Our team is dedicated to making STEM opportunities such as iGEM, as accessible as possible to everyone.
When we first started making our team we gladly welcomed everyone that showed interest and goodwill towards our project, without taking into consideration their academic field of choice or any other parameter such as race, sex or even age and therefore provide them with the opportunity to learn about synthetic biology. The team of iGEM Skepsis is extremely comprehensive in how crucial diversity and inclusion are to the rapid advancement of science. We are devoted to fostering an inclusive learning environment and increasing not only the accessibility but also the overall interest of underrepresented groups such as women in the field of synthetic biology. In order to promote diversity and inclusion, not just within our team but also within our school and other iGEM teams, we have organized many activities throughout the course of the year.
Even after all this progress toward gender equality and equity, in recent years, only approximately 34% of STEM workers globally are women. More specifically in our home country Greece, only 38% of STEM researchers are women. The low percentage of women professors in engineering and technology is also extremely disappointing
Even after all this progress toward gender equality and equity, in recent years, only approximately 34% of STEM workers globally are women. More specifically in our home country Greece, only 38% of STEM researchers are women. The low percentage of women professors in engineering and technology is also extremely disappointing
We at Skepsis iGEM aim to establish a community that values the possibilities that we know exist within the STEM industry. We wish to highlight the unlimited possibilities for women in STEM and encourage teenage girls to break the stereotypes and get involved. In order to achieve this, iGEM Skepsis asked guidance from our advisor Ms Koliakou, the head of the STEM center in our school. Ms Koliakou throughout her career has been really passionate about enlarging the percentage of women in STEM and heavily promoted successful initiatives both in and outside of our school. Inspired by Ms Koliakou’s passion and greatly saddened by the small percentage of female teammates within the Skepsis team we organized an inspirational seminar for women. Our intention was not to raise awareness of the obvious lack of gender representation within the STEM field but to actually showcase to them the opportunities and possibilities they could have if they chose to follow it. Moreover, in collaboration with the head of the student services office of our school, Leda Antoniou, we created a new policy which states that 1st gymnasium students need to have attended at least 2 STEM school-based clubs to successfully complete the club participation form that our school requires. In addition to that seminar, we also created posters with famous women in STEM, statistical infographics, and posters with inspirational quotes and illustrations that allude to gender diversity and hang them around our school campus.
Our team is comprised of Anatolia high school students of all ages, from all around Greece. Our school is a boarding school, which allows for students all over Greece to be able to attend one of Greece's most prestigious private high schools. Members of our team come from diverse cultural, ethnic and religious backgrounds. Everyone was given an equal say in the decision making process of our team identity and project.