Renishaw participates at EmPowerCyber event to educate girls on the cyber security and technology industry

07 December 2022

To excite, inspire and educate girls on the skills and opportunities the cyber security and technology industry has to offer, global engineering technologies company, Renishaw, participated at the EmPowerCyber event, organised by Cyber Cheltenham (CyNam). EmPowerCyber aims to change perceptions that cyber careers are only for their male peers by creating a variety of workshops to encourage young girls to consider a career in cyber security. At the full day event on Friday November 25th, around 800 year eight girls had the opportunity to take part in hands-on workshops covering four different ‘zones' — cyber security, cryptography, networking, and logic & coding.

Local businesses contributed to the workshops and activities going on throughout the day, with the aim of supporting girls in learning more about the sector and creating a more diverse industry. During the event, Renishaw's STEM Outreach team ran 25-minute workshops in the logic & coding zone, challenging the girls to get a BBC Microbit buggie up & running and travelling the length of a table without falling off the end. The workshop enabled the girls to code their BBC Microbit buggies in order for them to move around, helping them to develop an understanding of coding and how to create algorithms. Renishaw's STEM ambassadors were on hand to explain how these coding skills apply to the wider industry.

“The EmPowerCyber event will give girls the confidence and opportunity to explore careers in STEM and in particular, to inspire them to consider a career in cyber security and technology,” commented Lucy Spiteri-Beale, Early Careers STEM Outreach Tutor at Renishaw. “Events like these offer businesses to come together to address the gender imbalance in the STEM industry and make a real difference.”

“We recognise that everyone needs to do their part in changing the industry for future generations,” added Sarah Lewis, Early Careers STEM Outreach Tutor at Renishaw. “By partnering with events designed to create opportunities for everyone, we hope to inspire all young people in the opportunities available to them.”

According to The International Information Systems Security Certification Consortium (ISC)2), men outnumber women by three to one in the cyber security industry. CyNam hopes that running events like EmPowerCyber will help reduced this gender gap and get more girls excited about a career in cyber security and technology.

To register your school's interest in attending EmPowerCyber, email info@cynam.org.

For more information about Renishaw's STEM outreach programme, visit www.renishaw.com/en/education-outreach.

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