The University of Castilla-La Mancha (UCLM) wishes to be part of the International Day of Women and Girls in Science, which is celebrated on the 11th of February, by organizing activities on its campuses, with which it hopes to bring the participation of women researchers into the public eye and to show how valuable it is, especially in the STEM disciplines (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics), where the gender gap is more acute.
The ceremony programme has begun today on the Albacete campus with the recording of the Castilla-La Mancha radio programme "Investiga que no es poco (Research, no mean feat)" which is celebrating its first year on the air with a programme titled "Women in the disciplines of science, technology, engineering and mathematics". During the ceremony, a round table was held which included three female researchers from the UCLM: Elena Navarro, Maite Alonso and Amaya Zalacain, and four other new female researchers: Cristina Romero, María Cuesta, Marian Alfaro and Mª José Haro. Moreover, the UCLM professor Gloria P. Rodríguez Donoso presented the FECYT funded project: “Mujeres Ingeniosas(Ingenious Women)”, for which she was the head researcher.
The UCLM will continue holding the activities programme on Thursday, 7th of February, in the assembly hall of the Faculty of Medicine in Ciudad Real from 11.:30 with Doctor Mara Dierssen Sotos attending, who will give the conference: "Neuroscience:brain hackers". Mara Dierssen is head of the Cellular Neurobiology and Systems group at the Centre for Genomic Regulation in Barcelona and is one of the most prestigious researchers in Down´s Syndrome worldwide.
On Wednesday, the 13th at 10 o´clock, in the assembly hall of the Albacete Polytechnic Association, Doctor Nuria Oliver will give the conference: "Technology, engineering...Where are the women?". Nuría Oliver is director of Data Sciences at Vodafone and at the Royal Academy of Engineering in Spain. She is known for her work on computer modelling for human behaviour, artificial intelligence, person-machine interaction, mobile computer science and "big data" for social welfare.
These activities will take place, on Friday, the 15th on the Cuenca campus, from 11:30 in the assembly hall of the Polytecnic School with the participation of Doctor Sara Gómez Martín, who will present the project headed by the Royal Academy of Engineering, and which the UCLM became attached to in 2018 titles: "Woman and Engineering". Sara Gómez is a professor at the Polytechnic University of Madrid and director of the Royal Academy of Engineering in Spain.
On Tuesday,26th of February, on the Albacete campus ,there will be a performance of the play "Scientists: Past, present and future", directed by Ángel Monteagudo Rodenas, in which the following UCLM women researchers will participate: Edelemira Valero, Elena Navarro, Lucía Isabel de Castro, Rocío Ballesteros and Rocío Fernández.
The ceremonies will continue on the Toledo campus with a speech given by Doctor Guadalupe Sabio Buzo, from the the National Centre for Cardiovasdcular Research (CNIC) who will give a conference on the Technological campus of the Munitions Factory- Guadalupe Sabio has been recognized by the L'Oreal-Unesco Foundation for her research into obesity and its relationship with liver cancer and diabetes and has received the Princess of Girona Award in Science and Academy. Recently, she has been given first prize by the Fundación Jesús Serra Research Awards for her research experience in the areas of nutrition, food and health.
This time and new to the programme, , young researchers from the UCLM, will, along with the participation of each speaker, present their life and professional experience ,and subsequently a debate will be held between them.
Joined to this ceremony programme, the academic institution is carrying out different activities within the framework of the project, Woman and Engineering. This is a project in which the UCLM collaborates with the Royal Academy of Engineering of Spain in order to motivate and interest girls and teenagers, nurturing vocations in STEM studies, to encourage women to enter the different professional specialisms related to engineering and to develop their careers until they reach senior positions.
Female professors and researchers at the Higher School of Computer Science (ESII) and the Higher Technical School of Industrial Engineering (ETSII), as well as female engineers from the Scientific and Technological Park of Castilla-La Mancha (PCTCLM) from the companies Beinn, Coproyma,Eptisa and Ingeteam, will visit different secondary schools and institutes in Albacete that have shown interest in this initiative, in which more than 700 boys and girls will participate. The PCTCLM has framed this activity within the national "Science and Technology in Feminine" programme, in which numerous scientific and technological parks belonging to the Association of Technological Parks in Spain will participate.
Likewise, the Vice-chancellor´s office for Culture, Sport and University Extension has called the third edition of the photography competition "Woman and Science", for students enrolled at the regional university in the academic year 2018-19. The jury will choose a total of 15 photographs which will be displayed in the different campuses of the UCLM. 500 euros has been set as first prize and 200 euros as second prize for the best photography.
Apart from these activities, the UCLM is commemorating the 11th of February with many ceremonies organized by the centres, departments and research institutions themselves. In this respect, for this year more than 160 conferences have been arranged across schools and institutes in the region which will reach an audience of nearly 8,000 students. These conferences will be mainly given by UCLM professors and researchers.
UCLM Communication Office Albacete, 5th of February 2019