Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - Hypatia (Hypatia)

Teaser

Research shows that the way sciences are communicated to youth, in and out of school, is not yet gender inclusive. Young Europeans, both girls and boys, still have very little idea of the variety of careers that are possible in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics...

Summary

Research shows that the way sciences are communicated to youth, in and out of school, is not yet gender inclusive. Young Europeans, both girls and boys, still have very little idea of the variety of careers that are possible in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), and the skills that are relevant for those career pathways. In the coming years, with Europe’s knowledge economy developing and new technologies on the rise, skills in STEM will be needed for a broader range of careers than ever before.
The vision of Hypatia is a European society that communicates science to youth in a gender inclusive way in order to realise the full potential of girls and boys around Europe to follow STEM related careers.
Hypatia aims to:
• Foster partnerships among schools, museums and science centres and industries and offer gender inclusive STEM education to young people
• Actively expose young people and especially girls to the variety of STEM related careers.
• Encourage young people to open up their horizons and expect everything from the field of STEM
To fulfil its mission Hypatia works in order to:
• Provide guidelines for schools, museums and industries on gender inclusion
• Provide ready to use activities for schools, museums and industries that incorporate gender inclusion
• Promote dialogue among policy makers, industry and school decision makers on the issue of gender inclusion
• Create a Pan European campaign for and with young people focusing on gender inclusion and career paths in STEM
• Provide renewed gender inclusion criteria

Work performed

WP1 leader has set up the coordination and management mechanisms of the project. An external evaluator has been selected, de Montfort University. WP1 has produced an internal report (M1-M9) and a one year report (D1.2). The coordinator has also organised two extra meetings to ensure effective collaboration between Work packages. NEMO produced the Hypatia Vision Document.
Hypatia has produced a theoretical framework. UCPH has created a list of criteria on what makes an educational activity gender-inclusive. UCPH has set up a Gender Panel and has collected a list of existing activities in order to select the basis of the modules for WP4 analysing them. It produced a report on the relations between gender and STEM education in the participating countries (D2.3).
Hypatia has set up an Advisory Board. WP3 leader has produced a guide for partners on how to set up their National Hubs with info on how to establish a Hub , how to administrate it and how to host Launch events. From May 2016 and until June 2016 all main museum partners held their National Hub launches. By October 2016 all nine third parties established their Hubs and a number of them have already held their first Hub meeting (D3.2) . All hubs are also establishing youth panels consisting of teenagers that are also members of their local hubs.
WP4 leader with the collaboration of all main partners selected the basis for the first 15 modules (D4.1), 5 for schools, 5 for industries, 5 for museums, and allocated to each partner 6 modules to pilot . The piloting took place until October 2016. For each context the partners tested the module developed by themselves, plus one imported. Each module has been tested with at least 50 participants making a total of minimum of 1500 teenagers. During the tests, partners provided feedback and recommendations for improvement, (D4.2). Following the piloting MUST developed a refining process of the modules that begun in October 2016 and will end in December 2016.
Ecsite has been leading the plan for the institutional campaigns and the development of the Campaign for teenagers. The campaign for teenagers (Expect Everything) and the Hypatia project website were launched in April 2016, and were co-developed together with experts and teenagers having more than 4000 users at the first stage of the project. Ecsite manages the Facebook group of the campaign ( more than 78.000 likes in 2016) and produces several dissemination tools. On the 30th June 2016, the European stakeholders Event of Hypatia, was held in Brussels attracting 64 key stakeholders from industry, policy makers and museum representatives. Partners have been setting up Youth Editorial Panel boards consisting of teenagers responsible for producing content for the project dissemination channels .

Final results

Hypatia is promoting a new concept about the approach on gender in science education that promotes gender equality as a whole and acknowledges the differences among people even of the same biological sex. It advocates about the importance of organisations looking first at their own stereotypes and acknowledges the fact that science is gendered. The project aims to bring an institutional campaign on gender and is implementing hubs containing a diverse number of stakeholders in 14 countries. It has an innovative concept of creating co-development mechanisms among teenagers and organisations.
One of the Hypatia aims is to contribute into changing the way science is communicated.
In order to achieve this it reaches out to schools, informal learning organisations, research institutions and industries. It has created 15 modules available in different languages in culturally adapted versions. In the coming months 9 more partners will select, adapt and implement modules. Hypatia produced guidelines on facilitation and on gender tailored to different settings and expertise. In 2017, seminars to school leaders will advocate into bringing these modules into schools and Hubs and Ecsite will ensure wide dissemination. The Hypatia vision page will allow organisations to officially support the Hypatia aims.
A second aim of the project is to contribute into increasing the participation and interest of girls in STEM
The Hypatia modules ,based on existing good practices, will be implemented throughout Europe reaching out to more than, 550 head teachers, 1200 teachers, 22000 teenagers,140 research organisations and industries. These numbers will be exceeded by the indirect impact achieved via the dissemination of Ecsite. The EE campaign engages teenagers in 14 countries directly via the youth editorial boards and via social media.
Hypatia will aim to encourage sustainable collaboration among schools, science museums, research centres on gender equality and science
The hubs will ensure a long-term collaboration. At this moment we have more than 250 hub members, in 14 countries ( Industry, policy makers, gender experts, teachers, school leaders, NGOs).
The project will contribute towards European Research Area objectives
By giving a different perspective on STEM careers and by engaging both boys and girls today we contribute to the increase of future female researchers. We challenge current stereotypes and empower organisations to change the way they communicate. The project is providing industries with assistance on how to inspire teenagers in following STEM careers.
Contribute to the Innovation Union Objectives
Discovering young people’s skills in relation to current and future STEM careers is a particular focus of the project with a direct relevance to gender. A set of activities are directly devoted to this. The EE campaign has a special focus on the stem professions and skills and competences young people need to gain in order to follow science related careers.

Website & more info

More info: http://www.expecteverything.eu.