Inspiring girls to consider a career in STEM

The University of Trinity Saint David (UWTSD) is hosting pupils from local comprehensive schools in a bid to encourage more girls to consider a career in STEM, focusing on the expanding tech industry.

The pupils aged 11 to 16 have been invited to the university’s School of Applied Computing for some hands-on STEM learning in collaboration with Engineering Education Scheme Wales (EESW STEM Cymru).

It is widely acknowledged that women are underrepresented in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and maths) at university and in the general workforce. Recent data from UCAS demonstrates that women make up only 35% of STEM students in UK universities.

While there have been some gains, as evidenced by the WISE campaign data, showing that there are now more than one million women working in core STEM roles across the UK, there is still much to be done to increase women's representation in this field.

At UWTSD students have access to mentoring and support from female academics who have forged a career in STEM, and the School of Applied Computing’s ‘Girls into IT’ programme seeks to reinforce this message by engaging with pupils from schools across Wales.

The first visit took place on November 10 involving 14 students from Fitzalan High School, Cardiff, with the aim of encouraging girls to consider higher education STEM courses by giving a taster of the courses and careers available. 

Dr Nitheesh Murugan Kaliyamurthy, Lecturer, at UWTSD’s School of Applied Computing said: “After actively engaging in activities throughout the day, the girls enjoyed their university experience and had a better understanding of the wide-ranging careers available to them within the different STEM industries in IT, Networking, Cybersecurity, Games and Multimedia.

“We are planning to organize more events in the future to improve the visibility of women in those fields.”

The students had the opportunity to take part in workshops, showcasing the various areas within IT and Computing and highlighting career opportunities.

There was also a talk on various opportunities for Girls in Networking, Software and Cybersecurity platforms, which was delivered by Dr Nitheesh Kaliyamurthy. 

A team of School of Applied Computing staff and students put together various activities and resources to show wider opportunities and career paths. The activities included exploring PC hardware peripherals and understanding their functions, designing, and coding robots to draw various shapes using Lego Mindstorms EV3 kits, playing games and understanding the storyline behind its development and understanding images as frames to animate movies.

Richard William Morgan, Lecturer at UWTSD’s School of Applied Computing hosted an interactive session with the pupils helping them to understand the logic behind Games Design and Development and its available job opportunities and lecturer Nabeel Masih demonstrated the techniques in animating a movie. 

Take a look at the Computing courses available at UWTSD Swansea Computing Courses | University of Wales Trinity Saint David (uwtsd.ac.uk). To find out more about the Girls into IT programme and enquire about school participation please contact computing@uwtsd.ac.uk

Further Information

Rebecca Davies

Swyddog Gweithredol Cysylltiadau â’r Wasg a’r Cyfryngau

Executive Press and Media Relations Officer

Cyfathrebu Corfforaethol a Chysylltiadau Cyhoeddus

Corporate Communications and PR

Mobile: 07384 467071

Email: Rebecca.Davies@uwtsd.ac.uk