EPFL - Women's Day Event on 2020/03/05 === Notes by Maria Dimou / CERN IT The workshop title _Aiming at the moon_ is not metaphorical. All the talks were about Space research made by women scientists. [Detailed programme](https://www.xing-events.com/JRDJRBE.html) [Speakers' bio](https://www.xing-events.com/JRDJRBE.html?page=1972805) [Participants' list](https://www.xing-events.com/JRDJRBE.html?page=1972808). Out 327 people registered I think I saw less than half, due to the virus and the heavy rain, one guesses... Notes on each talk - please visit [the links at the end](https://codimd.web.cern.ch/s/ryOxRiREI#Links-to-projects-and-kids%E2%80%99-activities) of you don't read the details: ### Leïla Ojjeh, directrice EPFL Alumni "A small step for man a giant leap for mankind" said Neil Armstrong on the moon. Maybe the example of these women space scientists makes "A small step for a woman, a giant leap for equality". Announcement of a [new club of specifically _Women Alumni_](https://www.epflalumni.ch/nos-evenements/official-launch-event-of-the-epfl-alumni-womens-club/) for mutual support on job finding. ### Claudia R. Binder, doyenne de la faculté ENAC EPFL Female professors act as role models for the next generation. One needs _passion_, a _mentor_, _support_ and _critisism_. The door may be open - still we have to _see it as open_. We might also _need to push it hard_. ### « Une année brillante pour l’égalité sur le campus ? » – Helene Fueger, déléguée au Bureau de l’Egalité des chances de l’EPFL The 50 years of EPFL were celebrated in 2019. It was also a year of achieved and celebrated _Equality_. Check _Polyquity_ and their activities, especially their _café discussions_, their mobilisation against violence, their support for poor female students. EPFL was very active in the 2019/06/14 Women's strike. Numbers show similar data to an MIT report in 1999. That report showed that they didn't receive the same means and resources as their male colleagues. Today MIT counts 25% of Women Professors. _Status of Women Faculty @ EPFL_ is a commission analysing quatitative data. Event "Journées Scientifiques and Pédagogiques" takes place every year in EPFL. The 2019 event showed that since the year 2000 **systematic official policy** showed a steady curve of improving the conditions for all professional branches for women in EPFL. **They are 50% female professors now.** ### « Visons la lune », Chloé Carrière, étudiante EPFL en Physique & présidente de l’association Space@yourService She created _space @ your service_, an association that informs the public on space research. She is 22 years old, still a Physics BSc student. _Famelab_ in EPFL explains in 3' mins a scientific subject without slides. _Asclepios_ project: 80 students from all over the world and 6 astronauts (3 men and 3 women) who did a simulation of a mission to the moon in the swiss Alps. ### « Une conquête durable de l’espace », Muriel Richard, chargée de cours EPFL & co-fondatrice de ClearSpace She worked for 12 years for NASA. As a child she had no scientific influence in the family but she got fascinated by a magazine she received by chance with images from the galaxy. This was the first discovery of her mission in life. She just felt a passion for space research. Engineering studies in Grenoble, Caltech, NASA, new start-up now on Space debris (remains from a satelite's end of life). March 2009 Iridium and Cosmos satelites collided and the debris rolled around the Earth. She founded _swisscube_. **EPFL asks the collaborators to propose what they wish to do as new projects**. Her start-up _clearspace_ collects debris from space. The current amount of debris increases exponentially and they start colliding with each other. Space becomes impossible to exploit because of the risks of collisions with existing debris. The start-up received an ESA order in 2019. ### « Brick by Brick Students Develop Technologies to Live on the Moon », Tatiana Benavides Damm, alumna EPFL SV'10, Manager Hub at ETH Zurich & IGLUNA Project Manager, Swiss Space Center The International Space Station is operational since the year 2000 and inhabited by astonauts from multiple countries. The _IGLUNA_ 1-yr project trains students to design all aspects of living on the moon. They become the next generation space experts. The project covers many countries and contains 35% women. They built a plants' glasshouse inside the Matterhorn glacier. EPFL-based _swiss space centre_ promotes interaction between Academia, Research, Innovation, Industry, Education. ### Table ronde modérée par Aurore Amaudruz, alumna EPFL SC’08 Aurore is the president of the women scientists at EPFL. « Recherche, entrepreneuriat ou industrie, les femmes à la conquête du spatial » 1. Christelle Iliopoulos, alumna EPFL EL'13, Signals Engineer, Centre National d'Études Spatiales 2. Tatiana Benavides Damm, alumna EPFL SV'10, Manager Hub at ETH Zurich & IGLUNA Project Manager, Swiss Space Center 3. Chloé Carrière, étudiante EPFL en Physique & présidente de l’association Space@yourService 4. Muriel Richard, chargée de cours EPFL & co-fondatrice de ClearSpace The discussion is about projects on living on other planets and moons of our solar systems. In terms of opportunities when looking for _scientific communication experts_ the women are positively discriminated. In the USA there are more women in the scientific project teams. In Europe the majority remains in the hands of men. In EPFL there is no discrimination in the teams or the students' groups. Check film _Proxima_ about mother-daughter relationship in a scenario about space research experts. ### « Un projet de Master à l’étranger », Anna Fontcuberta i Morral – professeure EPFL & Présidente de l’EPFL WISH Foundation [The _EPFL WISH Foundation_](https://www.epflwishfoundation.org/) gives fellowships for women to do a MSc _abroad_. This is only offered to EPFL students. The amount of grants depends on the number of sponsors. ## Links to projects and kids' activities * [MSc fellowships for women](http://nccr-marvel.ch/outreach/equal-opportunities/inspire-potentials). * [ETH Women Professors' Forum](https://eth-wpf.ch/). * [EPFL Equality Office](https://www.epfl.ch/about/equality/fr/egalite-epfl/bureauegalite/). * [EPFL Women Alumni](https://www.epflalumni.ch/nos-evenements/official-launch-event-of-the-epfl-alumni-womens-club/). * [EPFL Women Students' Association](https://epfelles.ch/). * [EPFL Equality](https://www.epfl.ch/about/equality/). * [Publication and site on 100 remarkable women](https://100femmes.ch/). You may borrow the book from Maria Dimou. * [Polyquity - a commission on Equality on Campus](https://agepoly.ch/commissions/). * [Swiss Academy of Technical Sciences](https://www.satw.ch/en/). * [Switzerland's commitment to women's rights](https://www.fdfa.admin.ch/eda/en/fdfa/fdfa/aktuell/newsuebersicht/2020/03/csw.html). * [Swiss Education, Research and Innovation](https://www.sbfi.admin.ch/sbfi/en/home.html). * [Technology's impact on the environment](https://www.satw.ch/fr/formations-techniques/technoscope/). * [IEEE Women in Engineering](https://wie.ieee.org/). * [Archeology Labs for Kids](https://www.archeolab.ch/fr/accueil/). * [On science education, kids, students, teachers](https://www.simplyscience.ch/accueil.html). * [Educational offers, all ages](https://www.satw.ch/fr/educamint/). * [EPFL Outreach for school kids](https://www.epfl.ch/education/education-and-science-outreach/fr/classes-primaires-secondaires-1/). * [EPFL coding club for girls](https://www.epfl.ch/education/education-and-science-outreach/fr/jeunepublic/coding-club/). * [Other EPFL educational activities for girls](https://www.epfl.ch/education/education-and-science-outreach/fr/promotion-education-sciences/promotion-des-sciences/).