The International Women in Engineering Day (INWED) is an annual initiative led by the Women’s Engineering Society to give visibility and celebrate the work of women engineers around the world.
Because gender equality is integral to EELISA’s identity, this campaign aligns perfectly with the Alliance’s commitment to fostering gender equality within the engineering field. This year, under the theme “Enhanced by Engineering”, EELISA joins the worldwide celebration by highlighting the remarkable achievements of women engineers and our member institutions’ efforts to close the gender gap in engineering. From awards won by #EELISA female stakeholders, groundbreaking research led by women engineers, to institutional achievements driving gender equity and positive change in Engineering, each milestone contributes to advancing positive change.
Together, let’s continue to champion inclusivity and pave the way for a more equitable and innovative future in engineering.
Explore our member institutions highlights for #INWED24
Chimie ParisTech-PSL is driving forward parity with:
- More than 50% girls in its engineering classes by 2023, compared with only 29% for the
rest of France’s engineering schools. - Gender equality and the fight against gender stereotypes are part of the school’s DNA, since the first female graduates from Chimie ParisTech-PSL date back to 1919 (Mesdemoiselles Cottereau and Force).
- Chimie ParisTech-PSL has been awarded the prestigious “Prix de l’élève-ingénieure 2023” by the Conférence des Directeurs des Ecoles Françaises d’Ingénieurs, which recognizes
Léa G.’s actions at national level to raise children’s awareness of gender diversity in science and equal opportunities, thanks to her involvement in the La Main à la Pâte Foundation.
Recognizing
Natalia Rodríguez Núñez-Milara, Telecommunications Engineer from the UPM, CEO and founder of Saturno Labs. Winner of the “National Innovation Award 2023. Young Innovative Talent”, chosen by Forbes Women as one of the 35 leading Spanish women in technology and winner of the first “Entrepreneur of the Year Award 2020”.
- BME is committed to providing equal opportunities for its employees and students. As an implementation of this commitment, BME published its Equal Opportunities Plan in July 2021.
- BME has been a regular host institution for the national series of career guidance programs for girls initiated in 2012 by the Association of Hungarian Women in Science (NaTE): The Girls’ Day
- EELISA InnoCore, WP1 activities
- To underscore the significance of women’s contributions, in March 2020, marking the centenary of the graduation of the first woman engineer from BME and commemorating Eszter Pécsi’s birthday on March 8th, the University of Technology dedicated lecture hall no. 95 on the 1st floor of the Central Building
- BME established the Eszter Pécsi Award for Teachers in 2022, complete with a substantial monetary reward. The award aims to inspire and encourage girls in high school to pursue careers in technology and science by holding up Eszter Pécsi’s life and work as an example, and recognising exceptional high school educators who play pivotal roles in their students’ career choices and preparation for university education.
- on March 8, 2024, organised by the girls can scan collective (founded by previous students of the Faculty of Architecture at BME) in collaboration with the BME Architecture College for Advanced Studies, the Pro Progressio Foundation, and EELISA, also underscored the importance of gender equality. The initiative’s aim was to celebrate the work of women engineers and scientists, and raise awareness of the absence of public statues commemorating women’s careers.
- In 2022, with the support of the Rector’s Office, the BME Talent Support Council initiated the “Back to Science!” scheme, aimed at providing financial assistance and professional guidance to BME lecturers who are raising young children and who apply successfully.
- 2023: the distribution of baby kits and the installation of baby changing facilities in BME’s buildings K and Q started, and the BME Family-friendly Community Space in building „E” was completed. In recognition of the efforts outlined above, BME was awarded the Family Friendly Workplace award and title in October 2023.
