3rd Gender & STEM Network Conference

Promoting girls’ and women’s participation in STEM advancement and innovation: Connecting research with global policy and practice

21—23 July 2016, Newcastle University Business School, Science Central, Newcastle upon Tyne, England

Host: Dr Pooran Wynarczyk

The first conference in 2012 focused on individual gendered pathways towards (and away from) STEM fields (STEM = Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics). The second conference in 2014, hosted by Dr Rebecca Lazarides and Professor Angela Ittel at the Technische Universität Berlin, highlighted the roles of schools, families and workplaces for supporting or constraining girls/women and boys/men to choose and persist in STEM, versus other pathways. 

The theme for the 3rd Conference 2016 was “Promoting girls’ and women’s participation in STEM advancement and innovation: Connecting research with global policy and practice”, hosted by Professor Pooran Wynarczyk. In it, we aim to further extend the interdisciplinary collaboration of researchers from diverse fields who share concern regarding gender and STEM participation. The following dimensions will be highlighted which contribute to participation and retention of girls and women in the STEM pipeline:

  • key factors and good practices within school, university and workplaces;
  • role of higher education institutes (HEIs) technology transfer officers and commercialisation policies in enhancing women’s participation in commercialisation of STEM  research and creation of university spinoffs;
  • the role of government, industry, public policy and career development policies;
  • positive action measures: STEM initiatives, schemes, networks and organisations;
  • individual, family, teacher and peer processes. Keynote speakers include Professor Sue V. Rosser (San Francisco State University, USA), Dr Patricia Fara (Cambridge University, UK), Professor Birgit Spinath (Heidelberg University, Germany), Professor Jay Mitra (University of Essex, UK).

More about 3rd Gender & STEM Network Conference

  • Program book
  • Selected papers presented at the 3rd Network Gender & STEM Conference, are published in a Special Issue of the ‘International Journal of Gender Science and Technology’ in 2018:
    • Vol. 10, No. 2
    • Girls’ & women’s participation in STEM: past lessons & possible futures
    • Guest Editors: Penelope Watson, Audrey Cooke, & John Thornby