“Women in Engineering” Mentoring Programme

Twenty bioengineering students participated in the “Women in Engineering” Mentoring Programme seminar for women students of the Faculty of Bioengineering. Five women professionals took on the role of mentors and gave their view on women in relation to science, engineering and the health system. Each professional gave a session in the seminar and the students were able to ask questions or share experiences and opinions on the topics discussed. Additionally, with no more than five students per professional, mentees were able to contact a mentor for more personal tutoring consultations.

The speakers were:

1. Maria Pau Ginebra – University Professor, Biomaterials Division
2. Elisa Suñer – Chief Science Officer, MartiDerm Pharmaceutical Laboratory 
3. Clara Remacha – Strategic Accounts & Application Development Director at Hewlett-Packard (HP)
4. Montserrat García – President of the García Cugat Foundation and Director of the Regenerative Medicine Unit at the Hospital Quirón of Barcelona.
5. Lucyanna Barbosa-Barros – Co-founder and CEO at Bicosome.

The programme ran from November 2021 to March 2022.

The Engineering Information Foundation (EIF) funded the “Women in Engineering” Mentoring Programme to help sustain the number of women in the Faculty of Bioengineering by matching a mentor with each student and providing other community activities related to women and science.

Programme Framework

1. Programme objectives:

• a. Objectives:
  • i. Promote awareness of women in science, and more specifically, in the field of engineering
  • ii. Increase retention of women in the field of engineering
• b. Participants: The top 20 women students of the Bachelor’s Degree in Bioengineering at UIC Barcelona
• c. Programme duration:
  • i. One year
  • ii. The first mentoring session (March, April, November 2021, January and March 2022) and various meetings between the student and the mentor

2. Mentors and coordinators will be selected by the programme coordinator, Begoña María Bosch:

• a. General coordinator to monitor the programme and ensure compliance in a timely manner with the available financing.
• b. Selection team who can evaluate, choose and match programme participants.
• c. One contact person for mentors for the duration of the programme. Coordinate the necessary steps, make adjustments as needed, help with any concerns or questions during the process so they feel that they always have support.
• d. One contact person for apprentices for the duration of the programme. For the same reasons as listed for mentors.
• e. Team to spread the news about programme: Marketing & Communication at UIC Barcelona.

3. Participant Selection Process: based on their interests and career marks:

4. Material for disseminating the mentoring programme:

• a. Social media sites
• b. Personalised dissemination by email

5. On-site sessions:

• a. Opening day: week of 8 March 2021
• b. Student-mentor meetings
• c. Closing day: 8 March 2022

6. Coordinator for follow-up meetings: Begoña María Bosch