On the 2nd December, the second annual EMPOWER conference took place at the Glamorgan Building at Cardiff University, in the United Kingdom.  EMPOWER is a network to support Principal Investigators who identify as female at Cardiff University. It was inaugurated on the 9th May 2022. This is a cross-disciplinary support network for current and aspiring female Principal Investigators at Cardiff University to develop as successful research leaders, in line with the university’s equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) commitments. EMPOWER runs flexible sandpit events for networking, writing retreats,  grant pitching, training or hosting invited speakers. The invitation is presented below in Figure 1.

EMPOWER is open to academic staff at all levels, from early-career researchers to professors at Cardiff University. Please find additional information at: https://intranet.cardiff.ac.uk/staff/news/view/2618080-introducing-empower

The conference started with the Opening Welcome by Professor Roger Whitaker, Pro Vice Chancellor for Research, Innovation and Enterprise at Cardiff University. It continued with the introductory speech by Dr Soma Meran from the EMPOWER Management Team, titled “Our Journey and What Does the Future Hold?”. To continue with the talk of the invited speakers.  The first speaker was  Dr. (PhD) Diana Contreras. She is the Principal Investigator (PI) of the projects: Reducing gender disparity in STEM from kindergarten to Professional life, funded by the Wellcome Trust through the Ignite programme at Cardiff University and PI at Cardiff University from the project: ‘Reducing Gender Disparity in Higher Education in Science and Engineering from High School to Higher Education (GDSE)’, funded by the British Council.

The entire presentation from Dr (PhD) Diana Contreras was recorded, and it is available at the YouTube Channel of the project through the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTq-Q7dojWY&t=1195s

The talk from Dr Contreras covered most of the steps in the path of women in STEM (Figure 2), with special focus on the atraction of girls from early childhood, considering that by the age of 15, the confidence of girls in STEM subjects begins to decay [1]; however, she considers that it is a process that started in infancy. On this basis, she presented the Hjalli education model for kindergarten and primary, implemented in Iceland [2]. This country has been declared the best country for championing women in STEM [3]. This Hjalli model counteracts traditional gender roles, strengthening qualities that are often underdeveloped in each gender [2]. In addition to her presentation, she introduced the audience to a set of books by various authors to encourage girls ages 3 to 12 to pursue science. Those titles are shown in Figure 3.

The presentation from Dr (PhD) Contreras continued with the problems and actions to enrol, retain and obtain employment for women in STEM. She ended her presentation with the  Irène Curie Fellowship (ICF) Programme implemented by the Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) in the Netherlands [4]. This country is considered the second-best country for championing women in STEM, with the highest number of STEM roles available per 1,000 female workers [2]. The ICF programme was designed to attract, enrol and retain talented female academics and those who self-identify as women in STEM [4]. After the coffee break, the second speaker, Professor Barbara Ryan, Director of the Centre for Vision Services Research at Cardiff University, recounted to the audience her unconventional academic career, which included time in industry and as a government officer.

Afterwards, the conference continued with the posters session and the networking lunch to celebrate the achievements of Women at Cardiff University. The afternoon Conference continued with a step that Dr (PhD) Contreras did not cover: Promotion. For this session, the EMPOWER team invited as speakers: Mr Christopher Carey from Staff Development, and three women at different career stages: Professor Sarah Hall, Dr Renata Jurkowska, and Dr Amy Yau, to share their experiences of applying and being successfully promoted to Professor, Reader, and Senior Lecturer, respectively. The EMPOWER conference concluded with a discussion of further actions by the EMPOWER network. This Conference was attended by around 40 delegates, plus invited speakers and Dr Cosimo Inserra, Associate Dean of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion at Cardiff University.

Reference

1.EcologyProject. (2018). How to Engage More Girls in STEM. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqSKBRCVkPM

2. Hjallastefnan. (2025). The Hjalli Model. Retrieved from https://www.hjallimodel.com/

3. CloudZero. (2024). The Leading Countries Breaking Barriers For Women In STEM. Retrieved from https://www.cloudzero.com/blog/women-in-stem/#:~:text=1)%20Iceland,female%20workers%20in%20STEM%20roles.

4. Tu/e. Irène Curie Program. 2025 [cited 2025 7th December2025]; Available from: https://www.tue.nl/en/working-at-tue/scientific-staff/irene-curie-program.