Women in Aeronautics

The aeronautics trip was an incredibly inspirational experience that deepened my understanding of women in STEM and the profound impact they can have on the world. I particularly   appreciated the opportunity to engage in group tasks and collaborative problem-solving during the workshops and lectures. Contributing ideas and working as part of a team not only enhanced my critical thinking but also fostered a sense of support and shared purpose. The university tour was another highlight of the trip, offering a glimpse into university life and the amount of possibilities it presents.

I was especially impressed by the university's high-tech features, which demonstrated that innovation knows no bounds and that with determination, anything is achievable. Listening to talks from professors and current university students was both insightful and motivating. Their stories about life after sixth form and the challenges and opportunities of pursuing higher education   inspired me to envision my own academic and career journey. These discussions also gave me the confidence to believe that, with hard work and determination, I too can accomplish great things.   

Sofia N

During Imperial College's Women in Aeronautics and Engineering workshop, we explored some engineering and mathematical concepts, including basic design principles and we learnt about the journeys of the students and their life at Imperial.

The day began with a tour of the campus, where we explored the state-of-the-art facilities and visited the Full Motion Flight Simulator which replicates real-world flight conditions, allowing pilots or students to experience realistic scenarios such as take-offs, landings, and turbulence in a controlled environment.

Afterwards, we sat through a very interactive and engaging lecture which explored some engineering and mathematical concepts, including basic design principles.  Then, in smaller groups, we used basic materials and a small generator to construct turbines, experimenting with different blade shapes, angles, and configurations to optimise energy output.

It was a fascinating way to apply theoretical knowledge to a practical challenge, and the collaborative atmosphere made the experience even more engaging, allowing us to  work on our problem-solving and teamwork skills. This was a very valuable and memorable experience and there's so much we took from the workshop, especially the  students’ talks about their academic journeys and application processes, and it was great to explore different fields within Engineering.      

Tamina & Tara

This workshop has been inspirational and a really good experience which gives us an insight to the types of topics that we would do for aeronautical engineering. Since we both would like to take this course at university it has been a great opportunity to get a feel for university life.

We   particularly enjoyed making wind turbines as we have   expanded our knowledge about this topic which we are passionate about and it has helped us to develop a different point of view in physics as a whole. We now know the factors which help in making a successful aerofoil which are: angle of attack, thickness and camber. Furthermore, we looked at theoretical and experimental models and an overview of aeronautics including the key skills  required to be successful in the course.

Overall, this workshop has been an incredible and fun experience, and we are grateful for everything that the volunteers have taught us. 

Paola and Olivia.

The several lectures and workshops we did during our visited were all led by Clarizze Cuntapay. While most of these were heavily based on aeronautics, planes, and turbines, we also got to learn ideas presented in other fields of     engineering (and just engineering in general), such as theoretical/experimental models and “fitting” a mathematical model (a line graph) to the data you take post-experiment.

In our aeronautics workshop, we learnt about aerofoils (the cross-section of a plane wing) and their features, such as the angle of attack, thickness and camber line. After learning about these, we got 20 minutes to make our own turbines out of cardboard and learnt that specific shapes and curves in a turbine blade can determine how well they’ll work.                         

Claribelle C

I personally found the aeronautics trip very interesting since it opened my eyes to future career and study opportunities within physics. We learned mathematical skills and theory behind aircraft design which I found extremely fascinating. For the practical aspect we designed wind turbines. I found it so fun to work in a group and use the skills we had just learnt. Overall, it was a great experience that I would love to do again.           

Sophie A