The Netherlands has a shortage of skilled ICT workforce, and an even bigger shortage of female ICT workforce. Despite growing awareness, only a small fraction of computer science (CS) graduates are women. Technical universities face an even bigger challenge due to the stigma that these are “only for men” – for example, at TU Delft, currently only 16% of students entering the Computer Science & Engineering bachelor program are female, while the national average is 25%. Misconceptions about the field are an important factor leading to this shortage of ICT workforce as well as the gender imbalance. Moreover, research shows that stereotypes and lack of female role models also contribute to this gap.
We aim to 1) improve the perception of CS among high school students; and 2) address gender imbalance in CS higher education. To achieve these aims, we will introduce bioinformatics as an attractive, relatable, real-world application of CS, brought by female role models. We will provide ready-to-use, gender-inclusive teaching materials for bioinformatics in high school education, focusing on CS problems in a biological context.
- Jasmijn Baaijens, Assistant Professor at TU Delft, Intelligent Systems Department, Pattern Recognition & Bioinformatics
- Robert Smith, Docent Level 2 at Wageningen University & Research, Laboratory of Systems & Synthetic Biology, board member of BioSB Education Committee
- Claudia de Buck, PhD candidate at Wageningen University & Research, departments of Bioprocess Engineering and Systems & Synthetic Biology, board member of ‘Stichting Biologie Olympiade Nederland’
- Kees van Bochove, MSc, MEd, Docent Informatica, College de Heemlanden, Houten, The Netherlands