aba-Godu

Graduate Mechanical Design Engineer at Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team

Biiftuu Aba-Godu began her journey into the motorsport and automotive industries after gaining a passion for engineering and cars during her secondary school years in North London. She went on to study a Masters’ degree in Automotive Engineering at the University of Leeds, winning the ‘IMechE Best Project’ award for her project on chassis design for the Leeds Gryphon Racing team. In addition to experience across a number of automotive companies, she volunteers as a STEM Ambassador and is an advisory board member for RC Vision - a social venture focused on bridging the diversity gap in STEM through radio controlled car racing.

James Dornor

Systems Engineer & Driven By Us - Founder

James has a combination of 12-years experience combined working across automotive & motorsport industries, using his expertise he has founder one of the first ethnic minority community club to be recognised by Motorsport UK - "Driven By Us" Driving Change with real action. In his previous role he was responsible for maintaining all on and off car electronics & systems on a wide range of F1 cars driven by Sir Lewis Hamilton MBE. He featured in the Hamilton Commission report & smart video report as well as speaking on BBC Radio 5 Live about the state of diversity in F1 in 2021. He supports several STEM outreach initiatives in his free time and this year has focused on forming a community network of likeminded folks within the motorsport & F1 space. He is an advocate for ED&I and supports the internal Accelerate 25 program as a volunteer. He's an AFBE-UK Executive Board voluntary working within the Industry Engagements subgroup focusing across the whole engineering sector bringing expertise as well as accessibility to automotive & motorsport as primary focus for the community. Finally, he’s a passionate qualified STEM ambassador and conducts in person and remote interactive sessions across the educational system across the UK as well as mentoring within AFBE-UK the next generation of engineers.

Joseph Da Silva

Chief Information Security Officer at RS Group

Joseph Da Silva is the Chief Information Security Officer at RS Group and helps both the organisation and its customers to understand and address cyber-security risk while enabling continued business growth. He has created, led and developed teams for many different types of business. As well as holding professional security industry qualifications, he has an honours degree in Biochemistry and has just completed his PhD studies part-time at Royal Holloway, University of London. He is of mixed heritage, with both Guyanese and Irish parentage, and is passionate about making the world of cyber security, and business, both more ethnically, and more socioeconomically, diverse. In particular, he is a strong supporter of mentoring and coaching that enables social mobility.

Veena Kumari

Group Network & Security Engineer

A Group Network and Security Engineer currently based within the Cyber Security industry, Veena works on a mission critical network, to provide a 24x7 service for her company, to keep their employees and customers safe and secure from Cyber threats and attacks. She is involved in everything from design, testing and implementation of a cutting edge and digital age transformational programme, to improve and implement next-gen systems and infrastructure security. to enhance software defined technology. Since she started studying as an undergraduate, Veena has been passionate about volunteering and became an advocate for STEM, continuing this into her graduate scheme. She later moved on to join the Young Rail Professionals as Regional Chair for the West midlands and Head of External Relations. This led her on to be part of the top 5 finalists for the IET’s 2022, Young Woman Engineer of the Year award!

Hayley Mulenda*

Speaker, Author and Change Agent

Hayley Mulenda is a Multi-Award Winning International Speaker, Author and Change Agent who has spoken to tens of thousands of people across the world sharing her story on how she turned her pain to purpose. After nearly taking her own life at the age of 18, Hayley realised how mental health issues are increasingly affecting millennials and she was passionate to do something about it. Hayley’s experience and insight makes her a credible voice for diversity and inclusion as well as mental health and well-being. From helping leaders bridge the gap with millennials and Gen-Zs to creating a safe space and mentoring hundreds of young people from diverse and lower socioeconomic backgrounds Hayley really is passionate to make a change.
*In person only

Your host

George Imafidon

CEO Motivez

George Imafidon is an award-winning humanitarian engineer and social impact leader from Peckham, South London. George's passion for sustainability and innovation is expansive. Named Young Engineer of the Year in 2022, he is CEO of Motivez, an organisation dedicated to supporting young people from underrepresented backgrounds to access opportunities, particularly within science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). George is also a Performance Engineer with Team X44, Sir Lewis Hamilton's electric race team, as well as a board member at The Hamilton Commission. He serves as a board member at the Co-op Foundation and active alumni of The Amos Bursary where he helped raised £1 million for the charity to expand their support for young people.

Your online host

Dr. Shini Somara

Mechanical Engineer, TV Broadcaster, Author & Podcaster.

Originally a qualified Mechanical Engineer, with a Doctorate in Fluid Dynamics, Dr. Shini Somara is now an established STEM media producer through her production company eSTEAMd Media . She shares her deep interest in innovation and science through authoring books, producing and hosting television programmes and digital content, and a podcast called eSTEAMd People. Dr. Somara is also experienced in hosting live events and mentoring Masters and PhD engineering students at Imperial College London and other academic institutions. Dr. Somara’s book entitled “Engineers Making a Difference” has been donated to all secondary state schools in the UK (over 16K copies) thanks to the generous support of Imperial College London and The Gatsby Foundation. Somara’s other titles have been published through Hachette and Pan Macmillan. Shini has spent almost two decades both in front and behind of camera presenting science, technology and innovation on the BBC, Channel 4, PBS Digital, Al Jazeera, Sky and UKTV. Shini was the host of the highly successful YouTube series called Crash Course Physics and Engineering, which has generated over 51 million views collectively since 2016. Dr. Somara has delivered talks at the United Nations and TEDx and is passionate about making STEM accessible to all and helping to promote diversity and inclusion and update the public perception of engineering.

Youth Partners

Motivez

Motivez is an ambitious youth-led organisation, founded in 2015, that empowers underserved young people in the UK to become local changemakers and access STEM jobs. To date, we have directly supported over 8,000 young people through our grassroots, employability and advocacy programmes. These initiatives are delivered with relatable young professionals from partner companies such as Google, Rolls-Royce, Salesforce and PwC. The work has been highly commended and supported by the late Her Majesty the Queen, Sir Lewis Hamilton MBE and Idris Elba OBE.

Find out more