In 2018, I organised the first joint event with the charity TechGirls, which organises workshops and competitions where young girls can explore topics in STEM. We hosted 25 girls at an open day at UCL as winners of an app design competition arranged by TechGirls. We arranged presentations by Prof Andrew Fisher, Prof Carla Faria and Prof Marzena Szymanska, as well as talks by PhD students on quantum technologies. The day was concluded by a workshop using the IBM-Q web experience for coding quantum circuits.
I have handed over the torch of organising these events to younger PhD students, but it’s still great to help out on the sidelines. My role is to provide additional support and funding as a member of the Google Women TechMakers. community.
This time, we had a whopping 45 GCSE students come visit UCL. They were in for a treat with talks by Professor Carla Faria and Professor Alexandra Olaya-Castro, an invited talk by a member of the IBMQ team, and a workshop on quantum computing.
I look forwards to working with TechGirls and other charities in the future to inspire girls to take up STEM subjects.
Here are a few Tweets from the event. You can read more about the events on the UCLQ Twitter page: