Inspiring girls to pursue careers in computing

Over 150 girls from the region were invited to Teesside University to explore the opportunities for careers within computing.

Students from local schools and colleges attended the Hello World Conference, which was established to encourage young girls to pursue careers in computer science, animation, games and digital technologies in response to the gender imbalance within the industries.

The conference included workshops led by Teesside University academics and industry professionals, which gave the participants the opportunity to program robots, design and create their own video games, and solve a simulated police case using digital forensics.

Erin, 14, from Caedmon College, took part in the event and said: “It’s been great; we’ve been learning lots. I think it lets lots of different people figure out what they can do, and you can talk to people from different schools so you can all learn together.

“It’s made me consider careers within IT – certainly areas such as games development.”

Having taken part in the conference, Mahnoor, 13, from Macmillan, is also thinking about pursuing a career within computing.

She added: “I enjoyed the first workshop where we were making and designing things. It was fun. I think it’s made me think about how it would be in the future.”

The workshops were delivered alongside a panel discussion titled Inspiring Women, which was led by industry experts representing organisations and businesses such as Framestore, Sumo Digital, Sir Robert McAlpine Ltd and Visualsoft.

Teesside University is committed to inspiring the next generation, and the Hello World Conference allowed students to discover the wide range of opportunities available to them when it comes to careers in digital technologies.

Dr Jo Noble, Principal Lecturer (External Events) at Teesside University, who led the conference, said: “We were proud to welcome girls from local schools and colleges to Teesside University for the Hello World Conference.

“They were introduced to some new ideas and careers, and it was fantastic to see how engaged the groups were with the practical activities and workshops.

“We hope that, in attending the conference, the girls feel inspired and empowered to pursue their aspirations within computing, which they may not have considered as a career before.”

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