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More at Equal Opportunities | BME central site, Family-friendly BME | BME central site, Women in science | BME central site and Gender Equality Plan
Recognizing
Gioia Lucarini, Chief Executive Officer & Co-founder of the Sant’Anna School’s spin-off Relief, received the “Women Value Company 2023” award, for her contribution in the engineering innovation process
- The SheroES (she rocks at Engineering and Science) network brings together women working at the ZHAW School of Engineering. Their aim is to increase the proportion of women in technical positions and management roles and to promote networking among female employees through seminars, workshops and events.
- “As a member of Advance – Gender Equality in Business, we support further training for women and are committed to equal opportunities and equal pay.”
-ZHAW Diversity Office - “We are offering a new degree program: Medical Informatics. The aim of increasing the proportion of women was one of the motivations for launching this course in order to create a bridge to courses where women are clearly in the majority. Half of the more than 50 students who enrolled in the first semester were women – that’s great!” – Dirk Wilhelm, Director of the ZHAW School of Engineering
- “Internally, we try to get as many women as possible into management positions, for example as lecturers, and thus act as role models. This should then strengthen the so-called peer group effect.” – Dirk Wilhelm, Director of the ZHAW School of Engineering.
Recognizing
Alice Maison, AgroParisTech engineer, Doctoral student between 2020 and 2023 at CEREA (Center for Education and Research in Atmospheric Environment – École des Ponts ParisTech), and is currently a postdoctoral researcher at the Dynamic Meteorology Laboratory.
She received 1st prize of the Thesis prize 2024 from Ministry for the Ecological Transition. Alice Maison’s work is on “Modeling the impacts of trees on air quality from the scale of the street to the city.
The Women’s Representatives at FAU are volunteers who stand up for gender equality and, as the name suggests, the representation of women in Engineering. They participate in appointment committees, the Faculty Council and form bonds between the university and the Faculty of Engineering. Their overall goal is to increase the percentage of women in science. An essential part of their tasks is the funding program, led by top-class female scientists. It targets young female scientists and encourages them to pursue a scientific career in the field of engineering. Various guest lectures are supported by the faculty of engineering led by female scientists from other universities and fields of research.
71% of the Students from the Faculty of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnologies are female.- Over 70% of the students from the Faculty of Medical Engineering are female.
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60% of the students from the Faculty of Entrepreneurship, Business Engineering and Management are female.
- We are also proud to celebrate the achievements of our alumna, Roxana Rădulescu. A 2013 graduate of the Faculty of Engineering in Foreign Languages, Roxana pursued a Master’s degree in Computer Science with a specialisation in Artificial Intelligence at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel. She is now an assistant professor and doctoral researcher at the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (VUB). Her cutting-edge research focuses on learning methods in complex multi-agent systems using Reinforcement Learning. Beyond her scientific publications, Roxana actively contributes to the academic community by organizing the ACAI Summer School on Reinforcement Learning and various workshops.
- Ana-Maria Drăgulinescu, lecturer and researcher at the National University of Science and Technology Politehnica Bucharest. She’s been designated as the first historical winner of the “L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women In Science Fellowships program” for the Computer Science category in Romania, with the project “Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence for Internet of Things: Application to Search and Rescue Operations”.
ITU’s Gender Equality Plan 2021-2026 commits to:
- Establish a Gender Equality Unit within the Women’s Studies Center in Science, Engineering, and Technology (WSC in SET) to implement the gender equality plan.
- Appoint experts in Gender Studies to establish the gender equality unit and initiate the institutionalization process.
- Provide research and training on gender equality specifically tailored for the engineering field.
- Organize events, seminars, and workshops focused on gender equality in engineering.
- Develop evidence-based institutional gender equality policies for engineering departments.
- Implement measures to ensure gender balance in faculty and leadership positions.
- Integrate gender perspectives into engineering research content and management.
- Establish mechanisms to support and encourage women in engineering research areas where they are underrepresented.
- Establish partnerships with industry and professional organizations to promote gender equality and diversity in engineering.
- Implement mentoring programs and support networks for women engineers to enhance their career development and advancement opportunities.
- Encourage and support women engineers to pursue leadership roles in the engineering field.