Women and girls in science and technology go to local schools!

11 Feb 2022

Since 2015, the UN has proclaimed 11 February as the International Day of Women and Girls in Science. On this occasion, for the fourth consecutive year, CERN, the UNIGE Scienscope, EPFL and, for the first time, LAPP (Laboratoire d'Annecy de Physique des Particules) are offering schools the opportunity to invite women scientists or engineers to talk about their professions to pupils (in mixed classes) during the week of 7 to 11 February 2022. Read more

These science and technology professionals, including our Outreach Officer Shaula Fiorelli, are invited to talk about their careers, to unveil some of the mysteries of science and, for some, to conduct a few small experiments. The idea is to change the perception of classes towards scientific and engineering professions, by presenting female role models.

The aim is to illustrate the importance and attractiveness of scientific careers, and who knows, to arouse a desire for a career, particularly among young girls.

"What a pleasure it is to discuss mathematics for an hour and a half with 9 to 11 years old children! I am always impressed by the diversity of the topics we discuss. As I don't set any limits, we talk about the job of a researcher (what does a researcher do during her day, does she necessarily have to discover/invent something new?), the history of mathematics, the existence of women in mathematics (famous or not) or circles that kiss curves (my definition of tangency for this age group) to explain my thesis topic. The children are very attentive and passionate and always ask new questions." Shaula Fiorelli.

This year again, despite the health context, the programme was a great success, with over 120 presentations, 2,683 participant students and 59 volunteers!

Text: based on Scienscope website

Phase I & II research project(s)

Program(s)

High School Outreach

SwissMAP Research Station 2023 program

goMATH (ETH Zurich, 14-25 March)