Join us, November 20 & 21, 2025
ONWiE Summit & 20th Anniversary Celebration!
Sponsored by:
Students, Outreach Champions, Engineering Faculty and Leaders, Industry Partners and Allies will gather to celebrate successes and encourage each other to chart a course towards greater inclusion in Engineering!
Keynote Address from Kirsty Duncan
THE EXCLUSION EFFECT: HOW THE SCIENCES DISCOURAGE GIRLS & WOMEN & WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT
As a newly minted PhD in medical geography, Kirsty Duncan led an international expedition to remote Svalbard, Norway to search for the cause of the deadly 1918 influenza. What should have been a rewarding intellectual adventure turned out to be an unwanted baptism into the unbridled sexism and privilege of the scientific community. Ever since, she has devoted herself to the support of girls and women in scientific endeavours.
While women have come a long way in science, there is still far to go. They remain under-represented, under-paid, under-published, and under the shadows of male scientists who are assumed, without evidence, to have innate capacities that women lack. Duncan identifies systemic biases in the assessment of girls’ abilities and the teaching of science in the home, the classroom, our communities, and professional life. She makes a powerful argument for cultural and institutional change to ensure girls and women their rightful place in the scientific community.
Registration
Registration is now closed.
- Faculty and staff associated with a Canadian Faculty of Engineering; Non-profit and charity representatives: Thursday and Friday morning Summit events and Thursday gala: $300
- Industry representatives: Thursday gala and Friday afternoon: $400
- Thursday night Gala only: $120
- Student: Full Summit, gala and Friday afternoon: $75
- Student: Friday afternoon only: $20
Awards
To celebrate ONWiE’s 20th anniversary, we will be presenting the following awards:
- Student Impact Award: Awarded to a student-led initiative that has demonstrated outstanding impact in promoting diversity and inclusion within engineering.
- Outreach Innovation Award: Awarded to a single outreach workshop or activity that exemplifies excellence in engaging youth introduced a fresh, creative, or unconventional approach to STEM engagement.
- Research Impact Award: Awarded to a Canadian research paper or presentation within the last five years that significantly contributes to knowledge and practices in EDI or engineering outreach.
- Inclusive Engineering Employer Award: Awarded to an engineering employer demonstrating exceptional commitment to equity, diversity, and inclusion in the workplace.
- Allyship in Action Award: Awarded to an individual who has actively and consistently championed equity and inclusion within engineering, especially by supporting underrepresented communities.
The application deadline for award nominations has passed.
Venue
The Summit will be hosted on McMaster University Campus, in the Loft space at The Hub.
McMaster Parking Lot "C" provides the closest visitor parking.
Accommodations
Hamilton has lots of hotels ranging from economy to luxury. Listed hotels are closest to the ONWiE Summit location of McMaster’s Main Campus (1280 Main St W, Hamilton).
- Visitors Inn: Visitors Inn Hotel Hamilton Ontario
- Staybridge Suites: ihg.com
- The Laundry Rooms: thelaundryrooms.ca/location/hamilton
- The Admiral Inn: admiralinn.com/hamilton
- The Barracks Inn: thebarracksinn.com
If you are a student interested in billeting with a McMaster Women in Engineering Student please email the Women in Engineering Club at wes@mcmaster.ca with the email subject of “ONWiE Summit Accommodations”.
Program
Thursday, November 20, 2025
9:30 Registration Opens
Welcome and ONWiE updates
Past, present and future panelVal Davidson, Mary Wells, Kim Jones, and Lauren Tribe
Engineers Canada: flashback and flash forward Jeanette Southwood
Announcing the Forward Engineering Collective Kim Bouffard
Networking (Q: What do you bring to our mission and vision?)
12:00 Lunch
1:00 From Puddles to Pipelines - How To Be A Ladder, Lamp, or Lifeboat for Women in STEM Stephanie Thompson
Bringing STEM to Life with k2i academy: Equity, Innovation, and Impact Lisa Cole, Michelle Tsui-Woods, Vanessa Ironside
STEMflower: Expanding Access to Equity-Based STEM Learning Andrea Hemmerich, Ahmad Al-Jabi, Rylee McKay, Dawoud Naseem, Robyn Roy (Lauren Seto), Jackson Yu
Networking (How can you work with community?)
2:00 Movement break and coffee
2:45 Best practices for inclusive outreach Kim Jones
Enriching Community Engagement via Student Partnership in McGill's Faculty of Engineering Barry Stewart
Inclusive Outreach Pilot at Western Engineering Outreach Jessica Monaghan, Georgia Trifon-Morgan & Lauren Hollis
Full STEAM Ahead: The Future of Outreach Minakshi Suri, Nika Momeni
4:00 Tours Choose from: Planetarium, Nuclear Reactor, Engineering Spaces on McMaster Campus or Canadian Centre for Electron Microscopy or explore campus on your own.
5:30 Gala Registration
6:00 Gala Begins
ONWiE: 20 years of success Susan Tighe
Keynote Address: THE EXCLUSION EFFECT: HOW THE SCIENCES DISCOURAGE GIRLS & WOMEN & WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT Dr. Kirsty Duncan
7:30 Award Ceremony
Friday, November 21, 2025
8:15 Breakfast Available
8:30 Nathalie Provost, Secretary of State (Nature) (Secretary of State), and survivor of the 1989 École Polytechnique massacre, will be joining us for a presentation
9:00 OUAC application patterns Kim Jones
Longitudinal Study of Grade Distribution Changes and Gender Achievement Gaps in Senior STEM Courses at Ontario Secondary Schools Sara Cormier and Mary Wells
Designing for Inclusion: How Activity Formats Shape Participation Patterns in Engineering Activities Mary Robinson and Chris Rennick
Illuminating the Shadows of Engineering Education: A Black Queer Feminist Perspective Dimpho Radebe
Inclusive Teamwork: Learnings from the E-IDEA Teamwork Program Renée Pellissier
10:15 Break
10:30 Engineering Beyond Limits, Inclusive Engineering Toolkit Eve Langelier
Inclusive by Design: Practical Strategies for Creating Equitable Engineering Classrooms Nerissa Mulligan
McMaster Women in Engineering (WIE) Alumni Outreach Rhiannon Vu and Julia Pona
11:15 Table discussion: what next for ONWiE?
11:45 Wrap up
Lunch (YWCA focus groups: limited space)
Afternoon:
Student/Industry:
Talk: best practices for inclusive hiring
Table discussions: what makes a company appealing to a diversity of students?
Panel (or lightning talks?): Co-op/internship professionals sharing non-inclusive student issues (and success stories)
Table discussions: inclusive practices in industry
Lightning talks: student affinity club best practices
Table discussions: supporting inclusive student activities
Networking time!
Sponsorship/Industry Participation
Participants from industry will have an afternoon specifically to learn about best practices in inclusive hiring and retention, with plenty of opportunities to network with current women engineering students. Your participation gives you access to the resumes of students who attend the Summit and exposure for your employer.
By sponsoring ONWiE’s 20th Anniversary Summit, you demonstrate your active commitment to equity, diversity, and inclusion—both within your organization and in the broader community.
Join us in celebrating two decades of progress and help shape the future of engineering by empowering the next generation of diverse leaders.
We offer a range of sponsorship levels to suit your goals and budget. Let’s work together to create meaningful impact.