On the occasion of the International Day of Women and Girls in Science on 11 February 2024, the NEXUS-NESS project, in cooperation with the University of Florence has launched the social media campaign “Leading ladies in STEM”.
The initiative aims to promote and celebrate women’s role in STEM careers (Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) to inspire more girls to pursue academic and professional paths in these fields.
The campaign, which will take place over several weeks, aims to highlight the success stories of extraordinary women who have excelled in scientific, technological, engineering, and mathematical fields. These role models will provide inspiration and support to young women, demonstrating that talent and ingenuity know no gender limits.
The need for this campaign arose from data collected within Task 2.3 “Integrating gender dimension into NEL Innovation Ecosystem” which showed a clear disparity between the number of women and men involved in managing the Water-Energy-Food-Ecosystem (WEFE) sectors. This imbalance is more or less evident in all four countries where the NELs were created and can be attributed to the fact that girls are less likely to choose careers that would see them more involved in managerial positions in the WEFE sectors, which predominantly belong to STEM areas.
The protagonists of this campaign will be the female members of the project consortium, which are actively contributing to the creation of WEFE (Water, Energy, Food, and Ecosystem) Nexus management plans for fair and sustainable allocation of natural resources, along with some professors of the University of Florence.
The project team invites everyone to actively follow the “Leading Ladies in STEM” campaign on social media profiles and to share the success stories of women who are leaving an indelible mark in STEM fields. Through this initiative, the university hopes to foster greater diversity and inclusion in these fields, contributing to creating a more equitable and inspired future.
Dr. Maria cristina rulli:
🔸Full Professor of Hydrology and Water and Food Security at Politecnico di Milano.
🔸Deputy President and Advisory Board Elected Member of the Italian Society of Water Engineering since 2021.
🔸Received M.Sc. in Environmental Engineering from the University of Perugia (Italy).
🔸Ph.D. in Hydraulic Engineering from Politecnico di Milano (Italy).
🔸Research Associate at the University of California, Berkeley.
🔸Assistant Professor and Associate Professor at Politecnico di Milano.
🔸Member of the steering committee of the “Interdisciplinary Research Centre on Sustainability and Human Security: Co-Operation & Governance Agendas” since 2015.
🔸Member of the advisory board of the Water Resources Documentation Center (WARREDOC) since 2017.
Dr. Enrica Caporali:
🔸Associate Professor of Hydrology and Hydraulic Structures at University of Florence (UNIFI), Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (DICEA).
🔸Awarded with a Post-Doc at UNIFI and at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA.
🔸Chair of Board of Teachers of Degree Courses in the field of Civil, Building and Environmental Engineering (4 MSc and 2 BSc).
🔸Associate of UNESCO Chair on “Prevention and Sustainable Management of Geo-Hydrological Hazards” and in this context coordinator of the MSc in Geoengineering.
🔸Scientific Coordinator of the Spatial Data Laboratory of DICEA.
Dr. Leonor Rodriguez Sinobas:
🔸Full Professor in Hydraulic and Hydrology Engineering at the Agricultural Engineering School, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid.
🔸Received Doctorate from Universidad Politécnica de Madrid.
🔸Master of Science from University of California, Davis.
🔸Roles at the University: Teaching and research focused on the design and management of irrigation systems and water resources in irrigated areas to improve sustainability.
🔸Coordinator of the Research Community UPMwater.
🔸Main researcher on European projects, including ERASMUS+ (Capacity building), PRIMA, and Horizon 2020.
🔸Engaged in international and national networking to share and learn from diverse cultures and backgrounds.
🔸Collaborated in teaching/research programs with several South American universities (Costa Rica, Bolivia, Brazil, Argentina), Palermo University, Demirel-Suleyman University (Turkey), and China University.
🔸Collaborates with Non-Governmental Organizations on projects related to water issues in the development of the Third World.
Dr. Basma Hassan:
🔸 Received Dr. Salah Al-Abd Award for the first Outstanding Student in Bachelor’s degree.
🔸 Master’s degree with grade “Very good with honors”.
🔸 Ph.D. with grade “Excellent with Honors”.
🔸 Sole winner from the Faculty of Agriculture for the Alexandria University Global Young Researchers (Alex GYR) initiative for research and training.
🔸 Ph.D. focused on the assessment of governance models in public services in rural areas, with training at the Institute of Governance and Policy Analysis (IGPA) at The National Center for Social and Economic Modeling (NATSEM), University of Canberra (UC), Australia.
🔸 Expertise in sustainable rural development, designing and applying governance models, rural and urban planning, environmental sociology, gap analysis, stakeholders’ analysis, participatory approaches, and related statistics.
🔸 Research roles for various projects and teaching roles for undergraduate and postgraduate students in agricultural socio-economic sciences.
Sendianah Hamdy Shahin:
🔸 Teaching Assistant at the Faculty of Agriculture, Alexandria University.
🔸 Member of the measurement and evaluation committee in the economics and agribusiness department.
🔸 Junior Researcher in the NEXUS-NESS project.
🔸 Bachelor’s degree in Agricultural Sciences with a specialization in Social Sciences, majoring in Economics.
🔸 Currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Behavioral Economics.
🔸 Assisted in teaching various courses to undergraduate students, including statistics, agricultural cooperatives, policies and agricultural economic development, price analysis, and feasibility studies for agricultural projects.
🔸 Feasibility studies for agriculture projects as well as graduation projects supervision.
Margarita Fursova:
🔸 Currently works at WARREDOC (Water Resources Research and Documentation Center) of the University for Foreigners of Perugia (Italy).
🔸 Works within the NEXUS-NESS project as part of an interdisciplinary research team.
🔸 Holds a master’s degree in International Relations and Development Cooperation from the University for Foreigners of Perugia.
🔸 Holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in International Law from Saint Petersburg State University.
🔸 Main research and professional interests include cultural and social dimensions of sustainable development and green transition policies, protection of cultural heritage from climate change impacts, and copyright and other intellectual property (IP) issues.
🔸 Specializes in IP, copyright, and nonprofit law.
🔸 Previous experience includes working as a lawyer in the field of culture, art, and social inclusion, as well as serving as an international project manager.
Xenia Schneider:
🔸 Founder of XPRO Consulting Limited.
🔸 25 years of multidisciplinary leadership in systemic innovation, responsible research, and transition management.
🔸 Specializes in water management, blue growth, bioeconomy, and circular economy.
🔸 Multicultural and multilingual expert known for transferring best practices across STEM disciplines.
🔸 Responsible Research and Innovation champion, seamlessly integrating ethical practices into STEM-driven initiatives.
🔸 Robust background in value chain, business strategy, transition management, ICT, and knowledge management.
🔸 Brings 20 years of expertise to STEM applications.
🔸 Educator with 20 years of training experience and 8 years of academic teaching.
🔸 Molds STEM leaders at all organizational levels.
🔸 Navigated funding cycles from Horizon 2020 to Horizon Europe.
🔸 Committed to advancing STEM-driven solutions for a sustainable and transformative future.