Earlier this month, our EMEA region ran Robogals’ first 2018 S INE conference at the University of Aberdeen. When we asked the regional team what stood out at EMEA SINE, they all agreed it was the palpable sense of community, interest shown by volunteers, level of engagement and the desire to share ideas.   SINE (Seminar Inductive New Executives) is a conference hosted annually by each of Robogals’ three regions: Asia Pacific, North America and Europe Middle East and Africa (EMEA). SINE is an exciting time for Robogals as volunteers from across a region come together to learn more about the broader Robogals community through workshops, presentations and panel events. A key SINE objective is to share ideas on how to run better workshops and develop soft skills in areas such as event management, teamwork, sustainability and networking. At SINE, our EMEA volunteers were able to take part in learning workshops such as Role Specific Training, Succession Planning and Handover, Networking Skills, Commercial Collaboration and Partnerships, Volunteer Engagement and Introduction to Public Speaking. These workshops are particularly pertinent as SINE coincides with the induction of new chapter executives, This year’s EMEA conference focused on ‘innovation’ and the conference agenda was curated to include initiatives such as the “Cool Ideas Showcase”, “Workshop Challenge” and “Workshop Ideas, Stories and Experiences”. These initiatives encouraged chapters to share their experiences over the last year and learn from each other. There were also plenty of opportunities to ask questions and give feedback to the regional team during our Industry/Graduates Panel and Outgoing Panel. These events equipped volunteers with insights that allowed them to better plan for the year ahead and improve in areas that would most benefit our chapters. 2017 was clear a year of growth for EMEA as the regional team expanded from two to eight members. Furthermore, EMEA welcomed the launch of two new chapters at the University of St. Andrews and London South Bank University. EMEA SINE was also a fantastic time for our EMEA volunteers to celebrate their 2017 achievements and reward volunteers for their hard work. The following awards were presented to selected EMEA chapters during the annual EMEA awards ceremony: The “Innovation Award” – given to our Sussex chapter for what they have achieved this year in terms of chapter growth, sustainability and embracing new ideas The “Up Award” – given to our new London South Bank University chapter with an honorary mention for our Loughborough chapter for their progress made throughout the year, as well as for their sense of community and teamwork The “‘They did that? Wow!’ Award” – given to our London Imperial chapter with an honorary mention for the Aberdeen chapter, for the events/projects they have run during this past year, as well as for their high levels of volunteers’ engagement EMEA awarded their “Legends of Robogals” award to Elena Lazarova (previously from the Manchester chapter/currently Regional Mentor). Alice Porter (from our Manchester chapter) received an honorary mention. March will be a busy month for EMEA with International Women’s Day coming up on the 8th of March as well as Big Bang Fair on 16th and 17th March. EMEA is also planning a new Science Challenge across the region, which will most likely run in 2019, as well as various workshops and activities throughout the year.

    This past semester marked a significant milestone for Robogals North America; the Queen’s Chapter ran our first workshop with a school located in a rural community. The inclusion of rural communities in educational programs like Robogals is essential. These programs provide students with opportunities to learn about STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics), and explore careers they may have otherwise overlooked. Many girls, especially in more remote communities, may have less exposure to enrichment programs, especially science-based workshops. In a town such as Kingston, schools within the city are able to participate in many programs run through the university; but the farther removed from the city, the less opportunities there are for such activities. Robogals is working hard to combat this problem by actively reaching out to under-served groups in our broader community. By reaching out to these students at a young age Robogals is able to dispose the stereotypes of a “typical” engineering student, and serves as a role model for young girls. To start off our rural workshop series we sent a team of volunteers to the school — about an hour outside of the city — to run activities with the students during science class. This workshop gave the students an introduction to robotics, and got them excited to sign up for the field trip to Queen’s campus the next week. Being able to provide transportation to and from campus made the trip much more accessible for many families – and the following Friday we sent a bus to the school to pick up eighteen students, and two parent chaperones who has signed up for the field trip. When the students arrived at Queen’s our wonderful volunteers led them in team-building STEM challenges, such as “the Marshmallow Challenge”. One of the most exciting aspects of the trip was taking the students on a tour of Queen’s campus. This allowed the girls to see first-hand what it is like to study engineering, and provided them with inspiration for their own post-secondary school goals. After a catered lunch, the afternoon consisted of extended robotics workshops that built on their knowledge from the morning workshop. Our first rural workshop was a huge success. Moving forward, the Queen’s Chapter will strive to reach more under-served groups, especially remote secondary schools. Being able to host the workshop on campus limited our cost of running the workshop down to just providing a bus for the students. It is free for university clubs to book rooms on campus, and by partnering with local businesses we are often able to cater lunch for the students free of charge. The feedback from the teachers, parents, and students involved in the workshops was overwhelmingly positive. The students were excited to use new technology and learn new things. As volunteers, we were grateful to be able to provide the students with an experience that they might otherwise miss out on.

At Robogals, we work to inspire, engage and empower. In that spirit, our Perth chapter held a high tea late last year in collaboration with BP, one of the world’s leading integrated oil and gas companies and silver sponsor of the chapter. This event was motivated by Robogals’ and BP’s shared vision of ensuring a better gender balance across the workforce. The aim? Connecting our university-attending volunteers with industry representatives. This kind of Robogals event is always well received by both parties and this event was no exception. The annual high tea saw more participation in 2017 than ever before! The opportunity provided Robogals volunteers with access to representatives from over nine companies and in return, the companies with passionate, motivated young men and women, invested in a vision of global change. This knowledge exchange is a key part of Robogals’ commitment to developing our volunteers into culturally aware industry leaders. ‘I think the high tea was a huge success and gave us access to key insights about future employment and the opportunity to discuss current issues within our difference industries’ – Rae Tang, Robogals Perth Marketing Manager. Our volunteers said the highlights of the evening were the delicious food, high attendance and the keynote speaker, Susie Pezzoni from BP. Ms Pezzoni’s speech highlighted the influence other women in the industry had on her and sparked conversations around inspiring women and gender diversity. We are very proud of the impact we can have not only on school-aged girls across the world through our education workshops, but also the value Robogals can bring to students studying at university. We are proud of the professional development opportunities we can provide and of the strong multi-disciplinary, gender diverse communities we build within universities to support young women through their higher education.

  On Friday October 6th, Robogals teamed up with Engineers Australia to run the 2017 Science and Engineering Day (SED). The event was open to girls across Melbourne, and this year, it was held in conjunction with a celebration of the conclusion of the Robogals Science Challenge. The Robogals Science Challenge is an Australia-wide science competition for young girls. Through the competition, participants learn about science and engineering while working on fun projects on a variety of topics.