Seminar sponsored by the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport.
The Campus Gandia of the Polytechnic University of Valencia hosted the “Invisible Female Scientists” seminar on March 5, 2014 to mark International Women’s Day and in order to highlight the role of women in science and research throughout history. The program consisted of a panel discussion led by scientists from the UPV who reflected on their own personal and professional experience; the “Invisible Female Scientifists” exhibition was also inaugurated with a guided theatrical tour of the campus.
During the panel discussion María José Viñals, Romina del Rey and Ana María Amat, researchers at the UPV, encouraged women to fight for their dreams despite the adverse environment. ‘Do not let anyone forge your expectations, forge them yourselves’, affirmed Mª José Viñals, Professor since 2010 and with 27-year research career.
The three speakers emphasized that goals could be achieved through hard work and determination. Ana Maria Amat, professor at the UPV with 20 years of research, teaching and administrative experience in the Campus of Alcoy, encouraged the members of the audience, many them young women, to pursue a line of work that they were passionate about, because only this would guarantee results. Romina del Rey, PhD in Applied Physics, with an 8-year research career in the Campus Gandia and recipient of numerous awards such as the Andrés Lara Young Young Researcher Award, offered some clues to detect if you have scientific vocation: ‘If you wonder about the why of things and won’t accept any old answer, maybe a career in science is for you’.
“Invisible Female Scientists” Seminar
The visit and official inauguration of the exhibition “Invisible Female Scientists”, organized by the Network of Valencian Universities for the Promotion of Research (RUVID), took place following the panel discussion. This exhibition pays tribute to several of the most important pioneering women in science who did not receive their deserved recognition at the time.
The visit to the exhibition was led by guides dressed as three of the most important female scientists: Ada Lovelace, Rosalind Franklin and Marie Curie, who explained their research to the participants in the laboratories of Campus de Gandia, recreating the context they worked in and the challenges they had to overcome due to their gender. The visit was organized by teachers and students of the Tourism Management Undergraduate Program of the Campus.
The “Invisible Female Scientists” exhibition illustrates the history of thousands of women who have dedicated their lives to research and have gone completely unknown until recently. “One way to end this discrimination is to rescue the presence of women in science, make them known and offer their figures as points of reference for future research”, say the organizers.
Complementary Activities
The “Invisible Female Scientists” seminar formed part of the activities organized by Campus Gandia during the month of March, that also included posts and videos on Facebook and Twitter with the hashtag #científicasinvisibles to highlight both the work of women in science and the activity of the researchers on the Campus of Gandia. In addition, the University Library is working on the dissemination of the scientific output of the researchers on the Campus through its RiuNet repository and has made a list of suggested readings related to the subjects of the exhibition available to the entire university community through Pinterest.
