International Day of Women and Girls in Science celebrated

Rawalpindi : Fatima Jinnah Women University (FJWU) organised different activities to mark the ‘International Day of Women and Girls in Science’ here on Tuesday in the University's premises.

In order to achieve full and equal access to and participation in science for women and girls, and further achieve gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls, the United Nations General Assembly adopted resolution A/RES/70/212 declaring 11 February as the International Day of Women and Girls in Science.

The Susan B. Anthony Reading Room (SBARR), FJWU organised a video conferencing session with Afghanistan (Lincoln Learning Corner, Sharana) on topic of “Challenges faced by Women and Girls in the Field of Science in the context of Pakistan & Afghanistan”. It was an open session in which students and faculty members from both sides shared their opinions about the challenges faced by women scientists. Further to this, the faculty and students from the Department of Environmental Sciences gave brief presentation about their Laboratories, ongoing projects and lab facilities.

The Department has multiple functioning highly sophisticated labs including microbiology and biotechnology lab, nano technology lab, material and environmental chemistry labs, waste management and plant conservation lab. Different students are working on their PhD projects in these labs under the supervision of very competent female Pakistani women scientists.

Vice Chancellor Dr. Saima Hamid said that University is working towards ‘Women Empowerment’ by providing world class technical facilities to local female scientists. The students from the Department of Physics also demonstrated their project ‘Physics lab on wheels’ on the occasion. This project “Physics Lab on Wheel” is a brainchild of worthy Vice Chancellor Dr. Saima Hamid for the promotion of STEM (Science, Technology, and Engineering Mathematics) among the students of Government Schools from grade 1 to 8. This project leader is Dr. Waqar Mahmood (Head Department of Physic). He is working in coordination with his faculty and students on this project. Objective of this project is to provide students with facilities to perform and understand basic concept of Physics.

Another major goal for this project is to enhance the interest of government school students in science subjects. Almost all basic physics experiment can be performed with the help of apparatus available in this mobile physics lab. This special lab can move to distant areas to train government teachers and students who don’t have the facility to practice science experiments.