2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Female engineering academics in the Global South and North: An exploration of language of instruction, using Story Circles and Focus Groups

Presented at Liberal Education/Engineering & Society Division (LEES) Technical Session 5: Decoloniality and Indigenous Knowledges

Sustainable and inclusive development would benefit from an increase in female visibility and leadership in the field of engineering. Particularly in the Global South, engineering is crucial to development, and increasingly attractive to female students, but intersectional barriers restrict employment / career advancement. Our earlier research, published by ASEE in 2016 [1], looked at engineering project-work aimed at improving language skills, combining engineering students in the UK with peers in Gaza, an area which is facing daunting politico-humanitarian challenges. This research looks again at issues relating to the language of learning and teaching in the UK and Gaza, but this time focuses specifically on the experiences of female engineering faculty. A ‘Story Circles’ methodology [2] was adopted, in combination with follow-up focus groups. In these safe spaces, practices surrounding the use of English in engineering were explored, allowing academics to compare approaches and experiences. Though the study has been interrupted by the current war, results to date suggest that there are many more similarities than differences facing female academics in their respective regions. The research also offers methodological insights regarding the use of online Story Circles, and a basis for future work when peace returns.

The project on which this paper is based has been jointly funded by the British Council and was developed with their support, and by CUSP – Culture for Sustainable and Inclusive Peace Network Plus. CUSP is funded via UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) as part of the UK Government’s Global Challenges Research Fund, project number AH/T007931/1. The assistance of both funders is gratefully acknowledged.

Authors

Mrs. Amani A AL-Mqadma Islamic University of Gaza [biography]

Amani Al-Mqadma is a Council for At-Risk Academics fellow and a PhD candidate at Edinburgh University Business School. She is Head of International Relations at the Islamic University of Gaza, Palestine. Her research interest is in women’s empowerment and digital entrepreneurship in conflict contexts.
Dr. Bill Guariento University of Northumbria [biography]

I am Programme Leader for the BA English Language Studies at Northumbria University, UK. My main area of research lies in telecollaborative projects linking university students and staff in the Global North and South.
Dr. Caroline Burns http://orcid.org/0009-0004-4402-4538 Northumbria University [biography]

in Social Sciences at Northumbria University, UK. Her doctoral study was a narrative inquiry into staff and student experiences of Caroline is Assistant Professor in Social Sciences, specialising in Internationalisation of higher education. Her research interests centre on addressing social inequalities and within this, the role of language and intercultural communication, decolonial approaches to education and research, as well as gender and intersectionality.
Dr. Rachid Khoumikham Northumbria University Newcastle/ and The University of Essex [biography]

Co-author Rachid Khoumikham has worked as a research fellow in the school of Arts, Design, and Social Sciences at Northumbria University. His research focuses on language attitudes, language variation and change, and employability. He is currently a lecturer of Sociolinguistics at the University of Essex, UK.
Prof. Hatem A Elaydi Islamic University of Gaza [biography]

Hatem Elaydi has over 25 years of experience as professional educator and engineer. He is a Professor of Electrical Engineering at the Islamic University of Gaza, Palestine. He has been actively involved in numerous international projects, particularly Erasmus+ initiatives, focusing on areas such as sustainable peace, entrepreneurship in STEM, and improving governance practices in higher education. His research interests include renewable energy, females in engineering, and quality assurance and governance.

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For those interested in:

Broadening Participation in Engineering and Engineering Technology
gender
race/ethnicity
engineering