News

On Tuesday, 8th of March, the College of Science and Engineering and the WiSTEM Society held an event to meet the inaugural winners of the NUI Galway J&J WiSTEM2D programme scholarships: Ailíse, Aisling, Aine, Brenda, Karen, Luka Anna, Rida, Sabrina, Shan and Thalyra. This featured ‘Picture a Scientist’, a programme paving the way in the movement to eradicate gender imbalance in STEM related fields and are advocating for women in STEM to smash that glass ceiling.

Ten students at NUI Galway have been awarded scholarships at a virtual ceremony as part of the Johnson & Johnson Ireland Women in STEM2D (WiSTEM2D) Award Programme.   This marks the inaugural year of the programme in NUI Galway. WiSTEM2D scholarship recipients will receive extensive industry mentoring and leadership training to help prepare them to pursue a career in STEM.   WiSTEM2D refers to Women in Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, Manufacturing and Design. The WiSTEM2D programme underlines Johnson & Johnson’s commitment to developing and implementing high-impact strategies to support female students undertaking STEM2D degree courses at NUI Galway.   The ten College of Science and Engineering students to be awarded the scholarships are:   Ailíse Roche; Biomedical Science; Kilmurry, Co. Clare Aine Mitchell; General Science; Ballina, Co. Mayo Aisling Hanrahan; Biomedical Engineering; Liscannor Co. Clare Brenda Chanza; General Science; Swinford, Co. Mayo Karen Gillooly; Financial Maths and Economics; Williamstown, Co. Galway Luka Anna Mac Lochlainn; General Science; Moycullen, Co. Galway Rida Naseer; General Science; Ballyhaunis, Co. Mayo Sabrina Kinga Szalaj; General Science; Gorey, Co. Wexford Shannon Hickey; General Science; Kilberry, Co. Kildare Thalyra Costa; Biomedical Engineering; Gort, Co. Galway

Students from 7 different countries, including those from National University of Ireland, Galway; with various Engineering backgrounds got the opportunity to travel to Austria for an international Summer Academy. The Academy’s intensive, two and a half week programme combines sophisticated theory with hands-on practical experience in engineering and natural sciences. Watch the video to see what a wonderful experience it was for our students @ https://youtu.be/wTHVs7Dnpaw 

For International Day of Persons with Disability on December the 3rd, the Ryan Institute and our EDI committee hosted a webinar, featuring  Dr. Jackqueline Houghton. The webinar can be viewed here https://youtu.be/nJheH9TzZGE

NUI Galways Taster Days took place in March 2021 in Science and also Engineering and Computer Science. The events were held virtually and advertised heavily to TY students in senior cycle secondary schools, with strong promotion in all-girls schools and mixed schools to promote female student participation. This year, the Taster Days included a segment in conjunction with ‘I WISH’ (a community committed to showcasing the power of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Maths to teenage girls). The virtual events were provided as open access events (to improve their accessibility) and approximately 60% of participants were female. The virtual delivery improved the reach of the event and resulted in a higher proportion of female participants than previous years.

The fourth CSE EDI Seminar took place on March 8th from 2pm-3pm     Speaker: Professor Abhay Pandit   Title: Q&A Session on advancing EDI in STEM – Staff and Students will have an opportunity to ask Abhay EDI related questions   Bio: Professor Abhay Pandit is the Established Professor in Biomaterials and Scientific Director of CÚRAM, a Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) funded Centre for Research in Medical Devices at the National University of Ireland, Galway. Prof Pandit has over thirty years of experience in the field of biomaterials. After a seven-year stint in the industry, he has worked in academia for the last 18 years. Prof. Pandit’s research is funded by Science Foundation Ireland, the 7th EU Framework programme, Enterprise Ireland, Health Research Board, the AO Foundation and industry sources above €150 million. Prof. Pandit was elected to the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) College of Fellows in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the creation of a national centre to develop innovative device-based solutions for the treatment of global chronic diseases. He is the first Irish academic to earn this distinction. He is the author of 27 patents and has licensed three technologies to medical device companies. Prof Pandit has published >300 papers in peer-reviewed high impact journals, >700 conference abstracts with an h-index of 62 and ~15,053 citations. Prof. Pandit has successfully supervised 36 PhD students, 24 postdoctoral researchers with a current cohort of eight Postdoctoral researchers, 20 PhD students and three research associates.

Dr Pau Farràs Costa and the School of Chemistry hosted an event on Tuesday the 9th of February for the IUPAC Global Women’s Breakfast, a worldwide series of events organised by IUPAC (International Union or Pure and Applied Chemistry). Attendees had a virtual breakfast with members of the school and had an insightful discussion about career opportunities in academia and beyond.

