Female researchers of the NCCR visit the schoolchildren of Geneva
Last week, as part of the “Femmes et Filles de Science” (Women and girls in Science) project initiated by CERN, professors Paola Merlo and Valentina Borghesani, and NCCR Outreach Officer Coralie Debracque, visited primary school students in the canton of Geneva.
The aim: to present their daily lives as researchers, between meetings, reading and teaching, but also to reinforce the place of women scientists, and even professors, in the collective imagination. A necessity, in view of the inequalities that still prevail in the research world as one climbs the ladder.
They were also able to talk to the children about their careers and the subject of their research. With Valentina, they learned how words are linked to concepts in our brains, and the tools we can use to observe them. With Paola, the focus was on computational linguistics and artificial intelligence, and the tools, with which the students are quite familiar such as ChatGPT, online translation, or the vocal assistant Siri. Coralie presented the research themes of the NCCR Evolving Language. Filled with curiosity, the students had lots of questions for the speakers. “I’m always impressed by how many questions children ask,” says Valentina. “Growing up, we seem to lose the ability to just raise our hands and speak our minds.”
Researcher Valentina Borghesani talking about her work in a primary class in Geneva
Taking part in this science outreach project recharged Valentina’s batteries. “I got reminded of why I do what I do, and what I love about my job,” she says. For Paola, “it gives us a sense that what we do is relevant outside of the narrow sphere of research”.
Before taking part in the “Femmes et Filles de Science” project, the two researchers had already been involved in raising children’s – and especially girls’ – awareness of research careers. A couple of years ago, Paola took part in a similar project run by the University of Geneva. Meanwhile, Valentina founded the Penna Amiche della Scienza initiative in Italy in 2018, for example, which connects a primary school class with a female researcher for an entire year.
To ensure that women are included in tomorrow’s scientific world, this kind of initiative is necessary. “In my field, I see that there are fewer and fewer women, compared to when I started,” Paola comments. “One of the most effective ways of fighting stereotypes is direct contact, through sharing experiences and perspectives,” concludes Valentina.
