The QUB Women in STEM Society and Why it Matters
Caitlin Kiddie
Queen’s University student, Rossita MacClean, recently established a new society looking to break down barriers for women and minorities in STEM. The Scoop spoke to Rossita about why she established the society and the challenges facing women in STEM.
The society which was ratified in November 2022 and aims to enable female friendships, encourage cross-discipline relationships and provide professional opportunities to female and minority STEM students at Queen’s University Belfast.
Their mission statement is “to ensure that all women and minority STEM students on campus have the opportunities to thrive, socially, professionally and academically”.
Speaking about why she created the society, MacLean stated that she was shocked to find there was not an existing society at Queen's University and found that it was the only Russell Group University without cross-disciplinary Women in STEM society. MacLean also highlighted the key challenges faced by women in STEM, which include experiencing Imposter Syndrome, devaluation and under-representation.
Rossita shared that recent QUB Love posts which questioned the validity of this society and why the topic of women in STEM matters, reinforced the need for the society. Ignorance is one of the challenges women face. MacLean added that “diversity and inclusion matter, especially in a field where scientists and engineers are creating solutions to real-life problems. If the data is sexist the outcomes will be sexist”.
Describing women’s roles in the professional world, MacLean explains that feeling devalued pushes women to work harder and that people who view the promotion of women in these fields as simply filling the diversity quota are subject to this ignorance.
This year the society is organising networking events with companies and placements to support women going into the professional world. The society also aims to provide a supportive community during exam times and is currently planning a scheme of well-being events.
Everyone, including women, minority groups and men are welcome at society activities and meetings. The society’s aims for the impact at Queen's University are to raise awareness, establish connections that may lead to further employment and create a community to prevent women in STEM from feeling like an island on their own.
Caitlin Kiddie is a Science and Environment Reporter with The Scoop and is a second-year Anthropology and Spanish student.