The tech company offers a total of €90,000 annually to women studying STEM across TU Dublin, UCC and UCD through its Tech4Her scholarship.
Having handed out 26 scholarships for the 2021/2022 academic year, Huawei’s Tech4Her programme has returned for its third year and is offering 20 more scholarships to women studying STEM across three Irish universities.
Students will be able to avail of financial awards as well as masterclasses and other opportunities to engage with women working in the tech industry.
The programme aims to inspire young women in STEM and move the needle in terms of the number of women joining the tech industry.
Derek Collins, director of research collaboration and innovation at Huawei Ireland, told SiliconRepublic.com that Ireland has “a challenge of getting more women into third level” and into STEM subjects.
“Bringing young talent into our research centre is really part of our DNA for the future and to challenge our present thinking and what we need to do to make the world a better place,” he said.
The Tech4Her programme offers a total of €90,000 annually in financial awards broken down across TU Dublin, University College Dublin (UCD) and University College Cork (UCC).
Sabá Loftus, head of development in UCC’s College of Science, Engineering and Food Science, said the stereotype that women and girls are not good at science and maths needs to change.
“We need to change how it’s taught in secondary schools, we need to encourage individuals to do what they’re passionate about and sell the message that girls are good at maths and that’s OK,” she added.
Rujing Guo, PR and CSR manager for Huawei Ireland, said the company is committed to “empowering women by giving them more opportunities” to harness the potential of tech.
“Our mission is to support women who want to pursue a career in the exciting areas of ICT and STEM,” she said.
“In May of this year, the Central Statistics Office published new data which showed that less than one-third (32pc) of Ireland’s ICT workers are women. We hope that our efforts will help close the gender gap in STEM in Ireland and help attract more young women into the ICT industry to drive sustainable and inclusive growth across the country.”
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