The University of Limerick has been communicating with schools recently as it focuses on encouraging more students to consider careers in the various engineering and science courses.

A Department of Education policy document acknowledges the need to increase the uptake of STEM subjects across all backgrounds, with a specific focus on gender imbalance.

When it comes to choosing STEM careers, boys still outnumber girls significantly.

There has been a drop-off in girls doing Leaving Certificate science subjects and colleges such as UL want to reverse the trend.

Challenge

These are the STEM subjects that will open doors to a diverse range of careers in construction, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, electronics and more, but the quality of STEM education in schools is key and getting more female students on board is still an continuing challenge. 

 

"Well, I suppose I've always been interested in design," said Moya Geoghegan, a second year student in product design and technology at UL.

"But what drew me into the science and engineering aspect was kind of how broad it is and how it can really make a difference with people's lives.

"Honestly it feels quite empowering to be a female on this course. I know what my skills are and I'm as capable and equal as any of the lads here."

She urged girls coming out of school to be open to a STEM career.

Moya Geoghegan.

"I would say just go for it. I know it sounds a bit cringy, but honestly, women are brilliant. We are powerful and we are intelligent, and you are just as capable of getting into any sort of science and engineering degree as anyone else. So go for it.

Human-centered design

"Personally, I would love to go into human-centered design. I just want to make a difference. And I'd love to just create something special that helps people.

"We have a group of secondary school students here visiting and they are working with clay.

"They are making models, hand cutlery models and basically creating grips to help people who might have arthritis or tremors that wouldn't be able to hold a spoon if they're having soup. It's just to make everyone's lives more comfortable.

"In my school we didn't have engineering as a course and I suppose I probably would have benefited more from just having a bit of engineering background in secondary school.

"But I was fortunate that I had the options to do subjects DCG (design and communication graphics) and technology, which led me on a STEM career pathway. Women in STEM is the way forward."

Dr Eoin White, the director of the course, which he did himself, said there seems to be an imbalance between boys' schools and girls’ schools: "I graduated in 2012. And then I did a PhD in medical device design. After that, I became a researcher in this space and I had a quite a passion for helping people especially in the health side of things. And through that then I actually managed to become a lecturer here. So I get to teach what I love, essentially.

"So I've noticed that when it comes to STEM education, especially at second level, sometimes there can be a little bit of an imbalance between all-boys' schools and all-girls' schools where there are some schools that would lack access to STEM topics, such as engineering or DCG.

'Beginning to even out now'

"But thankfully that's changing so where we would have had a greater percentage of male students around five years ago, we are thankfully beginning to even out now where we have more female representation."

Dr White is passionate about the practical applications of this STEM course.

"Design as a discipline celebrates inclusion and diversity and the more collaboration that we can have, the more representation that we can have, and the better we make the world," he said.

"And I think it's quite important to stress that you don't necessarily need to have a formal education in a STEM subject in order to succeed in design, because we're all about solving real problems. And we all have the capacity to do that."

Dr Reena Cole, lecturer in mechanical engineering at UL.

Dr Reena Cole, lecturer in mechanical engineering at UL and assistant dean of academic affairs for the Faculty of Science and Engineering, said she sees first-hand the gender imbalance when it comes to choosing third level science courses: "So in the University of Limerick, we would pretty much have a 50/50 representation of women over the whole university, but when you get down to our faculty of science and engineering, which covers a lot of different disciplines, we're down to 31%.

Limits

"When you go to engineering, it's 14%. And some of that is subject choice so that in secondary school, if girls haven't studied certain subjects, it limits what they can do when they are heading to university.

"And one of the biggest problems would be that girls in other schools don't always have the option to do physics, or if they want to do physics, they have to go to the boys school, which isn't really ideal.

"So we find that the girls who make a distinct choice to do engineering are coming from a very strong starting point and do really, really well.

"It's often down to role models. So a lot of the girls who would have a brother, their mam, their dad, their aunt, someone they know who is an engineer or a scientist. And it's the girls who don't have those role models that don't have a route into science or into engineering."

Kate O'Regan and Nicola Martin, students at Colaiste Iósaef Community College in Kilmallock, both hope to pursue careers as farmers.

Martin, whose family run a dairy farm, said: "We're lucky to be in a mixed school that offers a wide range of science subjects including Agricultural Science.

"There's a lot more girls picking ag science now, which is great to see. I'll have a good foundation when I go to college and I hope to work in dairy farming. 

"My uncle has robot milking machines, so we use technology to milk the cows and use a laser to find their udders. I definitely want to be a farmer."

O'Regan agrees that role models are important when it comes to opting for a career in science: "I always loved science subjects, especially coming from a farming background.

"Agricultural science was always my big interest especially since we have three ag science female teachers in our school.

"I'm currently studying biology and chemistry and my older sister, she was a scientist, and she's always kind of inspired me to go into the science career. So I'd like to be a scientist or an engineer." 

A highlight of Science Week at UL is a newly installed periodic table of elements, with an interactive display bringing science to life - solids, gases and liquids, along with artefacts and everyday items, used to make everything in our universe.

Interactive display

School students usually see the periodic table printed on a page, but the interactive display brings science to life.

"What we're looking at is samples of all of the 90 naturally occurring elements, all in their pure unoxidised states," said Dr Peter Davern, a lecturer in the Department of Chemical Sciences at UL.

"And the idea being that we want students to see them, it's the only one of its kind in Ireland, there's only about 50 or 60 of them in the world of this design.

"We want students to be able to learn about the elements, learn about the uses of the elements, all the various artifacts that are there, and the interactive screens allow them to delve a bit deeper if they want.

"You rarely if ever get to see all 90 in one place. And we have them all here, you know, and even a couple of the radioactive ones." 

Dr Davern is passionate about science and the urgent need for more students to embrace STEM careers.

He said: "We need more and more and more people doing STEM, science, technology, engineering, maths.

"We need them especially with the current climate crisis in the world. If you're studying a STEM subject you're following scientific principles, you know, and you're working with that to develop solutions.

"Logical, clear solutions slowly but surely, to help us just improve the planet, improve people's lives. Please, we need more scientists and engineers and mathematicians. The world needs them."

A government report on the Future of STEM has found shortages of specialist teachers in areas such as physics, meaning less curriculum choices in STEM subjects, particularly in all-girls’ schools. In addition, some newer subjects such as computer science are still not mainstream in schools.

Risks of disadvantage and under-representation

It said: "The STEM Education Policy Statement recognises the need to address any risks of disadvantage and under-representation in the implementation of the policy with a particular focus on gender balance in STEM education from early years to post-primary school."

The report acknowledges that there is a need to increase the uptake of STEM subjects and to enhance STEM learning for learners of all backgrounds, abilities and gender, with a particular focus on uptake by females.

"It identifies that interventions are required across the STEM education ecosystem to affect change and that there is no single intervention that will achieve gender equity, rather there is a requirement to support multiple interventions addressing different segments of the ecosystem to effect the change required," it said.