On the 9th of November we celebrated 120 years of female engineers in The Netherlands and 20 years Marina van Damme grant.
We gathered in de Vrijhof on the campus of the University of Twente, and started by singing ‘happy birthday’ to Mrs. van Damme. A nice gesture to commemorate the fact that the symposium was originally scheduled to celebrate her 90th birthday.
During the day, we had six Marina van Damme grant awardees who shared personal stories about their diverse careers. The overall take home message was “DARE”. Dare to try new things even when they are risky, dare to embark on new adventures, dare to embrace the future possibilities, dare to have a different opinion, dare to step into the spotlight, and dare to address the difficulties that can make a difference for your community.
We also honored three female engineers that have left their marks on Dutch history. We listened to the life stories of Marie Bes and Frida Eversmann, the first female engineers to graduate from Delft and Wageningen, which marked the start of 120 years female engineers. The third engineer was honored by a laudation, praising Louise O. Fresco not only as an engineer and leader of the field of nutrition and agriculture, but also as a ‘force of nature’.
Each of these three remarkable women contributed to academia and society and are, alongside Marina van Damme, honored in the ‘Marina van Damme Orchard – orchard in honor of female engineers’ located at the University of Twente. A beautiful movie by our Marina van Damme network member, Klaudie Bartelink, was shown as a tribute to Mrs. van Damme’s philosophy and to reveal the new trees in the orchard. You can watch the movie on YouTube.
Together with a panel of four experts we discussed how we could contribute to societal transitions. With four case studies based on the panels expertise, the audience was challenged with dilemmas in the fields of food, energy, healthcare, and climate and actively involved in the discussions. About making essential, but hard, choices, engineering our way out of scarcity, working together and daring to look beyond your own responsibilities. We concluded the day with celebratory drinks in honor of female engineers.
We are looking forward to welcome you at our next edition in Eindhoven!
Pictures: Frans Nikkels, UT
