Outreach events
CERN and the International Geneva Gender Champion Initiative.
On 5 June 2018, the Diversity Office organised a workshop, inviting scholars and field experts from OECD, UNIGE and IOP and presenting on its own activity, on the topic of Gender Equality in Education.
CERN develops and hosts various activities to encourage female students to take up science subjects and women to enter the fields of science, technology and engineering. The Django Girls workshop that took place on 23 and 24 March at CERN’s IdeaSquare is the latest such initiative.
A few days ago, on 18 November, CERN participated in the biennial "Expanding your Horizons - Geneva" event for the 5th time, at the University of Geneva.
The free event is organised by the "Elargis tes Horizons" association, which belongs to the wider Expanding your Horizons (EYH) network. EYH is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing gateway Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) experiences to middle and high school girls that spark interest in STEM activities and careers.
For the third consecutive year, the CERN Diversity Office facilitated a work group with science teachers on the topic of gender inclusive teaching in the framework of the CERN International Teacher Programme.
This year’s work group outcome is a collaborative tool: inclusivephysics.org.On Tuesday, the Diversity Office together with the CERN PACMAN project welcomed three girls from the International School in Geneva to support them in their school project on female stereotypes in the workforce. Their goal was to find out how to battle stereotypes regarding traditionally male and female professions at their school by interviewing Kristin Kaltenhäuser, from the CERN Diversity Office, Tommaso Portaluri and Silvia Zorzetti from the PACMAN project. The discussion centered on the situation of women at CERN and how the students can raise awareness among their classmates on prevailing and outdated stereotypes. At the end CERN was invited to give a talk at the International School of Geneva on the topic, which we happily accepted.
After the discussion the girls went on a private tour of the Mircocosm from Silvia, who is a CERN fellow in engineering and a great role model for the girls.
For over 20 years, CERN has made an effort to attract more women to scientific careers and enhance the gender balance of its workforce. In addition to structural measures, these efforts range from outreach activities for schoolgirls to participation in high-level panel discussions on the topic. Today, the CERN Diversity Office, in cooperation with the Education, Communication and Outreach group, is happy to announce a play celebrating the achievements of three exceptional women in the field of science and technology: double Nobel Prize laureate Marie Curie (1867-1934), who discovered radioactivity, Austrian-Swedish nuclear physicist Lise Meitner (1878-1968), and Viennese Hollywood actress Hedy Lamarr (1914-2000), the inventor of frequency hopping.
CERN workshop at "Expanding your Horizons 2015" (Image: Jane del Pozo) Expanding your horizons is a bi-annual “Science Day” for girls aged 11 to 14, held this year at the University of Geneva on 14 November. The girls will have the opportunity to take part in hands-on workshops held by local professional women in the field of science, mathematics, engineering and technology. For the fourth time, CERN will be part of this event, offering three workshops:
“Seeing the invisible – jump into the skin of a physicist for an hour and discover the universe’s mysteries…”
“Any cooler and you freeze! Great cold fun and treats with liquid nitrogen”
“Around and around we go – build your own accelerator”
The Diversity team collaborates with the CERN High School Teacher Programme this year for the first time to engage girls’ interest in science. The 3-week residential programme in July is an opportunity for teachers around the world to update their knowledge of particle physics, associated technologies and subjects. The goal is for the teachers to take home their newly acquired knowledge to include in their teaching curriculum.
"On 23 April this year, the fifth annual "International Girls in ICT Day” took place: events all over the world gave young women the chance to see Information and Communication Technologies from a new perspective, encouraging them to imagine a career in the field. This year, CERN took part!"
Read the full Bulletin article on the event here and have a look at the photos taken throughout the day here!
Also watch these two short videos by the US Permanent Mission to Geneva and ITU as a nice summary of the day!
On the 16th of November 2013, “Expanding Your Horizons” was held in Geneva, this event gave the opportunity to 11 to 14 year old girls to discover the numerous careers available in the areas of science and technology. In order to provide hands-on experience, 23 CERN women participated in the event organising the following workshops “Super frigo!/Any cooler and you'll freeze”, “Voir l'invisible/Seeing the invisible”, “Viens construire un accélérateur de particules dans un bol de salade/Around and around we go…build your own accelerator in a salad bowl”. They also held a career booth presenting general information about CERN and the LHC, the Experiments, and the Diversity Programme.
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