Female students in Mayo encouraged to sign up for annual I Wish STEM showcase

I Wish, the organisation inspiring teenage girls towards science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) careers, is encouraging female students in Mayo to sign up for the I Wish STEM showcase hybrid event on February 28 in the RDS Dublin.

The one-day in-person event will also broadcast live to teenage girls in Ireland and around the world. Schools and students may sign up via iwish.ie/register.

I Wish is also announcing the first confirmed headline speakers for the STEM event. Mary Robinson, former President of Ireland, will address the audience of teenage girls on promoting gender equality, human rights and social justice globally.

Female STEM entrepreneurs and co-founders of payments start-up Xelda, India Healy O’Connor and Portia Healy O’Connor, will also speak at the event as important female STEM role models.

Additional speakers confirmed to date are Élora Kelkel, software engineer at Stripe; Jessica Dino, senior automation engineer and certified machine safety expert at Johnson & Johnson Vision; and Arushi Doshi, manager in cybersecurity and forensics with Deloitte.

Gillian Keating, co-founder of I Wish, commented: “We are hugely excited to confirm the line-up for the ninth annual I Wish STEM showcase hybrid event. Our organisation’s mission – to increase female participation in STEM by breaking down the barriers that persist – is founded in the vision of a future where girls are enabled to shape a better world through STEM.”

She continued: “We are urging teenage girls and schools around the country to sign up for the STEM showcase on February 28. We want to provide access for as many as possible to the fantastic female role models in STEM. Last year the I Wish STEM showcase drew an audience of 17,036 second-level students from all 32 counties in Ireland as well as from 28 countries across Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe and South America.”

The ninth annual I Wish STEM hybrid event 2023 is expected to host an audience of 3,000 teenage girls from around the country in-person, with the virtual TV-style live broadcast aiming to reach more than 10,000 teenage girls globally.

The aim for I Wish is to continue to provide female STEM role models and STEM work experience opportunities; to develop policies that address gender differences in STEM after graduation, which deplete the pool of role models; to improve and better inform access to STEM subjects for all senior cycle students; and enhance focus on STEM-related careers in the Junior Cycle curriculum.