WeLead outreach event @ TUM: The first event of WeLead has been shaped as an outreach activity for the general public and consists of three technical talks and one life experience speech.

Register here: WeLead outreach event @ TUM

Introduction and goals

One of the main reasons preventing women to achieve high profile working positions are rooted in the core of our society. Only 20% of executives/directors/full professors are female in Europe. The "glass ceiling" is one of the most relevant effects of current gender unbalance in the workplace. In engineering fields, these figures are dramatically worse. Less than 10% of technology researchers are female. For decades, this has complicated the creation of role models that inspire and encourage new female generations to pursue these fields.

WeLead is a project focused on showing how women shape the future. It has been promoted by several actors, involving scientist, engineers and gender players at the city of munich. The goals of WeLead are the following:

  1. Showcase women key players in artificial intelligence, robotics and engineering to break the "glass ceiling" that prevent women to access senior positions.

  2. Increase the presence of female researchers in robotics and AI.

  3. Define a road map of goals and events involving several gender organizations.

  4. Disseminate great science and engineering!

The first event of WeLead has been shaped as an outreach activity for the general public and consists of three technical talks and one life experience speech. It is designed to draw attention to the amazing work of top female leaders in engineering, robotics and computer science. The activity, which will be held on the 17th of November 2018, will be hosted at the Technical University of Munich in the TUM audimax. WeLead is a journey into a new era of robotics and artificial intelligence, where we will learn about these women’s research, meet interesting people, and most importantly, draw attention to the extraordinary work that women are doing in these technical fields.

Date: Saturday, Nov 17 afternoon (15:00-19:00 hrs) | Place: TUM audimax | Format: Tech talks 20’ + 10’ questions

Actors involved in WeLead project

- Society of Spanish Researchers in Germany (CERFA)

- Female Tech Leaders

- Gender Equality and Diversity for Mobile Researchers in Science (GEMS) Marie Curie

- Technical University of Munich Gender Equality and Diversity Office

- Women @ TUM - Institute for Cognitive Systems

- MSCA Selfception project - Institute for Cognitive Systems

Our Speakers:

Katja Mombaur - Full Professor at Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg. Head of Optimization, Robotics and Biomechanics Chair and of Robotics Lab; and Coordinator of Heidelberg Center for Motion Research.

Elena Garcia Armada - Tenured researcher at the Spanish National Research Council and Co-founder of Marsi Bionics company. Expert in pediatric exoskeletons optimized for active gait rehabilitation of children suffering from neuro-muscular diseases. Marsi Bionics installed the first pediatric gait exoskeletons for Neuromuscular Diseases in childhood in Sant Joan de Déu Childrens Hospital, Barcelona, 2017.

Laura Leal Taixé - Tenure-track professor and research group leader at the Technical University of Munich leading the Dynamic Vision and Learning group. Recipient of the Sofja Kovalevskaja Award from the Humboldt Foundation.

Karinne Ramirez-Amaro - Postdoctoral researcher at Institute for Cognitive Systems, Technical University of Munich. Laura Bassi award. Since 2017 she also works in the Collaborative Research project “Everyday Activity Science and Engineering (EASE)”.