There was a 61, 000 increase in the number of UK women in STEM from 2016 to 2017.
WISE Chair and Microsoft Director Trudy Norris-Grey has described the 61,000 surge in the number of UK women working in science in the past 12 months as a positive trend.
The achievement was celebrated at last night’s Women in Science and Engineering Awards (WISE Awards), a ceremony held in London to honour the outstanding contributions of women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM).
Norris-Grey expressed the need to inspire more girls to get into science careers. “We have a real problem, but it is one we can solve." She believes the question for business now lies in: What more can you do to attract and retain women in technical roles?
The night was also a demonstration of "what can be achieved by business leaders who put sustained and strategic effort into attracting and retaining women."
And the award goes to...
This year’s WISE World Award went to Asel Sartbaeva for her pioneering technology allowing vaccines to be stored and transported without refrigeration – saving lives in parts of the world without electricity.
General Practitioner and Entrepreneur, Bhavagaya Bakshi walked away with this years WISE Tech Engineering in Health Award for her app to help GPs make an early diagnosis of cancer, by searching the warning signs of 200 types of cancer by pressing a button.
While, Amelia Gould, Head of Engineering at BAE Systems, who leads a team of 650 responsible for the safety and security of engineering on naval combat ships got The Woman of Industry Award and expressed a wish to launch a 'Recruit one more' campaign with WISE. According to WISE, the campaign will urge every female engineer in the country to find a woman they can encourage to pursue a career in STEM as a way of doubling the number.
To inspire girls at a younger age into science, this year’s inaugural WISE Toy Award went to The Curiosity Box, a fun experiment kit that brings science and technology to life.
Inspiring girls
Mrs Norris-Grey agrees that with a big push from everyone, a million women could be working in STEM by 2020. The winners “show how women are solving some of the world’s most critical health and social issues using science and technology.”
“I hope they will inspire more girls to follow STEM careers because we need more like them – females are our biggest pool of untapped talent,” she concluded.