Reykjavik University, Ský – The Icelandic Digital Society, The Icelandic Federation of Industries, GreenQloud, Skema, /sys/tur
Reykjavik, Iceland, 2014, April 30
Girls in ICT
Close to one hundred 8th grade girls from five elementary schools in Iceland were invited by Reykjavik University, Iceland largest technical university, and to four Icelandic IT companies to take part in the first "Girls in ICT Day" to be held in Iceland.
The participating girls were from the following elementary schools in Reykjavik: Austurbæjarskóli, Laugalækjaskóli, Hlíðaskóli, Hörðuvallaskóli, and Garðaskóli. The project was supported by Reykjavik University, The Federation of Icelandic Industries, The Icelandic Digital Society (Ský), GreenQloud, Skema, and /sys/tur. The project received a grant in 2013 from an Icelandic government fund which is intended to promote equal opportunities which partly allowed for the organization of the day.
Workshops and company visits
During the day workshops were held at Reykjavik University that were managed by Skema, /sys/tur and researchers from the School of Computer Science. The girls were presented with challenges in web design, programming and artificial intelligence and in some of the workshops they got to work with hands on assignments. After they had participated in the various workshops, which they could choose themselves, the group of girls visited four Icelandic IT companies: Advania, GreenQloud, Hugsmiðjan and Marorka where they got an insight into possible career opportunities following university studies in ICT related fields such as computer science. The company visits gave them a very important chance to meet with female role models and ask them questions about the career path and jobs.
The beginning of a new cooperation
In Iceland the Girls in ICT Day also marked the beginning of a partnership between ECWT - The European Centre for Women and Technology and Reykjavik University, who will manage the activities of the association in Iceland and act as the national point of contact. It is the hope that this day will be an annual event in Iceland and that it will help bring more girls into ICT related careers in the future.
