Below you can find a brief overview of work and discussions carried out at each INGENIC Rep meeting over the years
The 8th meeting of the INGENIC network was held on the 4th of September 2024.
In Attendance
- Rosemary Monahan MU
- Rob Brennan UCD
- Susan McKeever TU Dublin
- Natasha Kiely TUS
- Josephine Griffith University of Galway
- Ted Parslow tlcompforum
- Paula Roberts TCD
- Valerie Butler ATU
- Alina Berry TU Dublin
- Cathrynm Casey MTU Kerry
- Brenda Murphy SETU
- Angela Allen Queens
- Monica Ward DCU
- Brett Becker UCD
- Shamima Nasrin Runa UCD
- Catherine Mooney UCD
Sense of Belonging
Catherine gave an overview of the results of the INGENIC Sense of Belonging survey results. Following a discussion, it was decided to run the surveys across all INGENIG HEIs again in Spring. As all HEIs now have ethical approval in place (except one) this should be relatively straightforward. The presentations are attached. Please follow up with Catherine if you have any questions.
TECHMATE
Alina gave us an overview of her PhD project and TechMate toolkit (A Research-Driven Toolkit to Enhance Gender Balance in Computing Education), please see the slides attached.
The following people kindly volunteered to be included in the test
– Monica, Natasha, Josephine, Kathryn, Valerie, Rosemary Monaghan, Paula (plus colleagues).
Round table discussion
Round table discussion on the state of gender balance/practices at universities for the participants at the meeting.
Key points:
Multi-disciplinary programmes appear to attract higher proportions of women relative to pure Comp Sci, as observed in Ingenic in previous years, e.g.
- TU Dublin – Comp Sci International (as a hybrid example) – still has a stronger female % than pure Comp Sci.
- Management Science and Info Systems Studies in Trinity has a high proportion of women.
- DCU have a higher proportion of women taking a Computer for Business degree than their other computer science degrees.
- Psychology with disruptive technology has a high proportion of women
- Maynooth has higher proportions of women in their multi-disciplinary Comp Sci than pure Comp Sci., and very high on Multimedia.
- Queens have a very high number of undergraduates in general, including good female representation in business information technology and computing and information technology degrees.
- Interactive Digital Media (as an example) has a high proportion of women (two programme examples given).
Meet-up events for women are a good way to increase goodwill and social interactions among female students. Several third levels host a welcome event for first-year girls e.g. TU Dublin hosts a first-year girls welcome event. Girls from all years meet up mid-year pizza event.
Thurles has hosted a very successful meet-up event and Queens got students together, from multiple disciplines, for a women in STEM event, themed on a sustainable campus. Which worked really well.
UCD hosts a code and chill session each week which is a way for students to meet.
ACTION: Provide a write-up of the meet-up event hosted, including target students, arrangements, activities, and outcomes: Reps from Queens, TU Dublin, Thurles, UCD
Peer mentoring
Several HEIs have 2nd-year tutors for first years, which is a particularly approachable route for students to get support:
Female staff recruitment.
One HEIl that has increased their female staff levels ensures that at the shortlisting stage, they have shortlisted women too. Women’s CVs don’t necessarily do best but tend to thrive at interviews.
Guest speakers
Some HEIs mentioned guest speakers to inspire women in tech as a route.
Date: 8 February 2021
The 7th meeting of the INGENIC network was held on the 8th of February 2021. Due to the government restrictions in place as result of the COVID-19 pandemic, this meeting was held on Zoom. Representatives from TCD, IADT, UCD, TU Dublin City Centre, TU Dublin Tallaght, MU, CIT, LyIT, DkIT, WIT, GMIT, UCC, IT Tralee, IT Carlow and LIT were in attendance. Vivek Nallur from UCD and Robert O’Connor from WIT joined us for the first time and we welcome them to the network.
This meeting was largely concerned with the HEA Gender Equality Enhancement Fund 2020 and two projects in particular that successfully received funding. Anne Wright from IADT outlined the project plan for “INGENIC: the Collective Voice for Gender Equality in Computing”; she put out a call for assistance and will be in touch with the network for volunteers and feedback as the project progresses. Sarah Jane Delaney from TU Dublin told us about the “Techmate” project which secured funding to research, develop and evaluate a toolkit of best practice techniques and methods for recruiting and retaining female students on technology-focussed programmes.
Sarah Jane also outlined the workings of the EU COST Action on the EU Network for Gender Balance in Informatics, https://edmedia.rise.org.cy/eugain/, she is involved in and promoted the possibility of COST-funded “Short Term Scientific Missions”.
Catherine O’Connor, Education Consultant, https://www.catherineoconnor.ie/, then made a presentation on Addressing the Gender Divide in Computer Science. This was based on a presentation she made to the Third Level Computing Forum in January 2014 where she outlined the results of her research into the perceptions that girls have of a career in Computer Science. Generally it was felt that these perceptions were still in evidence but there may be some positive news to report based on recent research carried out by Brett Becker and Keith Quille regarding the Leaving Certificate Computer Science course. It was suggested that we invite Brett and Keith to update us on their findings at the next meeting.
