ICWES19 – Shaping the Future

By Engineering New Zealand 11 Jan 2022

ICWES19 – Shaping the Future is taking place in New Zealand in September 2023. We’re currently looking for ten programme committees to develop the programme content.

About ICWES19

ICWES is the International Conference of Women Engineers and Scientists – a triennial conference of the International Network of Women Engineers and Scientists (INWES). ICWES19-Shaping the Future will be hosted by AWIS and Engineering New Zealand in Auckland in September 2023. The conference is a fantastic opportunity to share with the world our stories of success of women in science and engineering, and welcome others to share their expertise while exploring our shores.

The conference programme includes 3 days of in-person and online sessions, hosted in Auckland, and 2 days of in-person field trips, hosted throughout the country.

We’re currently looking for ten programme committees to develop the programme content. Each committee would have a Chair who reports back to the conference Organising Committee (OC).The programme includes keynote sessions and concurrent sessions. The concurrent programme content will be based around nine science themes and professional development workshops.

Key dates for involvement will be:

1 March 2022: Programme Committees Confirmed
31 March 2022: First Programme Committee Meeting
September 2022: Call for abstracts open
February 2023: Call for abstracts close
June 2023: Programme confirmed
September 2023: ICWES19

The conference is being organised by a Professional Conference Organiser (PCO), Conference Innovators, in association with the OC. The PCO will be responsible for administration around the programme, but not identification of and inviting speakers.

Theme programme committees

Each theme will have three sessions over the three days of the formal programme. Sessions are 2 hours long, with a potential mix of 15 minute and 30 minute talks. The formal programme will also include a poster session based around the themes. Most themes will also have an associated field trip in one region of New Zealand.

A theme programme committee will be responsible for:

Sharing conference information with own network to generate abstract submissions
Reading all abstracts received for the theme
Identifying speakers for the theme from received abstracts
Inviting speakers to present
Identifying organisations to be part of the field trip
Inviting organisations to be part of the field trip.

Once speakers and organisations have been identified, the PCO will take over the admin.

The themes are:

Protecting and restoring the natural environment
Enhancing liveability and urban transformation
Revolutionising mobility
Cleaning energy
Improving health and healthcare
Providing food security
Advancing technology
Protecting people
Ensuring diversity in STEM

Main programme committee

The main programme committee will be responsible for the main body of the programme and the professional development workshops. The programme includes four keynote sessions (90 minutes), three professional development workshops (2 hours) as part of the concurrent programme, a panel discussion (approx. 90 minutes) and a breakfast panel (approx. 2 hours) that will be made available for public attendance (ticketed).

The main programme committee will be responsible for:

Identifying keynote speakers from NZ and overseas
Inviting keynote speakers to present
Identifying topics and presenters for professional development workshops
Inviting presenters to run workshops
Setting panel discussion topics (breakfast panel and main panel)
Identifying and inviting presenters for panels

Some budget has been allocated for speaker travel and workshops.

Once speakers have been identified, the PCO will take over the admin.

Committee Chairs

Each Committee will have a Chair, who will convene and oversee their Committee, and ensuring the programme development deadlines are met. The Committee Chairs will also be responsible for regular reporting on progress to the other Chairs and the Conference Committee, and for asking for assistance from others in the wider organising team when required.