Girls into Geoscience: inspiring the next generation of female Earth Scientists

Girls into Geoscience (GiG) is an initiative aiming to empower and encourage girls to consider degrees and careers in the Geosciences. Currently, < 40 % of places on Geoscience courses in the UK are taken up by girls, and this is something we are actively and successfully addressing. Our founding GiG event runs for 2 days and is primarily aimed at year 12 female students who are thinking about applying for university. June 2014 saw the first Girls into Geoscience day, and since then nearly 400 girls have attended from across the UK.  On day one we offer a fieldtrip, whilst day two consists of a day of talks and workshops, with topics from across the geosciences.  The aim of the talks is to showcase the range of Geoscience career pathways that are possible across industry and academia, and provide role models for the girls. Speakers span the career spectrum from early career to experienced scientists, and they talk about their unique journey to becoming Earth Scientists, as well as informing the students about different disciplines and roles possible after graduation. In the afternoon, an insight into the university experience is given through hands-on workshops across a range of geoscience topics, giving the attendees the opportunity to focus on their interests or try something new. Data collected from attendees has shown real impact. For example, in 2016, 75% of attendees at the end of the event said that they were more likely to consider studying geology, whilst 9% were already planning on doing so.  A year later these students were about to start university courses, and 78% of respondents (55% response rate) were off to study geoscience or related courses at university. While in 2017, 70% of the students said they were more likely to do geology following GiG, and 63% (39% response rate) went on to do geoscience related course in 2018, and in 2018 84% said they were more likely to study geology following GiG, and 85% (38% response rate) were off to do geoscience related courses in 2019. Significantly, 100% of all those responding 1 year later said they would recommend attending GiG to those interested in the Geosciences. 

Since we started GiG we have seen many changes and positive steps in the recruitment, recognition and retention of women in STEM but there is still work to do nationally and internationally.  We have supported the development of new initiatives and GiG Ireland has now been running for 3 years, GiG Scotland held their inaugural event in Glasgow in August 2019, and GiG Wales is planned for 2020.  We have supported the development of new initiatives, and GiG Ireland has now been running for 3 years, GiG Scotland held their inaugural event in Glasgow in August 2019, and GiG Wales is planned for 2020.  We are also working with other UK universities to develop Junior GiG for younger students with the aim of inspiring even younger students, the University of Leicester held the first GiGjr in 2019.  We are also working with other UK universities to develop Junior GiG for younger students with the aim of inspiring even younger students. The University of Leicester held the first GiGjr event in 2019.  GiG continues to grow, we hope to continue this growth, and run this initiative until it is no longer needed!