In this episode, hear our STEM Untapped founding partners Sally, Suzanne and Deirdre, and our podcast Operations Manager, Izzy, introducing STEM Untapped and the connection between science and creativity. Student interviewer Assia, from Dr Sarah Moller's episode, echos this concept 'STEAM' and shares how the sciences and arts are very separate at school, but when it comes to the real world it's all very connected and they come hand in hand. This episode features highlights from the interview with our Untapped partners, some best bits, statistics on bias that exists in STEM and what drives our mission to encourage more girls into STEM.
If you know a group of students who would like to interview female or non-binary role models, please get in touch by emailing podcast@untappedinnovation.com
Likewise, if you know anyone who would be a great role model, let us know by emailing podcast@untappedinnovation.com
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If you know a group of students who would like to interview one of our role models, please get in touch by emailing podcast@untappedinnovation.com
Likewise, if you know anyone who would be a great role model, let us know by emailing podcast@untappedinnovation.com
Follow us on Instagram @STEMUntapped
Connect with us on LinkedIn @STEMUntappedCIC
Check out our website
Izzy 00:05
So to get started, Deirdre, could you please tell us what does stem mean?
Deidre 00:08
STEM literally is an acronym. So it stands for science, technology, engineering, and maths. And then also sometimes it can be more broadly referred to as steam. So S T, E, A, M, and the A refers to art. And we quite like actually the broader definition of it, because it shows how the sciences can be connected up with the more creative executions. But generally, in everyday life, it's referred to a stem. One thing about
Student interviewer 00:37
One thing about school is that it's all like it's either science or it's the arts. And it's really separated but I feel like when you go out into the work world, everything is sort of linked. And there isn't really a clear distinction between the two. It’s all very interdisciplinary.
Izzy 00:51
Deidre, earlier this year, Katharine Birbalsingh, the government social mobility Commissioner, and head teacher of a school in northwest London said that fewer girls choose physics because girls don't like hard maths,
Deidre 01:05
We make sweeping statements like that, because we're looking at data through a rearview mirror
Izzy 01:10
To put a bit of a caveat to it, she did clarify this inan article in The Telegraph, she did say that this is to do with her school that she was referring to. But personally, I think, as a social mobility Commissioner, and just a head teacher in general, I think it was a bit irresponsible of her to say that in in the press.
Deidre 01:27
And I think it also points to the importance of data interpretation. So I think if you look at the data, there are probably less girls studying hard maths. But that's as a consequence of the ecosystem that surrounds those girls, right? So if we put those same girls into a different ecosystem with incredible role models and relatable teachers are meant to
Izzy 01:45
Perhaps and all girls school, like Suzanne went to.
Deidre 01:47
Yeah, for many different ways, then actually, we may see a different outcome. So by looking at that data, we're measuring the outcome of the current ecosystem, should we change that ecosystem, you know, all of our hunch is that data will look entirely different? I mean,
Sally02:02
I mean, you see, if you look at across academia, even outside stem, you see that at a graduate level, actually, women are slightly over represented about 53%. But once you get to PhD, there's a severe drop off, and men are now 72% of fulfilling those posts. STEM is similar. But once you get to those subjects we were talking about earlier, with engineering and physics and maths it is much, much lower. Therefore, it becomes very difficult. You see that as well with literature published and citations and so on appear to be a lot more biased towards men. So if we look at some of the challenges they're facing, perhaps you'd find this in other careers as well. But if you look at research that shows that they find it very difficult in senior positions, there are often men, therefore it's, it can be harder to get funding for , if women are trying to get funding and people talk, some of these women talk about favouritism, victimisation. They say they're not understood in terms of their needs for working pattern work hours, and so on. So definitely challenges there, which I think makes it harder.
Izzy 03:13
It's almost like the dichotomy between how people expect experience or knowledge versus approachability. Yeah, and yeah, maybe there's a little bit of an assumption that men know more.
Suzanne 03:25
I mean, there's plenty of evidence from many different sources that having women in STEM has a broader positive impact across all of society. So even if you look at the business fields, companies that have more women on their boards, or have a better representation of women at the higher senior level, be they technology companies or other companies, they outperform companies who don't. So the diversity that they've got and having more female representation, right through business is a win win.
Deidre 03:52
And we know that, you know, girls in STEM, and particularly is a huge leaky bucket. And that's the first big hole. Because if you're not encouraged, if you don't see yourself there, if you feel like it's not you for one reason or another, that's the first forced decision making point where we lose and we know for a fact that that's one of the biggest attrition points and that's why we feel this podcast is incredibly important.
Suzanne 04:21
You know, it's just really great to be able to make that connection and let the girls have access to people who can hopefully inspire them and and hopefully as well, if they're able to then talk about them also with their parents, their parents may not, maybe don't have the same role models in their circles. Maybe don't know people, who've entered those careers, women who've entered those careers, and so it just makes it a little bit more tangible for them, a little bit more human for them.
Sally04:43
And we've seen the advantage of a huge variety of science careers that are out there and and also how continuing to take science at A level gives you skills that you can use very, very broadly and I think through the podcast series, a lot of the mentors that we've been interviewing, they're not necessarily traditional scientists, as you might imagine. They span a huge, a huge number of different careers and it's just great for girls to be able to see that and, and have that in mind when they think about their choices.