Empowering Indonesian women in STEM through British Council Gender Equality Partnerships funding
Edinburgh Napier University has been successfully granted funding by the British Council Gender Equality Partnerships for a project entitled “Empowering Indonesian women in STEM: Building Resilience through Network, Advisers and Role Models”. The project is conducted in collaboration with Universitas Katolik Widya Mandala Indonesia and supported by Equate Scotland, a national expert in gender equality throughout the STEM sectors in Scotland.
The project aims to strengthen pathways into employment for Indonesian women STEM graduates by developing a blueprint of training and workshop programmes that university career services can deliver. The project specifically aims to address the gender equality gap in the STEM workforce and empower Indonesian women graduates to pursue high-skilled careers in the STEM field. The project team from Edinburgh Napier University is Dr. Nathalia Tjandra (Principal Investigator) from The Business School and Professor Sally Smith from the School of Computing, Engineering and the Built Environment. The project team members from Universitas Katolik Widya Mandala are Professor Anita Lie (Principal Investigator) and Professor Felycia Soetaredjo.
Dr. Tjandra states that “we are privileged to work on this interdisciplinary project which addresses an important gender equality issue in Indonesia. By developing a training programme for university career services, building a professional network amongst STEM women, and engaging with role models, we will be able to inspire and support Indonesian women graduates to pursue high-skilled careers in the STEM field. This project is inspired by the Women into Tech project led by Professor Sally Smith in collaboration with Equate Scotland”. Professor Smith adds that “the gender imbalance in engineering and technology disciplines is not unique to the UK. It leads to a shortage of women involved in design, development, testing, and leadership in STEM industry sectors. This British Council funded project will help us understand more about the deep-rooted influences that deter women from careers in STEM in both Indonesia and Scotland – helping us to redress the imbalance.”
The aim of the British Council Gender Equality Partnership Grant is to help progress gender equality within higher and further education, and to build on the potential of the sector to influence wider society.