Stargirls: helping girls+ reach for the stars

ICRAR’s Stargirls STEM camp offers high-school age women and gender diverse individuals the opportunity to spend time with working scientists and engineers, use real research-grade telescopes to observe the sky and process data, and to make like-minded friends along the way. In this session, we’ll present a qualitative and quantitative evaluation of 5 STEM camps, along with longitudinal data from past participants. We’ll share evidence-based lessons learned from running the camps, and identify some best practices for designing future gender-inclusive STEM programs. Founded in 2009, ICRAR (The International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research) is a joint venture between Curtin University and the University of Western Australia. ICRAR has a strong track record in diversity, equity and inclusion, holding a gold Pleiades award for gender inclusion in astronomy, and runs an extensive outreach program, winning Science Engagement Initiative of the Year at the 2019 Premier’s Science Awards.