Ada Lovelace Day (14th October 2025)
Ada Lovelace day is the 14th of October this year and this will be our 10th year of celebrating that day!
We are planning events and activities with a climate and earth sciences theme, running in the afternoon and early evening of that date.
The day time events will be in the Main Library and the evening panel will be in G.03 in 50 George Sq.
uCreate takeover! 11.00-16.00 (First Floor, Main Library)
Have your chroma-key photo taken with women in STEM and explore some of the tech resources uCreate has to offer, like programming, sensors, virtual reality (VR) experiences, 3D scanners, 3D printers and more.
No need to book, just come along!
Lunch and Lightning talks 12.00-1.45 (Main Library, Room 1.07)
Lunch will be served 12pm to 12.30pm. Come say hello and meet fellow Ada Lovelace Day participants!
This session is a chance for some networking with some lightning talks from a range fascinating projects, initiatives and student societies.
- Building Equity: the Molly Ferguson Initiative for Women in Engineering – Dr. Rhiannon Grant (Chancellor’s Fellow at School of Engineering) will provide an introduction to the initiative and what they have running at the moment, and a welcome for any input from others.
- Digging for dinosaurs: how to be a woman in the field – Women face unique challenges when conducting field research, especially in remote locations. Milly Mead (PhD researcher, the Paleontology Society) discusses how she’s approached some of these challenges while digging up dinosaurs in the Badlands of Montana.
- Building AdaHack – Bessie from the Edinburgh Hoppers Society on how they brought their hackathon to life and the benefits and opportunities presented to women and gender minorities through it.
- The Mindset to Global Stages: How Resilience Powers Extraordinary Success – Anna Petrusenko (CompSoc Vice President). From fleeing a war-torn home to sharing a stage with President Bill Clinton, Anna’s journey taught her one truth: the mindset that helps you survive the unimaginable is the same one that fuels extraordinary success. This talk explores how resilience and determination can transform any challenge into possibility
- Reflections on how my experiences have shaped my career – Ariadna Sanchez Cervera (PhD student) will share her 10+ years of experience in STEM which ranges from a career in the tech industry to academia at different stages (BSc,MSc and PhD). From these she will summarise a few insights that she has found key along the way which guides how she works today.
- The Hidden Voices project: Unearthing the impact of women in Scottish archaeology – Lucia Michelin and Rebecca Jones (Society of Scottish Antiquaries). Many female Scottish antiquarians of the 19th and 20th centuries have made a significant contribution to Scottish archaeology, although often not given due credit for their work. This presentation will review the Hidden Voices project, where a few current Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland are collaborating to raise the profile of these women, increasing visibility of their work and contributions for archaeology.
Book for lunch and lightning talks
Wikipedia Women in STEM edit-a-thon – 1.45-5 (Main Library, Room 1.07)
- Wikipedia Edit-a-thon – help add the brilliant lives & contributions of Women in STEM to improve discoverability and representation online. Learn how to edit in 1hr… and how IMPACTFUL and FUN it is to share knowledge openly.
- You’ll learn important 21st century digital research skills and have done something amazing with a tangible published outcome by the end of the afternoon!
- All we need is 50-100+ words (cite what you write!) to publish brand new pages about all the inspiring lives, projects and research taking place all over the world currently missing from our search results.
- This year’s event will focus on Women in Archaeology, Paleontology, Earth Science and Geoscience but all are welcome to take part and contribute knowledge about all the brilliant work by Women in STEM.
- No experience necessary, full training will be given and tea, coffee & cakes will help fuel your editing efforts.
Games and Crafts – 1.45-5 (Main Library, Room 1.07)
- Make badges
- Colour-in
- Play our Women in STEM interactive game
Celebrating Women in Climate & Earth Sciences – 5-7 (G.03, 50 George Square)
Join us for an inspiring panel discussion that shines a spotlight on the remarkable contributions of women in climate and earth sciences. We bring together four leading voices who are breaking new ground in research, policy and public engagement. The panel will start at 5.15pm.
Chair: Dr Melissa Highton (Director of Learning, Teaching and Web Services and Assistant Principal Online Learning)
Our panelists, Hermione, Gabi, Encarni and Elva.
- Elva Bannon –Research and Engineering Manager at Wave Energy Scotland. Elva heads the WES Research and Engineering team, where she utilises her solid background in Mechatronic Engineering (BEng) and Advanced Engineering (MEng) to drive the development of novel wave energy technologies. Elva is the Chair of the UK National Committee for TC114 developing international standards for the wave and tidal energy sector. She also sits on the industrial advisory board for Supergen ORE Hub and is a member of the Scientific Committee for EIMR, all roles for which she received a ‘Top 50 Women in Engineering Award 2024’ from the Women’s Engineering Society.
- Dr Hermione Cockburn OBE – Science communicator with a career spanning television, radio, teaching and writing. Until recently, Hermione was the Scientific Director of Dynamic Earth and is currently a trustee at National Museums Scotland and an Honorary Fellow at the School of Geosciences.
- Professor Gabi Hegerl – Award-winning climatologist and Royal Society Fellow whose pioneering work on detection and attribution has deepened our understanding of the causes of climate change.
- Dr Encarni Medina-Lopez – A Senior Lecturer and leads the ‘Coastal and Environmental Remote Sensing Group’ in the School of Engineering of the University of Edinburgh. Encarni is the Director of the Failure Modes of Engineering project (FeME) focusing on engineering solutions for climate change and biodiversity loss, and their impact on women, children and other underrepresented groups globally.
Book for Panel session within University (students and staff)
