Equal Opportunities for Women in STEM

Women in Biomedical Engineering and Artificial Intelligence in Medicine

At the ARTORG Center for Biomedical Engineering Research multidisciplinary teams are joining in a mission to tackle healthcare challenges and unmet clinical needs. To address the existing gender gap in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), harness the high-performance capacity of diverse teams and foster young talents, the ARTORG and the Center for Artificial Intelligence in Medicine (CAIM) plan to support two female STEM graduates through a full scholarship for a two-year master’s programme.

Background

Over the past years, there has been significant progress in increasing the representation of women in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics). However, despite the stronger emphasis on gender equality, gender disparity continues to persist in these domains within the modern labor market. The fact that fewer women enter science is not the only reason why there are few women in STEM in comparison with men. US data show that women are also more likely to quit. The tide of female STEM graduates leaving science represents a waste of social investment and individual effort, and suggests that there are structural problems around retaining women in STEM careers. This gender imbalance is commonly referred to as the “STEM gap”.

Initial Position

Women are lost at every educational transition point on their way to a STEM career. Qualified and motivated STEM professionals are highly sought after in academic research and industry globally; however, the “STEM Gap” can only be addressed if more women are encouraged to take up studies of STEM subjects and then remain in the STEM domain. Therefore, the ARTORG Center has come up with the following goals:

• to attract young female STEM talents from emerging economies
• to address the existing gender gap
• to increase the possibility of building diverse teams and thus harness the power of diverse teams

Strategy

To address the existing gender gap and harness the power of heterogenous teams, the ARTORG and CAIM want to encourage STEM undergraduates from diverse backgrounds to embark on postgraduate education in Biomedical Engineering (BME) and Artificial Intelligence (AI). To this end, the ARTORG center and CAIM wish to support two female STEM graduates from emerging economies through full scholarships for a two-year master’s programme at ARTORG or CAIM.

What You Achieve

Thanks to your donation, two female STEM students can be offered a full two-year scholarship at ARTORG or CAIM that covers tuition fees, mentoring, study equipment, room and board, living expenses, as well as an applied Master’s thesis. In the greater context, the benefits of supporting the scholarships are the expansion of the research-footprint for medical technology innovation, supplying the workforce for new clinical and medical service provision roles, achieving gender parity goals and the identification of potential future employees with outstanding training and expertise. 

Financial Need

The costs for a Scholarship for 2 years are CHF 65,300 per student. 

Factsheet

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