As International Women’s Day 2024 is marked around the world, EEE would like to proudly recognise and celebrate the invaluable contributions of the inspiring women who work and study in the department. Their dedication and passion continuously drives positive change and innovation within our academic community and beyond. This year, International Women’s Day aims to inspire others to understand and value women’s inclusion across industries.
Meet Seerat Sekhon, a first-year PhD student in the Bioelectronics Research group. Seerat is working on an implantable sensor for early diagnosis of chronic kidney diseases in patients, funded by the UK’s Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council.
What I love about a career in academic research is the opportunity to explore beyond the confines of our knowledge and the possibility of innovation & discovery. It provides you with opportunities to synergise your passion for research with what the world needs - creating innovations that can revolutionise human health.
Seerat has been hugely inspired by the work of EEE’s, Dr Sara Ghoreishizadeh’s work on point-of-care diagnostics and wearable sensors, describing it as “trailblazing”. She also noted the high-quality support that female students and faculty members at UCL receive.
I have seen departments celebrating their female professionals like no other. Being a Sikh-female researcher, I have made conscious efforts to engage in cross-cultural exchange between students & scientists and I’m also a member of the Women in Engineering Society here at UCL.
Nagham Osman is a third-year PhD student working on graph generative models in the ICCS group under the guidance of Dr Laura Toni. Hailing from Beirut, Lebanon, she previously completed her bachelor’s in electrical and computer engineering with a focus on artificial intelligence from the American University of Beirut.
Certainly, the field of machine learning is mostly male-dominated. I want to see more females in the field as I feel that the solutions we have nowadays are mostly male-crafted which may sometimes need a female perspective to complement it.
She credits her supervisor for inspiring her during her time at UCL.
Laura has influenced me greatly, showing that a woman can be very hands-on with her research students and have a successful research career, as well as being a lovely and present mother.
When asked about how she hopes to contribute to inspiring inclusion at EEE, she said:
Since I am one of the few Muslim women in the department, I hope to be an inspiration to other Muslim women and encourage them to study engineering degrees and show them that they can be good researchers without anyone judging them.
The staff are as supportive of the need to level the playing field in the engineering sector as the students. Dr Anna Maria Mandalari, is a lecturer (Assistant Professor) in communications and networking and part of the Information and Communication Engineering (ICE) group. Her research interests are Internet of Things, privacy, security, networking and Internet measurement techniques.
Diversity and inclusion are crucial in academia for fostering different points of view and ideas. It’s not just about gender, but also about the varied cultural, ethnic and different experiential backgrounds. Our department, and especially our ICE group, excels in meeting these requirements.
When asked about how the role of women is evolving in the field of electronic and electrical engineering, Anna said:
Electronic and electrical engineering is evolving, and more opportunities are arising. With a focus on education, mentorship, and breaking gender stereotypes, women will continue to make significant contributions and occupy leadership positions in our department.
Dr Francesca Boem is another example of an academic at the forefront of her field. As a Lecturer in Control Systems, she teaches the 2nd year undergraduate module Programming and Control. Francesca is also the Director of the MSc Integrated Machine Learning Systems and runs a research group composed of 3 Research Fellows. She also supervises and co-supervises 7 PhD students.
Research is a highly creative activity, and it flourishes in diverse environments where everyone can bring their ideas and points of view. Not taking advantage of that is a missed opportunity. It is really important for teaching too where a diverse community can open minds and opportunities.
PhD student Noora Almarri, joined UCL from Dubai. She is working on designing heartbeat-powered diagnostic implantable medical devices for cardiovascular disease solutions.
I've been involved in initiatives and projects promoting gender equality and diversity with IEEE Women in Engineering events. My advice to other women considering pursuing a career in this field is to believe in yourself, seek out mentors and allies, and not be afraid to speak up and advocate for yourself and other women.
From groundbreaking research endeavours to inspiring mentorship roles, the women of EEE are paving the way for a more inclusive and diverse future in the field of electronic and electrical engineering. Happy International Women’s Day to all.
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