Shaking up Tech event inspires young women to study technology after high school

“Technology can be used to solve the big challenges facing society. The sector also has good employment prospects and, above all, interesting and comfortable to work with. Therefore, we want to encourage young people to apply to the field of technology,” says Mirja Illikainen, Dean of the Faculty of Technology, University of Oulu.

Employment in the technology sector has been growing in recent years, but the share of women in the workforce lags. The skew in the labour market is difficult to correct because it is already starting when young people choose their fields of study.

The Shaking up Tech event brings the diverse career opportunities in the tech industry to the fore during high school, when crucial continuing education choices are topical for young people.

'I've looked into the reasons why so few high school-aged girls apply to the ICT field. Most important is the self-interest of young people, which comes when you have knowledge and experiences — and you don't get either very diverse or much from high school. In addition, images of the technical and male field and the encouragement of the people are influenced. I hope that in this event we will be able to show the diversity of the ICT sector and encourage young people to the sector,” explains Fanny Vainionpää, Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Oulu

More than 300 young people have signed up for the Shaking up Tech event. About 70 people from all over Finland are coming to the University of Oulu. The event will be held at the University's Linnanmaa campus in Oulu, where the Faculty of Technology and the Faculty of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering will participate.

Northern Lights and cryptography in the workshops

In the workshops young people get to try out what it would be like to work in the field of technology. Workshops at the University of Oulu, for example, make clean water using light, learn about cryptography, encryption methods and their weaknesses, and learn about magnetism and aurora.

Inspiring speeches from women who are active in technology will also be heard during the day. In Oulu, Professor Mirja Illikainen speaks about materials research in circular economy and postdoctoral researcher Fanny Vainionpää talks about computer sciences. All three localities also feature speakers from different companies.