On the occasion of International Women’s Day, Italy’s diplomatic missions in Vienna (Italian Embassy and Permanent Mission to the International Organisations in Vienna), Canada, France, Sweden and the United Kingdom organised a panel discussion on 6 March at the Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW) headquarters entitled Women in Science: Breaking Frontiers. Experiences and Policy Implications in Science and Technology in cooperation with the Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW), Women in AI (Artificial Intelligence) and Industriellenvereinigung (IV).
During an event at the Italian Embassy, which had hosted conference participants the day before, Italian Ambassador Giovanni Pugliese and Permanent Representative to the International Organisations Debora Lepre recalled that economies around the world are facing a shortage of manpower and graduates in the STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) subjects that are essential to meet today’s challenges. At the same time, there is still a significant gender gap in STEM academic training and female employment in high-tech companies. Therefore, Italy considers it more important than ever to stimulate reflection in this area in order to boost women’s careers in science and technology.
Italy’s representative at the conference was Sara Dalledonne, Research Fellow and Lead on Regulatory Affairs at the European Space Policy Institute (ESPI) in Vienna, Space Law Expert at the University of Bologna, Member of the Support Committee of the Aviation & Space Journal (ASJ) and Lead Networking & Event at Women in Aerospace Europe (WIA-E) in Austria, and Maria Teresa Ferretti, a neuroscientist specialising in Alzheimer’s disease and gender medicine, faculty member of the Certificate for Advanced Studies in Gender Medicine at the University of Zurich, External Researcher at the Center for Alzheimer’s Research of the Karolinska Institute and currently Clinical Development Lead at Syntropic Medical (Vienna).
The event, which was introduced by the President of the ÖAW, Prof. Heinz Fassmann, allowed for an in-depth discussion on the various topics proposed by the three panels of experts from Austria and the countries whose diplomatic missions organised and promoted the initiative. Many speeches focused on the importance of education, which starts in primary schools, as well as policies that can enable women to consolidate their careers and roles in STEM professions.
