by Dr Amanda French, Associate Professor in Teaching and Learning at Birmingham City University in the College of Education and Social Work
Introduction
Funded by a British Council’s Going Global Partnerships programme the STEM-POWER project aims to address the gender imbalance in women STEM researcher progression and leadership in the Higher Education sector in Indonesia by challenging cultures of inequality and generating new ways of working that create, support and enable career pathways for women leaders in STEM.
The project team are a group of women academics from Universitas Negeri Yogyakarta in Indonesia, Ho Chi Minh City University of Education, University of Education Vietnam National University (Hanoi), Birmingham City University and London South Bank University in the UK committed to working together to make higher education a more inclusive and enabling space for women and people of all genders.
The launch
I was recently lucky enough to attend the launch of STEM-Power, held on March 6th 2024 in Indonesia. This was a hybrid event attended in person by colleagues from UK, Vietnam and Indonesia as well as others, like me, who joined online. What followed was a lively and very exciting introduction to what is a most topical and timely project. STEM-power builds on the work of a previous British Council Global Partnerships project called EnPOWER (which you can read about here (UK version) and here ( Vietnamese version).
Prof Alex Kendall, Dean of the School of Law and Social Sciences, London South Bank University opened proceedings emphasising how the project aims to tackling inequality and find new ways of working with co-researchers in Indonesia and Vietnam HEIs in STEM subjects using innovative creative methods and building professional networks and communities of practice.
Dr Trang Thi Thu Nguyen, Director of STEM Education Centre, Ho Chi Minh City University of Education), reported back on survey findings from the EnPOWER Project in Vietnam of women working in Vietnamese universities which showed how much had been learned from the research undertaken into women leaders in HE there.
Dr Julia Everitt (Birmingham City University) and Dr Charalampia Karagianni (London South Bank University) described their work on a comprehensive literature review which focuses on the Indonesian academic pipeline and support for women working in STEM subjects in Indonesian HE. Like the similar body of work put together about women working in Vietnam HEIs for EnPOWER this will be a valuable resource for anyone wishing to conduct further research in this area.
Our guest speaker Dr Zulfa Sakhiyya, director of the Literacy Research Centre of Universitas Negeri Semarang, the vice deputy of the Education and Science Working Group of Akademi Ilmuwan Muda Indonesia (ALMI), and a senior research fellow at the Asia Research Centre at Universitas Indonesia gave invaluable insights into Indonesian academia. She pointed out that although more young women were entering STEM subjects in Indonesia the number of women leaders and researchers remained comparatively low. She also talked about the importance of women in academic sharing stories in order to support each other.
Dr Antuni Wiyarsi, Professor of Chemistry Education at the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Science, Universitas Negeri Yogyakarta, Indonesia, who is leading the project in Indonesia talked of her personal experiences of becoming an effective female leader in Indonesian HE. She stressed the importance of trust, sharing experiences, communication, commitment and the ability to manage conflict and balance the responsibilities of work and family.
Both speakers emphasised the importance of supportive colleagues, friends and family for women working in HE.
The launch ended with a lively panel session chaired by Professor Kendall which reflected and expanded on the themes and ideas that had surfaced during the day and which we will be picking up on as the project develops. They included:
- The importance of sharing female academics experiences in STEM subjects – and why just focus on STEM many of the problems are shared by women across the sector!
- Exploring the various kinds of leadership opportunities that women get offered in HE – and how can they best develop their potential.
- How can we change perceptions around female leadership and how can we ensure sustainable change?
- What part does resistance and resilience play in female academics’ lives?
- We all ended the day looking forward to more conversations and research in this area and we are using blogs like this to reach out to anyone else interested in getting involved.
Want to get involved or find out more ?
There are lots of different ways to get involved to suit your workload and commitments, you can:
* Join in our conversations on social media
* Join our online STEM-POWER Community of Practice to build networks with women leaders and aspiring women leaders
* Participate in peer mentoring, as a mentor or mentee
* Take part in our survey to share your experiences
* Apply to work with us as a (funded) STEM-POWER co-researcher
* If you would like to know more, please contact us at stempowerproject2024@gmail.com.