eSTEeM goes to Stormont

21st April 2017

The outcomes of a successful eSTEeM project about women returners to STEM were discussed at a Knowledge Exchange Seminar Series (KESS) talk at the Northern Ireland Assembly in Stormont on 5^th April 2017. eSTEeM Director Clem Herman and two project team members – Katie Chicot and Elaine Thomas – presented an overview of the project and resulting curriculum innovations, at a seminar on Women in the Workplace, to a lively and engaged audience of MLAs, civil servants and campaigning groups.

 The talk showcased two open educational resources launched by the OU last year – Returning to STEM BOC, and Reboot Your STEM Career interactive toolkit – both of which were developed following the results of an earlier eSTEeM project that tracked the 5 year outcomes of the original T160 Return to SET module. The session also included a talk by Professor Joan Ballantine from Ulster University about their research on women’s career progression in the Northern Ireland public sector. Not surprisingly there were many similar themes that emerged in relation to workplace barriers and entrenched gender disparities in leadership across the sectors. The seminar, part of the KESS series, was filmed and featured in a TV broadcast [The main KESS segment starts at around 9'30"]

Note: The Knowledge Exchange Seminar Series is jointly delivered by RaISe, in partnership with all three universities located in Northern Ireland (NI) – the Queen’s University of Belfast, Ulster University and The Open University.

Image: L-R Clem Herman, Elaine Thomas and Katie Chicot