admin Three new Academic Fellows have been welcomed by the university as part of the British Council scholarships for women in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM).
For the aid of women from America, South Asia, East Asia, Western Balkans, central Asia, Brazil, Egypt, Mexico, and Turkey, this scheme was set up.
Based on the data shared by the UN Scientific and Cultural Organization ((UNESCO) in 2019 less than 30% of researchers worldwide were women and only 30% of female students select STEM-related fields in higher education.
According to Aston’s reports, the three fellows’ research will be based within Aston Institute of Photonic Technologies (AIPT) where they will also receive industrial mentoring and be offered an industrial placement.
The areas they specialize in are food industry, agriculture processes, advanced lasers for health and life science, environmental monitoring and wearable devices within healthcare.
Professor Sergei Turitsyn, director of AIPT says, “According to the recent Engineering UK report only 16.5% of those working in engineering roles in UK are women. In many other parts of the world proportion is even less.”
“We have a great team of researchers with a balance of strong industry expertise and top academic experience who will guide and mentor the fellows.”
“We believe that our work contributes to the University’s new 2030 strategy by increasing our capacity for sustained excellence and impact in science, technology and enterprise taking into accounts various aspects of diversity and inclusion.”
The three new fellows are Nguyen Minh Ngoc and Pham Thi Hong from Vietnam and Shen Omar Nur Alia from Malaysia who have PhDs in STEM subjects.
Minh said: “I was delighted when I found out I had been chosen to be an academic fellow as part of the British Council scholarships for women in science, medical technology, engineering and math’s.
The three will be supervised by Professor Edik Rafailov, Professor David Webb and Professor Misha Sumetsky.
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