Robogals aims to increase female participation in engineering, science and technology through fun and educational initiatives aimed at girls in primary and secondary school.  The organisation has chapters at twelve universities across the world in Australia, New Zealand, UK and Ireland.

Over 40 members will attend this weekend’s conference.  The conference will focus on training for new executive committee members to ensure consistency and excellence across all Robogals chapters, setting goals and planning for the year ahead, sharing knowledge and experience and socialising with fellow Robogals to ensure a strong community is maintained.

In keeping with the Robogals mission of encouraging schoolgirls into engineering and science, Robogals-Bristol last term worked with 30 year six pupils from Cabot Primary School in St Pauls, Bristol.

Over five weeks they gave interactive presentations on a broad range of topics from careers in science to the work of engineers.  Additionally, they ran workshops involving LEGO robotics, house design, using Google Sketchup, and house building with the highly scientific tools of spaghetti and jelly babies.

Emma Crichton, President of Robogals-Bristol and a Civil Engineering student, said: “The infectious enthusiasm by the children at Cabot Primary School has fuelled us into a busy second term. 

“We are also very grateful for the funding received from the Faculty of Engineering, which will help us to work with more schools in the local area this year.”

Professor Nishan Canagarajah, Dean of the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Bristol, said: “Robogals is doing great things to inspire the next generation of women in science, engineering and technology.  The organisation is also showing how engineering improves lives and its importance to our society.”