The second week of the April school holidays saw 80 young women, in years 11 and 12, spend over 20 hours listening to inspiring career journeys, learn about research being undertaken in NZ, discover the wide range of courses and careers available from a number of universities and crown research centres, and work collaboratively with others to create a pitch to present on the last day of the programme. This years winners were team 7 and they each took home a beautiful piece of Silver Science jewellery.
Participants enjoyed:
- A virtual tour of the Fibre Lab by our naming sponsor, Chorus.
- A virtual tour of the 3M Innovation Center in Sydney.
- National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) presentation covering physical oceanography, atmospheric modelling and marine invertebrate systematics.
- Latu Clark and Fiapaipai Auapaau speaking about being a Pasifika woman in STEMM
- Physicist-turned-science journalist and author Laurie Winkless speaking about the stickiness of gecko feet.
- Aorthi and Lola from the Hot Girls Code podcast.
- A panel from the Wellington Hospital based Otago University which included cell and molecular biologist, lecturer in the department of Surgery and Anaesthesia, the Director of the Bachelor of Radiation Therapy, a Bachelor of Radiation Therapy student, Emergency Medicine Research Fellow, and surgical doctor.
- An IYM alumnae panel featuring four young women now working in a range of STEMM fields including electrical engineering, software engineering, and building science.
- Independent Research Association of New Zealand (IRANZ) panel session, with contributors from the Malaghan Institute of Medical Research, Verum, Te Tira Whakamātaki and Cawthorn.
- Climate change expert, Lisa McLaren
- Associate Professor Louise Bicknell from the Rare Disease Laboratory in the Department of Biochemistry, Otago University
- Team building and design-thinking sessions with Paul Newsom, from Young Enterprise.
- The Innovation Challenge where student teams designed and pitched a solution to combat climate change to judges from Chorus, IRANZ and the Hutt City Council.
- MC’d by activist, councillor, IYM Alumnae and Bachelor of Communications student, Sophie Handford.
Feedback from our participants:
26 presenters from 16 STEMM organisations, businesses, Crown Research Institutes and tertiary providers.
98% would recommend the programme to a friend.
100% of participants said the programme increased their interest in pursuing a STEMM career.
100% of participants were happy with the programme.
43 NZ high schools and 1 high school in Vanuatu.
11 different ethnicities were represented by programme participants.
Interested in being a participant in 2024? Applications open November 1 2023 for those in years 11 and 12 during the 2024 school year.
