For a further year the IAC is celebrating the International Day of Women and Girls in Science with activities to encourage the interest of the younger girls in scientific and technological careers.
According to the report “ Women scientists in figures, 2017” the proportion of women in the total of the researchers in Spain has no trisen in the past 10 years, holding steady at 39%. But worse, at later stages in the research career this pecentage drops to 29%. In order to redress the balance on December 15th 2015 the General Assembly of the United Nations proclaimed 11th February the International Day of Women and Girls in Science, and invited organizations to hold relevant educational and public outreach activities.
As in previous years, at the IAC we have prepared various activities, staring with the on-line chats with educational centres in the project “Talk to them: Women in Astronomy”. From its start in 2019 over 2000 students have participated, from primary school to pre-university level, from eleven Autonomous Spanish Communities. In the new edition 26 women astrophysicists and engineers from the IAC and from collaborating institutions will explain to the students what their work is about, they will talk about their fields of research, and will answer questions about scientific and technological degrees, about the Universe and the methods used to learn more about it. Educational centres which are interested can book these videoconferences from now until the end of this academic year.
On the 11th, we will also start Chapter VII of the series “Girls who broke the glass ceeling while looking at the sky”. Since 2017 these videos have presented talks by women astrophysicists and engineers at the IAC with the aim of promoting scientific careers among the younger girls, and to spread a knowledge of what is being developed in this research centre.
After the success of the last edition, in which there were more than 600 chats, and over 200 hours of conversation with people of all ages. On February 18th from 09.00 hrs to 21.00 hrs (Canary Island time) from ten in the morning to ten at night in the Peninsula) the fourth edition of the activity “Chat with a woman astronomer” organized by the Commission for Women in Astronomy of the Spanish Astronomical Society (SEA). For 12 hours women astrophysicists from a range of universities and organizations, among them 12 IAC researchers, will answer via the Chat the questions about their experiences as womenscientists, the research that they are carrying out, and other topics related to women and astronomy
In addition, the international consortium which runs the Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) which will be building a gamma-ray observatory on La Palma and another one in Chile to study the most violent phenomena in the universe, will be celebrating the third edition of “Women of CTA” an event which brings together three women scientists to talk about their professional and personal experiences in the field of High Energy Astrophysics. Mireia Nievas, from the IAC group, a soft ware expert, will take part in this edition.
The astrophysicists and engineers of the IAC will also participate in the lectures in the project Canary Women Scientists, organized by the Canary Temisas Observatory Foundation, Researchers of La Palmas (INVEPA), and the Area of Scientific Vocations and Creativity (STEAM) of the Canary Government; in the conferences Woman and Science, organized also by the Canary Temisas Observatory Foundation, INVEPA and the Woman, Education and Science Association, and in the “women and girls in science” days, coordinated by the Canary Agency of Research Innovation, and the Information Society (ACIISI). Also the panel discussion organized by the Polytechnic School of Gijón, to celebrate February 11th: What does a woman telecommunications engineer work on? They will also participate in a variety of science days organized in different educational centres on the Island: Science Days at the CEIP Las Mercedes, Women inScience at the IES El Sobradillo, and a lectura at the IES Villalba Hervás in La Orotava, in the annual cycle of lectures of thte Group of Astronomical Observers of Tenerife (GOAT) and in the talks about “Women in Astronomy” within the project CosmoLAB: The Solar system as a laboratory in the classroom.
Pesonnel from the IAC who will participate in the above activities:: Alicia López Oramas (IAC), Ana Esteban Gutiérrez (IAC), Arianna di Cintio (IAC/ULL), Carmen P. Padilla-Torres (FGG-IAC), Estrella Zatón (IAC), Icíar Montilla (IAC), Josefa Becerra González (IAC/ULL), Julia de León Cruz (IAC), Lucía González Cuesta (IAC), María Jesús Arévalo Morales (IAC/ULL), Montserrat Armas Padilla (IAC), Nayra Rodríguez Eugenio (IAC), Núria Casasayas Barris (Leiden Observatory/IAC), Patricia Chinchilla Gallego (IAC / Univ. Liège), Paula Izquierdo Sánchez (IAC), Sandra Benítez Herrera (IAC), Núria Salvador Rusiñol (IAC), Virginia Cúneo (IAC), Antonia M. Varela Pérez (IAC/Fund. Starlight), Begoña García Lorenzo (IAC), Natalia Arteaga (IACTec), Paz Alonso Arias (IAC/ULL), Jorge García Rojas (IAC/ULL), Carme Gallart (IAC), Laura Sánchez Menguiano (IAC/ULL) y Mireia Nievas (IAC).
