ASFAP Women in Physics Workshop

Friday 11 Feb 2022, 14:00 → 16:15 Africa/Kigali

Dephney Mathebula (University of Venda, South Africa), Iroka Chidinma Joy (National Space Research and Development Agency, Nigeria), Marie Chantal Cyulinyana (University of Rwanda)

Theme: Women in different fields of Physics in Africa: challenges/needs, opportunities, current status and future perspectives

Background and Objective

Women in Physics forum is a working group of ASFAP which involves women and men from different corners of the world having the spirit to help out with the gender inclusivity in the field of Physics as women still few in this field when you compare this to men's involvement. There is a need to put together strategies to fill this gap.

The First session of this workshop will feature speakers who can offer unique insights into the challenges that Women physicists in Africa encounter and tools to overcome them. They will stress on the strategies to adopt for women to participate actively in the already existing activities to enhance the visibility of African women in physics and in science in general.

The low participation of women in hard science fields like physics is one of the reasons the women in physics forum was initiated; our guest speaker from ASFAP steering committee will share with the audience why this forum was initiated and what ASFAP committee is expecting from it.

Sharing some experience and giving an inspirational talk is one of the strategies to help the younger generation. One of the speakers will talk about her own story and give some take-home messages for the younger generation in the audience. Another talk will emphasize on how women in Physics forum can put in action the activity of the call for letter of interest as the deadline is approaching.

The second session is the panel discussion which will touch on the visibility of actual women in Physics, especially African ones to inspire the future scientists in our continent. Then opportunities for Women in Physics as well in STEM will be highlighted and links will be compiled to be shared with the whole network.

Audience

Men and women Physicists/scientists in all categories i.e., undergraduate, fresh graduates, early career researchers, senior researchers, professors, etc from all over the world will be attending this workshop.

Format of the workshop

This will be an online workshop via zoom (link to be shared soon). We will have two sessions during this workshop. The first session is about three talks by our guest speakers and second session will be a panel discussion emphasizing on the theme of this workshop: Women in different fields of Physics in Africa: challenges/needs, opportunities, current status and future perspectives

video1630079773.mp4

video2630079773.mp4

14:00 → 14:05 Welcome remarks

Speaker: Dr Marie Chantal Cyulinyana (University of Rwanda)

video1630079773.mp4

14:05 → 14:20 Why ASAFP Women in Physics forum initiative?

Speaker: Dr Kétévi Adiklè Assamagan (Brookhaven National Laboratory (US))

ASFAP-WIP-Feb11.pdf

14:20 → 14:40 Path towards a successful woman in physics: past, present and future plans.

Speaker: Prof. Mmantsae Diale (University of Pretoria, Physics department)

14:40 → 15:00 Call for Letter of interest strategy

Speaker: Iroka Chidinma Joy (National Space Research and Development Agency, Nigeria)

15:00 → 15:10 Break

15:10 → 15:55 Panel discussion

Panelist 1: Dr. Clementine Uwineza, University of Johannesburg,

Panelist 2: Dr. Raissa Malu, Directrice - Investing in People (IIP) ASBL

Panelist 3: Dr. Dephney Mathebula, University of Venda

Panelist 4: Prof. Mirjana Povic, Ethiopian Space Science and Technology Institute (ESSTI)

Moderator: Dr. Cyulinyana Marie Chantal

1. How to balance family and career in science for woman to keep the momentum in her career of research
2. Opportunities for women in Physics/STEM given your experience.
3. How to increase women in Physics Visibility and participation in existing networks?
4. The status of women in astronomy in Africa from the perspective of the African Network of Women in Astronomy (AfNWA)

video2630079773.mp4

15:55 → 16:15 Informal Celebration of 11th February via Zoom (Cup of tea, coffee, ...)

Speaker: All