Technocamps and Institute of Coding in Wales | International Women’s Day 2022 | For the Girls

Join us as we celebrate Women in STEM and our partnerships over the past year.

The annual ITWales International Women’s Day Celebration provides an insight into the diverse range of business and career opportunities for women in the 21st Century. It offers a platform for sharing experiences, knowledge, and best practice for women, particularly those working within science and technology.

The theme for this year’s event is “For the Girls”. The event will showcase the work being done by business, charities and projects across the country to encourage girls to study and work in the STEM industries. We welcome all women and allies!

International Women’s Day is a global day celebrating the economic, political and social achievements of women past, present and future. Annually, thousands of events are held throughout the world to inspire women and celebrate achievements. A global web of rich and diverse local activity connects women from all around the world including political rallies, business conferences, government activities and networking events. We hope you are able to join us for an evening that promises to entertain, motivate and inspire.

The event will be hosted by Kevin Johns MBE with the incoming Children’s Commissioner as our keynote speaker. Following this, there will be a series of talks from organisations in Wales on their work to encourage girls into STEM.

Rocio Cifuentes is the chief executive of the Ethnic Minorities and Youth Support Team and the incoming Children’s Commissioner for Wales.

In a statement, Ms Cifuentes said: “It’s an immense honour and privilege to be appointed as the Children’s Commissioner for Wales. As the First Minister says, the role of Commissioner will be more important now than it ever has been, delivering for the generation of children that have lived through Coronavirus. To all the children and young people of Wales, I make the commitment today to ensure your voice, your views and your future is at the heart of everything we do.”

The Intellectual Property Office (IPO) wants to be a brilliant place to work, and their culture is built on fairness and opportunity for all. They are passionate about supporting under-represented groups and in particular, increasing the number of women in STEM. They work with Code First Girls (a Not for Profit Social Enterprise) to help promote gender diversity and female participation in the technology sector, they offer IT training and courses to women of all backgrounds. Among a range of additional measures, they have also developed their own STEM Returners programme, developed more inclusive branding and are working to identify and remove any unintended barriers to inclusivity within their systems, culture and processes. They believe that everyone has the potential to make a difference.

An important focus for Bridgend College is increasing the number of girls that enrol on courses in STEM. From the design of the new STEAM Academy, to the development of the curriculum, through to extra-curricula activities and outreach events to schools, they focus on how to widen participation and make studying STEM subjects in a FE setting engaging and enabling.

EESW operates to show young people how valuable a career in engineering can be, by bringing students and industry together for the benefit of all those involved and the future prosperity of the Welsh Economy. Through the STEM Cymru 2 Project, EESW recognises the importance of encouraging equal opportunities in STEM, and the need to inspire and nurture young females to ensure a balanced future workforce. Their Girls into STEM programme of events aims to encourage pupils to take an active interest in STEM subjects prior to their GCSE subject choices by giving them the opportunity to spend the day at a local Engineering company or University department. Over 15,000 young females have taken part in their programmes since 2015, and they hope to continue challenging stereotypes and promoting equal opportunities to students across Wales.

STEM Gogledd is currently operating in Gwynedd, Conwy and Anglesey and it’s prime aim is to inspire, encourage and support young people to take up STEM subjects at school and continue to study STEM with a view to entering a STEM career. The project has STEM mentors offering advice and support on a 1-1 and group basis and a dedicated portal called HWB STEM to signpost. STEM Gogledd Works with groups to challenge stereotypes and promote equal opportunities for Girls in particular, encouraging them to engage with projects such as Technocamps and EESW. STEM Gogledd Works directly with Teachers to support STEM as part of the introduction of the New Curriculum for Wales and the integration of Careers and Work related Experiences (CWRE) through a partnership with GwE.

Register here:

tc1.me/IWD22