Other collaborators:: Alba Fernández-Barral (CTAO), Beatriz Mingo (The Open University), Evanthia Hatziminaoglou (ESO), Francesca Pinna (MPIA), Gloria Andreuzzi (Telescopio Nazionale Galileo), Jenny Carter (University of Leicester), Nataly Ospina (Università degli Studi di Padova e INFN Padova) y Sara González Pérez (ULL / IACTec).
A list of the activities:
- Habla con ellas: Mujeres en Astronomía
- Niñas que rompieron un techo de cristal mirando al cielo
- Chatea con una Astrónoma
- Women of CTA
- Mujeres Científicas Canarias
- Ciclo Mujer y Ciencia
- Jornadas mujer y niña en la Ciencia
- Mesa redonda 11F: ¿En qué trabaja una ingeniera de telecomunicación?
- Ciclo anual de ponencias del Grupo de Observadores Astronómicos de Tenerife (GOAT)
- Charlas sobre "Mujeres en la Astronomía" dentro del proyecto CosmoLAB: El Sistema Solar como Laboratorio en el Aula
- Jornadas de Ciencia CEIP Las Mercedes
- Jornadas Mujeres ConCiencia del IES El Sobradillo
- Charla en el IES Villalba Hervás
What is it? It is an IAC initiative that aims to make visible the work of women in Astronomy-Astrophysics, while offering girls inspiring models to promote their scientific and technological vocations. It consists of videoconferences with educational centres by women astrophysicists and engineers who work at the IAC and at other institutions
"CosmoLAB" is a project run by the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) with funding from the Cabido de Tenerife, and in collaboration with the Consejería de Educación y Universidades and the Museo de la Ciencia y el Cosmos, that was launched in 2018. The main goal of the project is to bring Astronomy and, in particular, the practice of
During the month of February, women researchers of the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) will take part in lectures, workshops and debates to publicize the work of women in science, and to arouse interest in astronomy, physics, and technology in young girls.
The Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias will join the celebration, on February 11th, of the International Day of Women and Girls in Science, with a street activity in La Laguna aimed at giving publicity to the work carried out by women astronomers and engineers at the Institute, and to encourage girls to take up scientific and technological careers.
The most recent edition of "Paralajes" magazine, of the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) deals with the role of women in astronomy, picking out important figures in the history of this science until the present day, with special emphasis on the women scientists and engineers working in the IAC projects. This magazine is part of the project "The return of Henrietta Leavitt", an IAC initiative with the Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology (FECYT) collaboration.
To celebrate the International Day of Women and Girls in Science, we publish the fourth chapter in the audiovisual series “Girls who broke a glass ceiling looking at the sky”. It will be available in the social networks and the video channels (YouTube and Daylimotion) of the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC), and its objective is to continue drawing attention to the work that women in this Institute carry out, and to encourage the youngest girls to opt for scientific and technical careers.
In the framework of the project “The Return of Henrietta Leavitt. From school to a research career via the theatre” of the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) in collaboration with the Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology (FECYT), an audiovisual series has been started in order to give visibility to the women astrophysicists and engineers at the IAC, while stimulating the intest of girls in scientific and technical careers. The first of these videos, which lasts for 5 minutes, is published today in the video channels (YouTube, Vimeo, Daily Motion) and the social networks of
The third chapter of the audiovisual series “Girls who broke a glass ceiling looking at the sky” is arriving at the end of the school year, when those who are finishing their time at High School should be deciding where to carry on with their higher education.
With the aim of motivating interest in scientific and technological (STEM) careers among the younger girls, and to publicise the work of the women astrophysicists and engineers at the IAC, in 2017 the audiovisual series "Girls who broke a glass ceiling while looking at the sky" was initiated. The series, inspired in the project "No-Nancies" by the astrophysicist Pilar Montañés is included in the project "The return of Henrietta Leavitt: from school to a research career via the theatre", an initiative of the IAC in collaboration with the Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology (FECYT)
To celebrate March 8th, International Women’s Day, a new chapter of the audiovisual series “Girls who broke a glass ceiling looking at the sky” is being premiered. This project was started in 2017 as part of the initiative “The Return of Henrietta Leavitt, from school to a research career, via the Theatre” by the IAC in collaboration with the Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology (FECYT), of the Ministry of Science and Innovation. Its objective is to show to the general public the work of women in science, encouraging young girls to opt for careers in science. Previously the series