The third CSE EDI Seminar will take place on January 20th from 11am-12pm Join Microsoft Teams Meeting   Professor Laoise McNamara is a Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Vice Dean for Research and Innovation in the College of Science and Engineering at NUI Galway. She leads the Mechanobiology and Medical Device Research group (www.mechanobiology.ie), who work at the interface between engineering and biology to study bone disease. Her research has been awarded prestigious European Research Council, Science Foundation Ireland and Irish Research Council Awards. Her group have published widely and have been awarded numerous awards. Laoise was awarded the Irish Research Council “Researcher of the Year” award in 2019. She collaborates with industry applying her expertise for pre-clinical assessment of medical devices. She is a member of the Executive board for the SFI funded Centre for Research in Medical Devices (CURAM). She was the Vice Dean for Recruitment and Internationalisation in the former College of Engineering and Informatics (2017-2020).   In this seminar Laoise will reflect on the enablers of her research achievements and the challenges she encountered along the way. She will also reflect on her experience of Leadership, particularly on the importance of mentoring and building teams with different perspectives. She will discuss projects she has undertaken to improve gender diversity in Engineering and her ongoing work as Vice Dean for Research and Innovation.

Intel Ireland unveils the latest recipients of the Women in Technology scholarships   NUIG have two successful NUIG student recipients of the Intel WIT scholars this month! Eimear McDonnell, a 3rd year Environmental Health and Safety student and Emily Metadjer, a 2nd year Computer Science Student.   15 years ago Intel in Ireland launched its Women in Technology scholarship program for the first time. Since then, the program has gone from strength to strength and continues today to form an important part of our wider commitment to advancing diversity and inclusion at every level of our company and the broader industry. The scholarship program aims to encourage a new generation of high-achieving women to take up the challenge of a career in science and technology and to empower them by fostering educational opportunities.   Read more   NUIG Recipients of the Intel WIT scholars Top Left in photo: Eimear McDonnell. Westport, Co. Mayo, a 3rd year Environmental Health and Safety student. Bottom Left in photo: Emily Metadjer, Shrule, Co. Mayo, a 2nd year Computer Science Student

Title: “Influence without power: personal perspectives on the EDI journey of an early career researcher”   Bianca Pereira proposed how students and early career staff can make a difference for equality, diversity and inclusion by influencing change without hierarchical power. She illustrated her argument with stories and observations from her own journey, discussing cultural and organisational challenges and proposing possible ways to overcome or at least minimise these challenges.

Prof. Martin Leahy, will give a virtual seminar today as part of the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) strategy at NUI Galway's College of Science and Engineering. Title: "Enabling diversity at research group, consortium and scientific society level". Date: 21st October 2020

Click here for details on our seminar series. 

The 4th workshop of the Ingenic group (Irish Network for Gender Equality at National 3rd Level Institutions for Computing) was hosted by NUIG and GMIT and took place in NUI Galway during the summer. Representatives from IT Carlow, GMIT, NUIG, IADT Dun Laoghaire, Letterkenny IT, Sligo IT, TU, Dublin Campus, Limerick IT, UCC, TCD, and Dundalk IT attended. The aim of INGENIC is to ·         Help to increase the enrolment of females on third level computing programmes ·         Improve on the experience of all students within computing programmes ·         Identify and develop supports for staff development in line with national and international recommendations for improving gender diversity and equality ·         Support collaborative approaches to address these aims.

The School of Engineering, in collaboration with Launchpad at NUI Galway and Engineers Ireland, organised a series of career talks during the recent Undergraduate Open Days on October 4th-5th, 2019. At the event, eight inspiring Engineers from different engineering disciplines, including civil, mechanical, biomedical and electronic/electrical, described their reasons for choosing engineering and showed a diversity of their career paths.

In July 2019, a group of graduates of the first class of the Youth Academy, were invited to Boston College in Massachusetts, USA, to take part in a week long leadership programme aimed at high school students. Now aged 16-18 years, the NUI Galway Youth Academy graduates were invited to apply for a place on Boston College’s Ever to Excel high school leadership programme and 10 students were offered a full scholarship place including flights, accommodation and fees.  Boston College, a Jesuit liberal arts university, brought together 183 high school students from Japan, Jamaica, Venezuala, Ireland and all across the US to experience a week long programme of mentorship, workshops, activities, keynote speakers and opportunities to explore Boston.

