In a world where gender disparities in the STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Mathematics) areas persist, INESC TEC and Women In Tech Portugal joined forces to address this issue in a cross-cutting way: the Women in Tech Porto Summit. With a dynamic programme of inspiring speeches and extensive knowledge sharing, the event fostered debates on diversity and inclusion, highlighting their fundamental importance in the future of the STEAM sectors.
Recent statistics paint a very clear picture of the current state of women in STEAM areas. According to the data from the 2021 UNESCO report entitled “To be smart, the digital revolution will need to be inclusive”, women represent only 28% of the workforce on STEAM globally, despite constituting more than 50% of the population. In Portugal, the situation reflects global trends.
However, the Women in Tech Porto Summit did not merely acknowledge these disparities – it actively worked to tackle them. The Summit, which took place on World Children’s Day, transformed the gardens of Palácio de Cristal into a “park of possibilities through Women in Tech Kids (WiT Kids). The younger attendees were able to get in touch with geotechnologies, robotics and space exploration through interactive demonstrations and practical experiences with robotic systems, all thanks to INESC TEC researchers Ana Pires, Diogo Abreu, João Jacob and André Moura.
This approach is crucial, given that girls’ interest in STEAM peaks around the age of 11, but declines significantly by the age of 15, as revealed in Microsoft’s white paper Why Europe’s girls aren’t studying STEM. According to Ana Carla Alves, member of the board of Women in Tech Portugal, “it is crucial that children have access to a broad and inclusive view of career possibilities”, since, when exposed to different realities, “they develop a more comprehensive understanding of the world around them”.
Tiago Silva, member of the Commission for Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) at INESC TEC – with his guide dog Sol -, presented a session entitled “Science Embraces Inclusion”, also joining WiT Kids to chat about STEAM careers with the youngest participants.
The Women in Tech Porto Summit also included a panel discussion, moderated by Manuel Vaz, co-founder of GLEX Summit (INESC TEC’s partner entity), which explored the social value derived from research carried out in extreme environments. Among the speakers were Thais Russomano, renowned space physiologist, and Ana Pires, INESC TEC researcher and coordinator of SOE (Space, Ocean, and Earth Insights), a programme that is part of the GLEX Summit – which, this year, celebrated the fundamental role of women in space exploration. “The panel explored how scientific advances made in difficult conditions, such as space or deep-sea environments, can lead to innovations that benefit everyday life on Earth,” said Ana Pires.
The Summit’s success underscores the growing momentum for change, promising a future where diversity drives innovation and where women’s contributions to STEAM are fully recognised and celebrated.
The researchers mentioned in this news piece are associated with INESC TEC.
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