Two Lancaster University students have been selected to take part in a new programme, launched by Santander UK, dedicated to supporting female engineering students at universities across the country.

Hannah Burford and Karen Ma were picked to take part in the inaugural ‘STEMships’ programme, launched by Santander UK, which is dedicated to supporting female engineering students at universities across the country.

The initiative aims to support and incentivise more women to embark on a career in the UK engineering industry and responds to the skills shortage challenge currently facing the country’s engineering sector.

The 30 up-and-coming women engineers were announced by Santander UK’s CEO Nathan Bostock and ambassador Jenson Button at the 2019 Formula Student global competition at Silverstone last weekend.

Santander Universities’ inaugural ‘STEMships’ programme aims to break down the barriers for women entering the engineering industry by providing aspiring female engineer students with the dedicated tools, resources and opportunities needed to succeed in the industry post university.

The 30 students will embark on a two-year support programme which offers: a £1,500 scholarship; an overseas experience at a leading engineering institution; unique networking events with prominent female leaders in the industry; membership to the Women’s Engineering Society; and mentorship and internship schemes through Santander’s wider networks.

Hannah, from Emsworth in Hampshire, is an MEng Hons Mechanical Engineering student, who has just completed her second year at Lancaster.

She said: “'I am so grateful to be one of the first recipients of the Santander Universities STEMship. The programme will provide me with so many amazing educational, leadership and networking opportunities and help me further my career, encouraging more women into engineering.”

During the launch event at Silverstone, Hannah said she was able to listen to a panel discussion with prominent women in engineering together with Jenson Button, who has a passion to see more women in Formula One racing.

Karen, currently in her home country of Singapore, has just completed the first year of an Electronic and Electrical Engineering BEng Hons at Lancaster.

Unable to attend the ceremony at Silverstone, she said: “This STEMship means that I can better contribute to the Engineering Society and initiate more stimulating projects. I am interested to see how much I can grow personally from this amazing opportunity. The better a person becomes, the less time she will take to achieve her goals.”

Head of Lancaster University’s Engineering Department Professor Claudio Paoloni said: “I am grateful to Santander for the outstanding STEMship programme to encourage more women to study Engineering. I am so delighted with the STEMship award to Hannah and Karen, two of our most brilliant students.”

Director of Santander Universities UK Matt Hutnell commented: “We’re thrilled to be launching our unique STEMships to support and inspire the next generation of women engineers from across the UK.

“Having worked closely with Formula Student teams across our partner universities, we recognise the challenges facing female engineering students as they look to embark on careers in the industry. We hope the programme will support them with their career ambitions.”

Santander Universities funds eleven of the Formula Student teams competing teams as part of its overall initiatives to inspire the next generation of engineers and encourage the study of STEM subjects. Since 2007, Santander Universities has invested £80m in supporting UK students and universities.