Promoting Gender Equality in Science

ICTP, together with the Organization for Women in Science for the Developing World (OWSD), a UNESCO Programme Unit based in Trieste, are pleased to announce an event happening on 10 February 2023 at 14:00, featuring the screening of two short documentary films followed by a public debate on the role of women in science.

Behnaz Abbasgholi-Na, an Iranian researcher and coordinator of an optics conference taking place this week at ICTP, will join the conversation in presence, sharing the challenges and successes of her career as a woman scientist. The protagonist of one of the screened documentaries, Maryse Nkoua, an experimental physicist who is working on the creation of an economic and sustainable micro-grid energy system for the Congolese community thanks to the financial support of the OWSD Early Career Fellowship programme, will also participate in the panel, connected online from Brazzaville (Congo).

The event takes place at ICTP on the occasion of the International Day of Women and Girls in Science, celebrated annually and established by the United Nations to recognize the critical role that women and girls play in science and technology and to strengthen their participation in the field.

In a world where only 30% of researchers are women, this event aims to offer insights into the reasons for this low participation and to stimulate a dialogue with the goal of finding solutions for a greater representation of female leaders within scientific institutions. Two success stories of women scientists from the Republic of Congo and China will be presented in the form of short films and then discussed during an open conversation between the audience and the invited speakers.

The event will take place on 10 February 2023 at 14:00 in ICTP’s Budinich Lecture Hall. The event will be livestreamed from ICTP's YouTube channel.

More details and the poster with the full programme are available here.