Adeleh Mohammadi, a PhD student in Civil Engineering in NUI Galway visited Inspirefest2019 in Dublin with support from the College of Engineering & Informatics EDI team. Adeleh summarises her time there below: An event where I could meet world-wide successful entrepreneurs, trainers, young scientists, journalists, bankers and An Taoiseach Leo Varadkar at the same place! Inspirefest 2019 in Dublin opened my eyes about the role of technology in businesses, and how diversity and inclusion fits in this context. I learned that the best reason to start a business is "you care about a problem so much, you're willing to do whatever it takes to solve it" as Des Traynor from Intercom mentioned. I observed a powerful group of people with autism or disability conditions for whom dis-ability is out of their dictionary. I realized no matter what situation I am in, I need help from a wide-stream of people to solve the issues in the community and I am not alone. It was useful to see that Hubspot has created a CULTURE in their company around diversity and inclusion, and equity. In one sentence: "Diversity is the new norm". Adeleh prepared a short video which captures a flavour of the event.

Anuradha Kar created a short video based on her experience in Galway as a PhD student.  Thank you Anuradha for your insights.

NUI Galway organised a free full-day family event ‘Engineering Our Future: Family Fun Day’, which took place on Saturday, 2 March, from 10am–4pm in the Alice Perry Engineering Building at NUI Galway.   The Family Fun Day was part of the Engineers Week 2019 which celebrated engineering across Ireland. The Family Fun Day provided plenty of science and engineering activities that inspired young (and older) people.   Attendees could engage with the ‘Ireland’s Ingenious Engineers’ show by Scientific Sue, ‘Focus on Forces’ show investigating compressive and tensile strength, or watch ‘Dream Big: Engineering Our World’ narrated by Academy Award winner Jeff Bridges.   Families could build their own wind turbine, investigate where water comes from and where it goes, explore the vast range of chemicals used in our daily lives (which typically end up going down our drain and into our environment!), interact with CoderDojo Ninjas to learn about programming, explore the GEEC: Galway Energy Efficient Car, relax at the free LEGO play area or learn about our rich engineering heritage. These and many other activities showing the world of civil, environmental, mechanical, biomedical and electronic engineering, and information technology were available on the day.   The event was sponsored by Engineers Ireland West Region, MaREI, Ryan Institute, Oran PreCast and Ward & Burke.   Below are a few photos of the day to get a flavour of the event:      

Congratulations to NUIG's Bianca Pereira received the ITAG Digital Women Award 2019 Early Career at the Meyrick Hotel on 29/03/19. This award recognises excellence in women in technology and is conferred on an individual with over three years professional experience in the IT/Software sector. We're very proud of her fantastic achievement!

The College of Engineering & Informatics Equality (CoEI), Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) team  held a "Thinkout" workshop on the strategic impact of CoEI EDI initiatives, facilitated by Dr. Michael Hogan and Dr. Owen Harney from the School of Psychology. Pictured are members engaged in thoughtful deliberation. 

Two of our students , Karolina Sedyte and Marissa Britton,  were selected for the International Summer Academy in Engineering for Women (https://www.fh-ooe.at/en/kongresse/2018/international-summer-academy-in-engineering-for-women/) and provided with College of Engineering and Informatics scholarships. Karolina and Marissa made these videos discussing the Academy.    

ESB offer a special senior mentorship scheme to CoEI female students during their professional experience placement (PEP) in their third year of study. L-R Third year Computer Science student Sinead Joyce on placement with ESBI and her senior mentor, Ms. Mary O’Connor, Manager, IT Service Delivery, ESBI.

The European Commission has launched the fifth edition of the EU Prize for Women Innovators to award women entrepreneurs who have achieved outstanding innovations and brought them to market. Apply by 15 November 2017 and follow us on #WIPrizeEU. For more information and how to apply please visit the EU Prize for Women Innovators webpage.

Intel Women in Technology Scholarships Encouraging a new generation of high-achieving women to take up the challenge of a career in science and technology. Intel’s success in Ireland has been built on the quality of highly skilled and educated people available in the country. Through the ‘Women in Technology’ scholarship program, Intel hopes to increase awareness and encourage a new generation of high-achieving women to take up the challenge of a career in science and technology. Intel works closely with local schools and colleges to help ensure that our educational system continues to produce the exceptional quality of graduates that has helped to make Intel in Ireland so successful. With that in mind, Intel is pleased to this year continue, and indeed grow, the Women in Technology scholarship program for females who have just embarked on third level education. Please visit Intel Women in Technology Scholarships web page for more details.