SEFI@work | Roundtable on Attracting Girls to Engineering by Bridging Industry and Academia

SEFI@work | Roundtable on Attracting Girls to Engineering by Bridging Industry and Academia

28 March 2025, 10:30-12:00 Brussels time/ 11:30-13:00 UK time

Engineering innovations are shaping our world – whether it’s supplying clean water and energy, responding to natural hazards, constructing resilient infrastructure or bridging the development divide, among many other actions, engineers play a vital role. However, as stated in the 2nd UNESCO Engineering Report, the increasing need for engineers has made it become even more “essential that more young people, especially girls, consider engineering as a career”. In fact, attracting underrepresented groups, such as girls, will help to “ensure the diversity of thought and inclusive participation that is essential to achieving all the SDGs”. The time to act – attracting, engaging, and supporting girls to consider engineering as a career – is now. But how do we go about attracting young girls to engineering in the most effective way?

In this webinar, SIG Attractiveness gathers experts from different countries at a virtual roundtable to share best practices and learnings from both industry and academia on how to attract girls to pursue engineering careers. We will discuss how industry and academia can work together to contribute to students’ motivation to pursue engineering and share best practices to create effective in- and after-school activities. We invite you to engage in an interactive discussion about the shared responsibility to increase attractiveness and diversity in engineering.

Aspects that will be covered, are:

• Motivations for girls to consider engineering as a career
• Good practice examples from industry and academia
• Ideas for collaborations between industry and academia

This workshop is for you if:

• If you are an educator and looking for best practices for attracting girls to engineering.
• If you are from industry and NGOs and want to support young girls to explore an engineering career.
• If you are curious on how the interplay of academia and industry can help support women in engineering from a young age.

Speakers:  

• Frédérique Trouvé Roger, STEM Racing, France
• Nayane da Silva Fernandes, Ansys, France
• Phil Eves, BAM UK & Ireland, UK

Moderator: Georgia Kittou, University of Twente

This SEFI@work is brought to you by the SEFI Attractiveness Special Interest Group.