Engineering Pioneer – Meet Dr Sarah Ingle

Dr Sarah Ingle- a trailblazer from a young age – and the first woman ever to graduate from Production Engineering in DIT Bolton St – talks about life as Secretary General at the Association of Consulting Engineers of Ireland.

Did you always want to be an engineer?

I was very young doing the Leaving Certificate, only 16.  I really liked Maths and Physics in school and I was the first in my extended family on both sides to go to college.  I had two main ideas in mind for third-level, engineering and psychology.  I figured I could probably go back to study psychology but it would be difficult to start engineering as a mature student.  There was an opportunity in DIT Bolton St to undertake a preliminary engineering course before starting the degree, so after I completed that I knew that engineering was the direction I definitely wanted to take.  In third year, I chose the production engineering option because I liked the idea of being able to work with people to utilise technology and systems in a manufacturing context.  I ended up being the first woman ever to graduate as a Production Engineer in Bolton St.

Any fears of entering a male-dominated industry?

At that time it wasn’t a fear, more a fact of life, but yes, it was very strange at first as I arrived from an all-girls convent school.  In the preliminary engineering course I was the only female in a class of 22 but once I got over the first year I was used to it.  Bolton St was a very male-oriented college as it was a training ground for construction and other apprentices including fitters and block layers.

I didn’t think of the gender dominance aspect too much when I started in industry.  My first job was in manufacturing for Fruit of the Loom in Buncrana, Co. Donegal. They took on four graduate industrial engineers to work for them at the time, 2 men and 2 women.  On the factory floor, it was mostly female workers, but senior managers were men and a lot of the supervisors were women. I moved on then to work for AT&T working in telecommunication systems and again there were a lot of women on the shop floor and the managers and engineers were all mostly men.  This was just a normal part of life for me at the time.

Did it grate that men were predominantly in the managerial positions?

At that time no, because I wasn’t thinking that I should be up there.  Later in my career, it would have.  When I worked in a university it became clear it was mostly men who were getting the senior roles and often men doing the hiring didn’t even realise their unconscious bias in many ways, for example, that even the way the job specifications were being written were often discriminatory.  I have seen first-hand how difficult it is for women to get promoted with the same qualifications as men.

Is that changing?

The situation is changing a bit now because it has had to.  Some organisations, including the Irish government, are bringing in gender quotas.  To give another example, AECOM has thousands of employees all over the world and they invited me and others to an event to discuss the issue of promoting women in construction. We asked the organisers why they were doing this, and the answer they gave was to support and encourage women in the construction industry, partly as a result of the reaction to a photograph in AECOM’s recent annual report.  The photograph depicted all their Irish senior managers in various, stylised standing poses which looked quite dynamic.  The managers were delighted with the proofs and inserted the photo in the annual report, but were not prepared at all for the strong reaction from their own colleagues and outside stakeholders. The management team was comprised of white, middle-aged men and thus the photo was not representative of AECOM employees in Ireland.

I’ve experienced similar biases on a number of occasions, for example with reviewing, judging and speaking panels comprised of all men and it’s just not helpful.  Research clearly shows that diversity in the boardroom allows for better decision making and ultimately an improved bottom line.  In my current role, I try and ensure that there is a variety of voices and inputs for our training and other events as much as possible.  Not just in terms of gender, but also youth and other nationalities and cultures.  For example, ACEI has a leadership course running at the moment and out of the 12 presenters involved, four of them are women which would be unusual.

How can you entice more women into the industry?

The industry has changed a lot, in ways that will definitely facilitate more women entering the construction sector.  Twenty years ago it was all very much muddy boots and hard hats and having to work on sites with scruffy portacabins with inappropriate posters or calendars up on the wall. There were cases where companies just wouldn’t send their female colleagues out into a site as it wouldn’t be safe.

Now there is a lot more collaboration with other disciplines, so engineers are working much more side by side, and on teams, with related professions including architects, designers, surveyors and others.  A lot of this collaboration can take place virtually as well because of the technology now available.  One huge advance is the increasing usage of Building Information Modelling (BIM), where the data and information for a construction project is provided all together in one online location. In this scenario, accuracy is greatly increased and waste costs are greatly reduced.

It’s important as well to emphasise women’s skills in communication which are important for the industry.  They should also be encouraged to learn about the exciting new technology available and how they can be part of constructing a bridge, for example, in order to connect people from A to B.  Emphasising the societal impact of what is being achieved is crucial in this regard.

How did lecturing compare to engineering?

It’s a very different environment, universities are slow moving institutions and decisions often take a long time to get made.  It’s a very formal structure at third-level, and hierarchical, but when I was lecturing I had quite a lot of control over how I undertook the work in order to meet the requirements, and that flexibility was very helpful.  Overall it was a great privilege to be able to help encourage and shape the leaders of the future and learn from them as well.

One aspect of my academic research was in the area of business incubation and how best to support start-up businesses in Ireland.  I was privileged to be presented with a Fulbright Scholar award to research this area in Arizona State University in Phoenix, AZ, USA.  I spent about five months there with my family which was a really mind-opening experience from both professional and personal perspectives.   I originally undertook research for my PhD in Dublin City University (DCU), then had part-time lecturing roles, followed by a full-time lectureship, and eventually moving into a senior lecturing role. For the five years previous to joining ACEI in 2015 I was DCU’s Director of Quality Promotion

Your job involves a certain amount of travel. Do you enjoy this aspect of the role?

Yes, I enjoy the travelling as it enables me to meet my counterparts in other countries and get to know them better, as well as learning more about the consulting engineering sector worldwide.  I would encourage young people especially, where possible, to take any travel opportunities that open up for them.  It’s somewhat of a cliché but travel definitely broadens your mind and enables you to appreciate different cultures.  You can make assumptions about people if you haven’t lived with them, or socialised with them, and I think it’s really important for our global society to encourage mutual understanding.  I had the privilege of being able to travel in my previous job too, and it’s great to be able to continue this in ACEI.

What does your typical day look like?

It’s very varied. I could be sticking labels on name badges in the morning, facilitating a training course in the afternoon and talking to a government minister in the evening.  I’m a member of a few ACEI sub-committees, as well as being the co-ordinator for all of the governance activities which involves a lot of attention to detail.  As well as that, ACEI is the voice of the consulting engineering profession in Ireland, so I could be writing or editing opinion pieces and letters to the media on behalf of the association or lobbying government representatives on a variety of issues.  I am also responsible for the management of subscriptions and other funds, and as a small business manager, I have to ensure that income and expenditure is properly accounted for and audited as well as keep up to date with the requirements of the Companies Registration Office.

What are your hobbies?

I really enjoy going to the theatre and cinema and I’m a soprano member of a choir which is a great way to escape.  During the 1.5 hours per week of rehearsals, and the performances, you forget about everything and are there, in the moment, with the music.