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Women in Defence Charter – Strategy – Please click on the link to the left to view the WiDC Strategy.

Women in Defence Charter launch 30 by 30 ambition at DSEI.

Today, the Women in Defence Charter is revealing its new strategy, which sets the ambition of achieving a minimum of 30 per cent female representation at all levels across the defence sector by 2030.
Our more than 50 Charter signatories have committed to being the best at driving inclusion and
diversity within their organisations and providing fair opportunity for women to succeed in the UK
defence sector. Through our new strategy, we will work to support the sector in achieving a minimum
of 30 per cent female representation by 2030, acting as a resource of information, guidance, and best
practice, and drawing upon the expertise of our signatories.
The new 30 per cent by 2030 ambition will be supported by the Charter’s three strategic priorities of:
using data to inspire signatories to identify and set their own targets to improve gender diversity in
their organisations; developing the Charter community to bring together organisations committed to
improving gender diversity and inclusion; and leveraging both the data and the Charter Community to
drive policy and societal changes, to help improve gender diversity in the sector.
Baroness Goldie, Minister of State for Defence, said:
“I am delighted to support the launch of the 30 by 30 ambition. For the UK defence industry to
continue to be internationally competitive, we must ensure we are recruiting and developing
the very best future talent, which will enable success in domestic and international markets. A
balanced workforce is good for business, for our customers and our workplace cultures, and
for promoting prosperity and stability.”
Morag Stuart, Ministry of Defence Gender Co-Champion & Director Commercial Improvement,
Defence Equipment and Support (DE&S) said:
“The UK defence sector is working to achieve a substantial boost in female representation at
all levels across our sector, and our new 30 per cent by 2030 ambition demonstrates the
commitment signatories have to delivering real change and building back better post the
COVID-19 pandemic.”
Angela Owen, Women in Defence UK Co-Chair, described today’s launch as:
“30 by 30 is a rallying cry that sets a stretching but achievable ambition for many parts of the
defence sector and one we hope our signatories will adopt and work together to achieve. If
we are to reflect the society we serve, we need more women working at all levels in the
sector. The journey to 30 by 30 will help to make defence a better place where people can
work, learn and thrive.”

Samira Braund has been appointed Chief Executive Officer of the UK Defence Solutions Centre (UKDSC) with immediate effect.

The appointment was carried out following an open recruitment process under the governance of ADS, working with the Defence Growth Partnership (DGP)

The UKDSC was created in 2015 as part of an implementation plan for the DGP, and is jointly funded by Government and industry. As the independent centre of excellence of the DGP, the UKDSC is a unique team positioned to further deepen the partnership between the UK Government and the defence industry on identifying future capability requirements and supporting technology development to succeed in international markets.

Samira Braund’s roles at the UKDSC include Executive Director Operations from May 2018 to June this year, when she became Interim CEO. Her prior career includes roles with Serco at which she was seconded into MOD within the Defence Equipment and Support (DE&S).

Samira Braund said:

“I am delighted and honoured to lead the UKDSC at this exciting time, in support of the Defence Growth Partnership strategy in driving export led growth.

“Having worked in the UKDSC for more than five years as a member of the senior leadership team, I passionately believe in the UKDSC and what we can achieve as a collective, especially as we emerge from these challenging times and bounce back as an independent trading nation in support of Government and Industry’s international endeavours.”

Defence Growth Partnership Industry Co-Chair Andrew Cowdery said:

“The UK Defence Solutions Centre is playing an essential role in creating and sustaining knowledge and market intelligence to support UK MoD capability requirements and in building strong and enduring international partnerships across Government, Industry, Academia and overseas customers.

“I would like to congratulate Samira on her appointment, and I look forward to working with her in the further development of the UK Defence Solution Centre to deliver innovative defence solutions that achieve export led growth across the UK Defence sector. I would also like to thank Mark Barclay for his significant contribution as CEO and wish him every success for the future.”

Please click on the link below to access the newsletter for an update from Andrew Cowdery, DGP Industry Co-Chair.

https://sway.office.com/yEFIIBp19MIy9Ioc?ref=Link

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On Thursday 25th March, nominations opened for the Women in Defence UK 2021 Awards. Anyone working across the defence enterprise can be nominated.

Angela Owen OBE founded the group in 2011 as she realised that despite the thousands of women working in defence, they seemed to be too thinly spread. 10 years on, the Women in Defence UK network has grown to over 4000 people and this year will be celebrating the women, men, individuals, teams and organisations working in defence of the nation, at its 6th annual Awards.

Angela Owen said “2021 is our tenth anniversary year. We’ve evolved from a small Linked In group to a community of individuals and organisations dedicated to improving equality of opportunity across defence. There’s still some way to go in terms of gender equality, but everywhere you look, there are exceptional female role models at all ranks and levels, and an ever-increasing number of people determined to help defence to improve. The Women in Defence UK Awards provide a platform to recognise individuals and teams, both as inspirational role models and for the work they doing to support equality of opportunity. We opened for nominations on 25th March. This is your chance to show how much you respect and rate someone’s achievements. Please don’t miss the opportunity!”

First held in 2016, the annual Awards are the pinnacle of the Women in Defence UK year. Over the past five years, 2000 nominations have been entered from across the defence community including the UK Armed Forces, MoD Civil Service, GCHQ, MI5 and SIS, defence industry and the defence third sector.

“It’s been a really humbling and overwhelming experience” explained Women of the Year 2020, Beth-Marie Norbury of Babcock, “I still slightly cannot believe that I won; it’s a wonderful feeling to be recognised in this way”.

Nominations will close at midday on Wednesday 26th May. To nominate or to learn more about the Women in Defence UK 2021 Awards go to www.womenindefenceuk.com/awards-2021