L’Oréal Romania and the Romanian National Commission for UNESCO (RNC UNESCO) are launching a mentoring program that prepares school girls in grades V-VIII for a career in science. The initiative is part of the L’Oréal – UNESCO national scholarship program „For women in science”.
Students from Gymnasium School no. 3 „Nicolae Titulescu” and Gymnasium School no. 5 in Bucharest will have the opportunity to learn from exceptional women in Romanian research more details about what a career in research or scientific fields means. The first mentoring sessions, part of the pilot program, will be supported by Elena Dragomir (Butoi), who was among the first winners of the L’Oréal – UNESCO „For Women in Science” competition. Mentors have the mission to inspire and motivate students through their stories.
Ms. Elena Dragomir, PhD, is a researcher at the „Nicolae Simionescu” Institute of Cell Biology and Pathology and winner of the 2011 edition of „For Women in Science” scholarship. „I also want to offer the support and inspiration received from the mentors who have supported me to some elementary school girls who, maybe without being aware, outline their path towards science,” said Elena Butoi.
„The world is experiencing unprecedented changes: climate change, renewable energy, increasingly affordable medical solutions, security challenges, just to mention a few. Some of the solutions to all these challenges come and will come from science, many of them from scientists, and the innovations recognized by the L’Oréal – UNESCO program have already proven how much research can contribute to addressing these challenges. We believe it is important to attract as many talents as possible to this area, where women’s representation is weak, „said Gilles Antoine, Country General Manager of L’Oréal Romania.
„A career in science is not easy, but it is extremely rewarding to know that the things you discovered after years of work can change the lives of thousands or even millions of people. It is important for the pupils to listen to the stories of the women awarded the L’Oréal – UNESCO scholarship, so they will find out what a research career means and they can be inspired, ” said Prof. Univ. Dr. Ani Matei, Secretary General of RNC UNESCO.
30% of olympians in exact sciences are girls
The launch of the mentoring program comes in the context in which in Romania the girls represent only about 30% of the olympians awarded at the National Olympiads of Mathematics and Sciences (Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Earth Sciences, Astronomy and Astrophysics), according to the Ministry of National Education . Thus, out of the 305 students awarded at the National Olympics and the Youth Olympics, 102 are girls, with the best results being obtained at Earth Sciences, Biology and Chemistry.
In Romania, according to data from the National Institute of Statistics in 2016, women working in the technical and scientific field account for only 3% of the total active population. More specifically, we have 115,517 women working in the fields of science and technology.
A new component of an established project
The pilot program dedicated to the students was added this year to the L’Oréal – UNESCO national scholarship program „For women in science”. It is aimed at researchers aged 35 or over who are either PhD students or have obtained the PhD title and are pursuing a postgraduate program at an accredited higher education institution in the country.
The program „For women in science” was launched in 1998 at international level, and in Romania it has been running since 2010. At the local level, until now, scholarships worth 546,000 lei have been awarded to 13 women scientists. Award winning projects were selected from approximately 300 files submitted since the launch of the program. This year, the 8th edition of the program took place, and on May 30th the 4 new winners of the scholarships, each worth 42,000 lei, will be announced. In 2017, the number of scholarships doubled over previous editions: grants will be awarded to 4 young researchers.
