Although the presence of women at the university breaks records year after year and they are already the majority among university students (54.4% of the total), The panorama changes when engineering studies are analyzed.
Specifically, in the case of Aerospace Engineering, where women represent only a quarter of the total and only 17% are pursuing the Aerospace Vehicle Engineering Degree. It is the tone of a sector that constitutes one of the most powerful markets in Spain and in which the presence of women is beginning to take off.
That’s why, the Aerospace Innovation, Talent and Education Forum Fitea 2024 —held in Madrid from October 29 to 31— will focus on the opportunities that the aerospace sector offers for women and will influence the need to promote educational policies and strategies that promote gender equality in STEM disciplines.
“Now that it is one year since the creation of the Spanish Space Agency, 60 years since NASA’s presence in our country and for the first time we have a female astronaut [Sara García Alonso, que amadrina el encuentro]we are witnessing the birth of a new professional sector that will develop in an environment yet to be explored: Space,” explains the president of Ellas Vuelan Alto, Gema Martín del Burgo.
“It is the first time that in Spain the new generations will be able to choose to develop their professional career in the space field. Sara’s inspiration [García Alonso] and the women who were pioneers in the aeronautical and space sector will be decisive,” she adds.
The Fitea 2024 agenda will include the female perspective in the round table moderated by Isabel Maestre Moreno, vice president of Ellas Vuelan Alto and deputy director of Foresight and Innovation at Senasa, Fostering change through female leadership. Ana María Farré Gaudier, president of the Women Leaders in Education Association (MLE), will participate in it; and Carmen Librero Pintado, special commissioner for Transportation, Mobility and the Urban Agenda of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Agenda.
In addition, the promotion of new generations at the table will be analyzed in depth. Inspiring new generations of women: support networksmoderated by María López Fernández-Pacheco, head of the Clients and Corporate Social Responsibility Division of the Sustainability and Institutional Relations Division of Enaire.
Regarding this aspect, strategic for the development of the aerospace sectorGema Martín del Burgo, president of Ellas Vuelan Alto, will debate; Mireia Colina Fatjo, founder of the Barcelona headquarters of Women in aerospace; Isabel Vera Trallero, project manager at INTA, and Mar Porras, Global President of Stem Women Association and Marketing Manager of Ricoh Spain and Portugal.
For their part, Ángela Abad and Marta Gabladón, aeronautical engineers at INECO, will lead the workshop I want to be a professional in Aerospace Engineeringwhile Cristina Cuerno Rejado, professor at the Higher Technical School of Aeronautical and Space Engineering of the Polytechnic University of Madrid (UPM), will moderate the table on Solutions to the STEM challenge in students.
Next to her, will participate at the table Eva Jurado Cortés, Data&AI Technical Specialist at Microsoft; Laura Antón, director of Virtual Educa Programs; and Marta Pérez Dorao, executive president of the Inspiring Girls Foundation.
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