PIs: Sandra Pott (LU), Sara Maad Sasane (LU) and Carina Geldhauser (LU)

This project dealt with the empowerment of the women mathematicians working and studying at LU. Many activities as Women’s career events, Career fika and Mentoring female students have been initiated to inspire and empower female students and staff members to succeed in their careers. To inform our female students about the many opportunities with a degree in mathematics or engineering mathematics, and to give them the opportunity to ask their questions in a protected environment, we launched a series of career talks, which we complemented by a women’s career fika. Motivation and a positive environment are crucial to prevent the drop-out of underrepresented groups. In 2021 LTH Mathematics launched a mentoring program aimed at providing support and guidance to junior female staff. The program paired experienced female staff members with junior female colleagues, providing them with the opportunity to receive mentorship and guidance as they progress in their careers. The mentoring program was well received by all participants. We also had side-events for this. For example, we supported our female students in their application for fellowship programs.

PIs: Sara Maad Sasane (LU) and Carina Geldhauser (LU)

The goal of this project was to connect women mathematicians working in Sweden. There was a network, in the 1980s/1990s, called “kvinnor och matematik”. We aimed at the revival of the old network, and make it a meeting place for all women mathematicians in Sweden. We started to reach out to all women mathematicians with aPh.D. degree at other Swedish universities. We are proud to report that our network has reached the majority of women mathematicians at Swedish universities. Furthermore, we created a LinkedIn Group, to better connect staff, students and Alumnae. A steering committee has been formed to achieve a more sustainable action within the group. To connect back to the older generations, who were active in the old network, we formed a senior advisory. Gerd Brandell, Barbro Grevholm and Lars-Erik Persson are part of this group.

In 2022 LU organized a Louise Petrén Day celebrating Louise Petrén, the first woman to obtain a Ph.D. in mathematics in Sweden. The event was repeated 2023 and will be a yearly event consisting of a Louise Petrén lecture and other invited speakers. It is open to everybody including undergraduate students. In 2023 the Louise Petrén lecture was given by Prof. Nina Gantert, Technical University of Munich, who works in the area of probability theory and is an exceptional mathematician, an amazing supervisor, mentor and role model.

PI: Sonja Aits (LU)

The focus has been to inspires current and future students by outreach activities by female LU researchers. For example female LU researchers have given public lectures and made available teaching material for the general public. A “diversity in AI at LU” website has also been developed.

PI: Katerina Vrotsou (LiU)

Women are still widely underrepresented in senior academic positions. This is especially true in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics). Despite the large body of research conducted to try to explain this gap and active initiatives taken to reduce it, the differences persist. With this as motivation, this project set out to explore the attitudes and expectations directed towards female academics in their roles as supervisors of Ph.D. students. The project “Attitudes towards female Ph.D. supervisors” was inspired by a report for the pedagogic course in Research Supervision which explored the attitudes of Ph.D. students towards their female supervisors through a small-scale interview study and a literature review. This small study gave rise to initial insights into common experiences that female academics have. The report is available here. A larger exploration of the topic was, therefore, pursued that was directed to all female academic staff working with STEM at LiU. An anonymous survey was composed exploring the experiences of female supervisors with regard to discrimination, challenging of their supervisor capacity, as well as differences in attitudes and expectations toward them. Respondents were encouraged to leave their contact information if they were willing to participate in a follow-up interview. The survey so far has collected responses from 31 female main/co-supervisors and four follow up interviews were conducted. 

PIs: Nauman bin Ali (BTH) and Jürgen Börstler (BTH)

The aim of this project is to offer female Ph.D. students and early career researchers training on career planning and leadership. The training has been conducted by an independent organization specializing in academics’ personal and professional development. In 2019, this opportunity was availed by two Ph.D. students and two associate professors at BTH. The training and network activities have so far contributed to a successful funding application and a promotion to associate professor. In 2023, training for three female Ph.D. students from two departments at BTH was funded by ELLIIT.

PIs: Nauman bin Ali (BTH) and Marlena Nowaczyk (HH)

In 2023, BTH and HH organized a half-day workshop at BTH, Karlskrona, for early-career female researchers from “young” Swedish universities. The workshop brought together senior and early career researchers from BTH and HH to discuss practical concerns for early career researchers at “young” Swedish universities. It aimed at raising awareness of career paths and key performance indicators of academia, learning about funding possibilities and opportunities, and networking. The workshop had a plenary session (open to everyone who signed up) with two talks by leading academics at BTH. It followed a moderated discussion on challenges and opportunities for early career researchers.

PI: Svante Gunnarsson (LiU)

The aim of the project was to arrange inspiration events for female students. The first inspiration evening for female students was held in collaboration with the student associations Yvette, Emma and Donna in February 2020. The participants listened to very good presentations from three female LiU alumni who now work at Scania, Saab and ABB, respectively. About 35 students participated, and the lectures aroused a lot of questions and discussions, and the event was much appreciated. Similar events were carried out in February 2021 (remotely due to the COVID-19 pandemic) and March 2022.

Visits at BTH and HH

PIs: Nauman bin Ali (BTH) and Marlena Nowaczyk (HH)

In December 2023, BTH and Ericsson Karlskrona organized a Girls Technology Day. Over 120 girls from different schools participated in several hands-on activities during this event. The event is aimed to raise awareness and curiosity about a career in technology. We also had some ELLIIT branded giveaways with a URL to ELLIIT webpage. In December 2023 there was a technical day at HH for young girls from schools in Kungsbacka.

PI: Görel Hedin (LU)

This activity focused on Inspirational Python programming exercises for high school students. By using real open data such as satellite images and other environmental data, we wanted to give the students scientific and societal aha moments, as well as spike their interest in programming. The exercises are collected at a website that can be used freely in schools and at science centers. The project was a collaboration between researchers in Computer Science and in Ecosystem Sciences, and with educators at the Vattenhallen Science Center, all at Lund University. In addition, the project had collaboration with the Swedish National Space Agency (Rymdstyrelsen), the European Integrated Carbon Observation System (ICOS), and the Swedish Science Centers organization (SSC). In the project we had a mix of female and male participants at all levels: researchers, educators, and university students.

PI: Tom Ziemke (LiU)

The Ph.D. student Sofia Thunberg was the leader of LiU’s student robot competition team. The aim of the project was to support Sofia in the process of preparing and participating in a robot competition event in Bordeaux during 2020. Efforts were devoted to the preparation phase for the competition, however, due to the COVID-19 outbreak, the 2020 competition was canceled.