Virtual Meet & Share Event
Date: 22 June 2020
Welcome & Introductions:
The meeting hosts (Caroline Sheedy & Fiona Lawless, DKIT) welcomed everyone to the event and the meeting commenced with attendees introducing themselves and indicating their interest in the group.
This was followed by a number of presentations:
- A Review of ESTeEM from 2017 to the Present. (Leslie Shoemaker, TU Dublin)
Leslie Shoemaker of TUD provided an overview of the ESTeEM mentoring programme – Equality in Science and Technology by Engaged Educational Mentoring – aimed at assisting female engineering and computing students to reflect on and recognise the positive career choice they have made. Additionally, the programme supports students in identifying the opportunities open to them as a result of their chosen area of study and in building confidence in relation to their place in these traditionally male-focused sectors. Leslie invited members who were interested in further information or future workshops to get in touch with her. - Sense of Belonging Survey. (Catherine Mooney & Brett Becker, UCD)
Catherine Mooney of UCD presented on the background to – and findings of – a Sense of Belonging Survey, recently conducted in UCD by herself and Brett Becker. The survey, which was administered to a cohort of UCD Computer Science students, focused on examining the relationship between student’s participation in Networking, Outreach, and Mentoring activities and their Sense of Belonging. Preliminary results indicate that creating opportunities for student Networking, Mentoring and Outreach may have a positive impact on their Sense of Belonging, which is itself associated with attributes such as motivation and persistence. Catherine invited group members interested in collaborating, by repeating the survey in their own institutions, to get in touch. - Leaving Cert CS – Rollout. How can INGENIC contribute to this? Monica Ward of DCU gave a brief overview of plans around the rollout of the new Computer Science Subject at Leaving Certificate and invited the group to consider the role it could play in relation to this.
Sharing: A number of the group shared their experiences over the past few months and/or informed the group about future events
- Ruth Lennon, LYIT and Paula Roberts, TCD: spoke on ACM-W encouraged members to get involved/take on roles in an Irish Chapter committee and discussed the womENcourage event.
• Monica Ward, DCU, Online Teaching, and Offline Assessment. Discussion of experiences of BOLD in Covid.
• Keith Quille, TUD. Provided an overview of his recent works.
Date: 5 February 2019
The Irish Network for Gender Equality in Computing (INGENIC) held its 3rd meeting in DCU on Friday 11th January. The meeting was chaired by Dr Monica Ward from the School of Computing, DCU.
Three guest speakers gave extremely interesting talks. Sandra Healy, DCU’s Head of Diversity and Inclusion, gave an insightful presentation on the Athena Swan process. Jennifer Ryan (IDA) informed the group about the IDA’s work on gathering information on females in STEM initiatives across different sectors: primary school, secondary school, third level, working and returners. Joe English (Professional Development Service for Teachers – PDST) gave an overview of the roll-out of the new Leaving Cert Computer Science curriculum and the Continuous Professional Development (CPD) they have delivered to teachers. Overall, the meeting was very productive and members will continue to work on collaborative initiatives focusing on increasing gender equality in computing and relevant projects in the female in computing domain.
Date: 17 June 2019
4th INGENIC meeting was held in NUI & GMIT 17th June 2019
Present: Keara Barrett, IT Carlow, Valerie Butler, GMIT, Cornelia Connolly, NUI Galway, Louise Glynn, IADT, Josephine Griffith (chair), NUI Galway, Ruth Lennon, Letterkenny IT, Mary Loftus, Sligo IT, Susan McKeever, TU Dublin, Janice O’Connell, Limerick IT, John O’Mullane, UCC, Fiona Redmond, IT Carlow, Paula Roberts, TCD, Caroline Sheedy, DkIT and Karen Young, NUI Galway.
Date: 11 December 2019
The Irish Network for Gender Equality in Computing (INGENIC) held its 5th meeting in UCD on Wednesday, December 11th. The meeting was chaired by Dr Catherine Mooney from the UCD School of Computer Science.
Date: 20 June 2018
The Irish Network for Gender Equality in Computing (INGENIC) held its 1st meeting in TU Dublin on Wednesday 20th June. The meeting was chaired by Dr Susan Mckeever – Senior lecturer – Technological University Dublin.
The group is composed of interested academic members of national third level organisations. Our main aims are to:
- Help increase the enrolment of females on third level computing programmes.
- Improve the experience of female students in computing programmes.
- Identify and develop supports for staff development in line with national and international recommendations for improving gender diversity and equality.
- Support collaborative approaches to address these aims.
Date: 6 September 2018
The Irish Network for Gender Equality in Computing (INGENIC) held its 2nd meeting in the UCD on Thursday 6th September. The meeting was chaired by Dr Catherine Mooney, School of Computer Science. We were delighted to have 27 attendees representing 17 Irish third level institutions.
Julie Hogan (Chair WITS) led a discussion on how INGENIC and WITS can work together. David Fisher (Fulbright U.S. Scholar – Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology) gave a talk on his research on the Gender Gap in Computer Science leading to an interesting discussion on the similarities and difference between the US and the Irish approach to the Gender Gap. Other topics discussed included the introduction of Computer Science onto the Leaving Cert and Athena Swan.
