Training mentors for women graduates in STEM in Africa

MAST research project

Title: Training mentors for women graduates in STEM in Africa
Funder: Royal Academy of Engineering
Grant scheme: Frontiers Champion
Aim: No country in Sub-Saharan Africa has achieved gender parity in education and employment. This project aims to bring together global research communities, policy makers, practitioners, innovators, NGO and social scientists to establish an interdisciplinary consortium in order to empower women graduates in STEM in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Contact: Dr Boksun Kim

About the Frontiers Champion

As a Frontiers Champion, Dr Boksun Kim has passion to improve the quality of life of people, in particular, in less developed countries. This Frontiers Champion funding will allow her to expand her existing project on Mentoring future women graduates in STEM in Africa , also funded by the Royal Academy of Engineering.
The Champion will recruit fifteen women STEM professionals, who are based in Sub-Saharan Africa and each will mentor five women graduates in STEM in the region. After that, she will conduct two different types of community building activities. First, she will host webinars to investigate challenges for women graduates in STEM to access job markets in the region, and provide the mentors with training on work ethics, empowering and issues on sexual harassment at work. Second, she will organise two networking events:
a) an online conference where the trained mentors will present their mentoring case studies and share their experience with the other mentors
b) an in-person conference in Addis Ababa in Ethiopia, where mentors gather and celebrate their success, evaluate their mentoring programme and draw action plans for the future.
The Champion aims to develop a sustainable system whereby the trained mentors become mentoring champions and their mentees become subsequent mentors, who will act as role models for future graduates.
Boksun Kim
Dr Boksun Kim, Associate Professor of Structural Engineering
This ripple effect will not only lead to a growth in future women leaders in STEM in Sub-Saharan Africa but also have a significant impact on the societies and economy of Sub-Saharan Africa because it can increase women graduates’ employability and retention, double the size of the workforce and reduce brain drain.
As a Fellow of both Institutions of Civil and Structural Engineers (FICE and FIStructE) in the UK, the Champion feels she has a duty to contribute globally. She hopes to make a genuine contribution.

Our events

Details to follow soon.
13 April 2023 – Online mentor training.
24 May 2023 – Webinars on:
  • Building professional capacity and Continuing Professional Development for women graduates in STEM in Sub-Saharan Africa.
  • Challenges for women graduates in STEM to access job markets in Sub-Saharan Africa.
  • Work ethics and issues on sexual harassment at work in Sub-Saharan Africa.
  • Empowering women in STEM in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Watch the Women Graduates in STEM in Sub-Saharan Africa webinars

View slides and further information from the webinars
25 May, 6 July, 17 August, 28 September and 9 November 2023 – Online meetings with mentors.
3 August 2023 – Online conference.
30 November 2023 – In-person conference in Addis Ababa.

Get involved