Festive celebration International Day of Women and Girls in Science in Leiden
On Saturday 9 February 2019 we celebrated the International Day of Women and Girls in Science 2019 in Leiden! View the photos of this festive day, with contributions from Robbert Dijkgraaf and Ewine van Dishoeck, and numerous fascinating workshops and exciting experiments.
Science for everyone
On this day we celebrated the role of women in science and introduced young girls to the field. About 250 women and girls, but also male visitors, attended the festive programme at the Gorlaeus building. The day started and ended with plenary sessions from Kavli award winner Ewine van Dishoeck and brand-new Leiden honorary doctor Robbert Dijkgraaf, but also included presentations by Jacqueline Prins, Director Emancipation at the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, and computer science researcher Félienne Hermans. In between these sessions, visitors got to experience science themselves in workshops and DIY activities
About the international Day of Women and Girls in Science in Leiden
The International Day of Women and Girls in Science has been established by the United Nations. The organisers of the celebration on 9 February in Leiden are the Faculty of Science and the Leiden Institute of Physics (LION) of Leiden University, together with VHTO, the Dutch national expert organization on girls/women and science/technology and the Dutch Research School for Astronomy (NOVA).
The day is part of the celebration of the 444-year anniversary of Leiden University. Within astronomy this day is also celebrated worldwide because the International Astronomical Union (IAU) is 100 years old this year. Ewine van Dishoeck is the current president-elect of this global professional organization of astronomers.