About the Event
Join Helen Musgrove from Lexxic will be in conversation with Jane Petit, CEO of Foothold, Ishbel Inkster, Director of Employee Engagement at Neptune Energy and Martin Griffin, Senior Mining Geotechnical Engineer.
Join us to find out more about neurodiversity, and why recruiting and empowering neurodivergent talent is key to addressing the sector’s skills challenges and increasing diversity, productivity, innovation and employee engagement.
The panel will discuss:
Why it is important for the sector to become more neuro-inclusive, and how the panellists’ organisations are approaching this challenge.
Why there is a good fit between the skill requirements of the sector, and the strengths often associated with neurodiversity.
The experiences of neurodivergent individuals in the sector.
How Foothold’s Differently Wired Hub and Engineering Neurodiverse Futures Programme (funded by Neptune Energy) are supporting neurodivergent engineering students, apprentices, graduates and professionals to access and succeed in the profession.
How organisations in the sector can attract more neurodivergent apprentices and graduates, and set them up for success.
Panel Chair | Helen Musgrove
Helen Musgrove is Director of Psychological Consulting at Lexxic. Lexxic is a specialist psychology consultancy delivering assessment and support services to neurodivergent talent and partnering with organisations to help them become more neuro-inclusive. Helen became a business psychologist following a career as a Senior Civil Servant tackling some of the UK’s biggest social policy challenges. She is passionate about celebrating neurodiversity and breaking down the barriers neurodivergent individuals can experience at work.
Ishbel Inkster
Director of Employee Experience at Neptune Energy, Ishbel has a global role supporting all aspects of employee engagement, reward, talent, HRIS and HR operations – making Neptune a great, safe, place to work for everyone. Prior to Neptune she has held a number of global HR roles, working internationally, in companies including General Electric, Wood Group and Hewlett Packard. She holds a first-class honours degree in Business Studies and a postgraduate diploma in Human Resource management and outside of work uses her time to mentor others and support local charities.
Jane Petit
Jane is the CEO of the global charity Foothold, The Institution of Engineering and Technology Benevolent Fund, which strives to increase the well-being of engineers and their families worldwide. Formally a nurse of 25 yrs and with a strong history of working with national and local charities, one of Jane’s key strengths is matching the needs of the community she is serving with the aspirations of funders and developing solutions that support both. At Foothold this has led to the development of the Wellbeing Hub in partnership with Matchtech which supports the health and well-being of engineers and their families. Working with Neptune Energy, the “Differently Wired Hub” focuses on the needs of neurodivergent engineers and those who support, employ or care about them and provides specific assistance through the “Funding Neurodiverse Futures” programme for engineering students and apprentices who feel they may be neurodivergent and are struggling to fund a diagnosis.
Martin Griffin
Martin Griffin is a UK-based Senior Mining Geotechnical Engineer who is a chartered engineer and a chartered geologist and works for the international multidisciplinary niche consultancy Knight Piésold in their London office. He is neurodivergent (autistic dyslexic and dyspraxic) and registered as disabled by being visually impaired. He is the current Vice President for Equity, Diversity and inclusion for the Geological Society of London. Martin is a passionate, focused, tireless award-winning EDI Champion and Advocate, since 2013 in the geoscience and engineering sectors, acting as a presenter, advisor, mentor, and is a frequent LinkedIn blogger on all aspects of EDI, disability and neurodiversity in the workplace and society.
Colin McDermid
Apprenticeship Manager at Centrica - More details coming soon!