Several hundred activities organized by research centers, universities and institutions throughout the first fortnight of the month commemorate the International Day of Women and Girls in Science, which was celebrated yesterday, Sunday. The events, which range from talks to workshops, through digital informative capsules, seek to awaken vocations among the youngest, while making visible and vindicating the role of women in science and research.
That has been, precisely, the objective of
Activities were also organized by centers such as the Institute of Photonic Sciences (ICFO), which on Friday held the event Photonics in 5 minutes! , where four experts explained their research to the students electronically; or the Institute of Cosmos Sciences (ICCUB), which opened its doors on Thursday so that ESO and Baccalaureate students could enter the center to learn about the day-to-day life of female scientists.
The Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (MCIU), for its part, celebrated the day with more than 200 activities throughout the state, led by the second edition of the International Day of Women and Girls in Science: awakening STEM vocations, which took place on Friday at the National Museum of Science and Technology (MUNCYT) in A Coruña. During the day, a hundred ESO and Baccalaureate students participated in the event, dedicated to making female references in STEM fields visible.
Throughout the week, the different centers of the Higher Council for Scientific Research (CSIC) organized talks, workshops, film forums, exhibitions, theaters, interviews, informative videos, competitions, colloquiums and meetings. The Spanish Cancer Research Association (ASEICA), for its part, organized the fourth edition of Conócelas, an activity that sought to make women who research cancer visible, and which has developed an interactive map putting a face to 340 professionals.
The Carlos III Health Institute (ISCIII), together with the entities attached to it, carried out debate, dissemination and advocacy events on the role of women in the fields of health.
There are numerous centers that accompanied their actions with campaigns on social networks in which they focused on the inequality that still exists today in scientific careers, and that is accentuated in some fields of research, such as artificial intelligence, and in positions of responsibility. As an example, a study by the Xarxa Vives d’Universitats, which analyzed 20 universities, found that, while women are the majority among students, only a third of them lead scientific research.
