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Finnish girls are the second best worldwide in natural sciences, and Finland is the only country in which girls represent over half of the students who succeed in natural sciences.Despite this, Finnish girls are the least interested in studying technology when compared to those in other OECD countries. The reasons for the lack of interest include a lack of self-confidence or practical experience and a lack of awareness of the importance of technology. We have the opportunity to change this!

On 11 October, on the International Day of the Girl, Aalto University will be running the Shaking up Tech event for the first time in Finland. The goal of the event is to inspire and encourage young women with talent in natural sciences to apply for studies in technology. Two invitations will be sent to every Finnish high school with a request that they be given to students studying advanced maths who are particularly talented in natural sciences. 200 of them will get to participate in the Shaking up Tech event. The inspiration for the event comes from NTNU in Norway, where it is aimed at the ICT field. In 2017, the percentage of Norwegian young women studying ICT field was 29%, compared to only 7% in 2004. Last year, KTH in Sweden also ran a similar event for the first time. The plan is to run the event in Aalto annually.

The day will include inspirational presentations from people such as Master of Science in Technology Irena Bakić, who coordinates the CodeBus Africa project, Professor of Statistics Pauliina Ilmonen, Professor of Energy Technology Sanna Syri, and Founder and CEO of the Upright project Annu Nieminen.After the diverse and hands-on workshops, the day will end with a fare in which student associations and companies will also get to introduce themselves. The partnering organisations for the event include TEK and ABB.

Become a workshop leader and make the world a more equal place

We are looking for workshop leaders who have both joy at work and a concrete idea that they want to carry out. There will be around ten college students in each workshop. Heta Närhi’s workshop will involve making phone applications using graphic programming, Kirsi Peltonen’s Geometry in Action workshop will get the participants making their own geometric models and Kerttu Aitola’s workshop will employ the students in making blueberry solar cells. Many workshops have already been confirmed, but we would like to have even more!

If you’re interested in running a workshop or participating in the event in some other way, please get in touch with the event’s project coordinator Sara Ikonen by 31 May at the latest.

Further information:

Sara Ikonen, sara.ikonen@aalto.fi, tel. +358 50 336 2940.