PES WiP Update: Events in PES GM, Power Africa and Science and Tech Forum

WiP Panel Session in IEEE PES General Meeting 2020

A virtual social session on the theme “Women in Power, to power the sustainable development” was organized at PES GM with 15 speakers (12 females and 3 males) on 4th August 2020 and Dr. Ruomei Li chaired the session. Following major issues were addressed in the four panel sessions:

  • Bright Prospects for WiP in IEEE PES Community
  • Women leadership in Power & Energy Industry
  • Promoting Women Engineers Around the world, for Green Future
  • Removing Barriers to the Growth of Women Engineers

There was a technical session on “Covid-19 Epidemic Impact on renewable energy development and solutions” with 7 speakers (4 females and 3 males) and Simay Akar chaired the session. Apart from an opening address, there was a keynote talk titled “Coping with the impact of Covid-19 on the development of renewable energy”.

A diverse set of speakers made valuable speeches and shared viewpoints on women’s development, which helps to highlight women role in promoting the SDGs in the field of electricity and energy and to improve the status of women, and inspire women leadership. WiP audaciously transformed the traditional social breakfast into a full social panel session, which is the first time in the history of WiP. The social panel session is unexpectedly successful. By strictly limiting the speech time to a few minutes, more speakers were given the opportunities to express their ideas. This is important recognition for the speakers and also inspiration for the attendees.

IEEE PowerAfrica 2020 PES Women in Power Panel Session

Another virtual Social Session on “Women in Power as Drivers of Social and Economic Transformation” was organized at IEEE Power Africa 2020 on 26th August with 5 speakers and Mercy Chelangat Koech chaired the session. There was a technical session titled “Women in Power Breaking the Glass Ceiling” with 5 speakers and Dr. Omowunmi Mary Longe was the moderator of that session.

Considering the industrial revolution, more power is needed. This necessitates the participation of every gender in an all-inclusive model. We should strive to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goal 7, which aims to ensure everyone has access to clean, modern, and affordable energy. It is important for women to take part in all the energy value chains. Women are the sole managers of energy resources, particularly in the developing world.

IEEE WiP/WIE & HTSW Science and Technology Forum

IEEE WiP/WIE & HTSW Science and Technology Forum was successfully held on 1st Nov. 2020 at Wuhan, China, which was jointly organized by IEEE PES WiP Wuhan Branch and IEEE WIE Wuhan Branch. The forum was divided into two sessions. The first session was on “IEEE Women in Engineering/Women in Power: Promoting Women Engineers through Technical Approaches of IEEE” with and “IEEE Humanitarian Technology Session of Wuhan: Humanitarian Technology and Actions for the Challenge of COVID 19 “(HTSW). Both sessions had eight speakers and offered opening addresses, keynote talks, and panel sessions. The forum discussed challenges and career development plans for women in engineering and science, as well as the tremendous contribution electrical workers, have made to ensuring power stability during COVID-19.

Dr. Ruomei Li
Chair of WiP of IEEE PES (2019-2021)
WIP Liason in IEEE WIE Committee