Women and Engineering Day bring together almost 40 ICT professionals
Close to 40 female professionals from the technology and engineering sector participated on Tuesday 11 March in the second edition of the Women and Engineering conference, organised by the UAB School of Engineering. After talking about their professional careers and the challenges these women had to overcome, a debate was held in which UAB students and future engineers participated.
The School of Engineering organised the second edition of the Women and Engineering conference on Tuesday 11 March from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. with the participation of some 40 prominent professionals from companies and organisations in the technology and engineering sectors. After the success of last year's first edition, the organisers decided to offer this activity once again, with the aim of promoting the talent found at the UAB School of Engineering.
The event brought together a hundred students and professionals to connect and share their experiences in the professional world.
Under the slogan “Inspiring the future: trajectories that break barriers”, a welcoming speech was given at 9:00 a.m. by the secretary general of the UAB, Esther Zapater, the director of the School of Engineering, Ian Blanes, and the coordinator of the Fundació Caixa Enginyers, Iñaki Irisarri. This was followed by a round of presentations of the invited professionals, who are all leaders in their sector.
At 12 noon a space for dialogue was opened, in which students could ask questions to the professionals about their challenges, experiences and careers for an hour, and the closing speech was offered by Maria Galindo, secretary of Digital Policies of the Government of Catalonia, The day, sponsored by the Fundació Caixa Enginyers, ended with a lunch-networking with all the participants.
An agreement to promote female leadership
The School of Engineering and the Fundació Caixa Enginyers recently signed an agreement to work together in promoting female leadership within the engineering sector. This alliance is one step forward in the foundation's support to the Programme of Female Empowerment and the Engineering Half-Hackathon, two key initiatives to foster STEM careers amongst women.
In a sector in which female presence continues to be a minority - only 19.4% of ICT professionals in Catalonia are women according to the Catalan Institute of Women - this agreement aims to provide the tools necessary to boos the confidence and self-esteem of female students, accompanying them in their academic and professional development.
The full programme of the conferences can be consulted here.