#11F: AseBio launches first programme to pair female professionals and students in Spanish biotechnology sector
For International Day of Women and Girls in Science, 14 women from 12 companies will host young female students to encourage them to go into science and innovation and show them the different professional careers available in the biotech industry
The Spanish Bioindustry Association (AseBio) has launched its first programme to pair professional women from the Spanish biotechnology sector with young students, for International Day of Women and Girls in Science on 11 February. This new initiative, “Day with a #BiotechWoman”, has talented young women meet and closely follow the professional work of the biotech industry for a whole day, in March and April, at any company in Spain.
“With this initiative, we want to expose young people to different professional careers within a biotechnology company and also offer women in our sector more direct contact with universities, facilitating the exchange of knowledge and life experiences,” explained AseBio Chairwoman Ana Polanco.
The goals are to show female students how a biotechnology company works and what it’s like to work there, show them professional career options, and highlight the essential role women play in promoting innovation, improving people’s health and protecting the planet. “We want our students to understand the work, beyond academia, they can do in a science-intensive sector like ours. It’s also part of our commitment to intergenerational diversity to leverage innovation,” added Polanco.
This initiative is possible because Spanish biotechnology companies stand out in their high presence of women among R&D staff, making up 59%, according to the AseBio Report. On the other hand, there is still a lot of work to be done and the figures are much lower for female executives, up 6% to 30.2%. However, this is still well above the average of 23.2% for IBEX-35 companies. Plus, biotechnology continues to attract more students, above all women, who make up 60% of all those enrolled.
The association has already selected 12 professional women to take part in the programme:
- Ana Brotons Cantó, R&D Manager at Nucaps Nanotechnology
- Carmen Vela Olmo, Director of Collaborative Projects at Eurofins Ingenasa
- Elena Rivas, CEO of Arrays for Cell Nanodevices
- Elisa Longás Torné, Chief Business Officer (CBO) of InnoUp Farma
- Esther Riambau, CEO and co-founder of ONIRIA Therapeutics
- Eva Coll and Cristina Vilarmau, Project Lead and Innovation Manager at MiMARK Diagnostics
- Inmaculada de Salazar, Production Operations Manager at Merck
- María Jurado Pueyo, Application Support Manager de Promega Biotech Iberica
- Maria Santos, Director of Human Resources – Spain at Lonza Biologics Porriño
- Sara Calatayud Robert, Lab Manager and Fish Facility Manager de ZeClinics
- Sonia Martínez Arca y María Majerrao, co-founder and CEO and co-founder and CSO of Celtarys Research
- Valentina Schiavone, Quality Manager at ZeClinics
The deadline for students at AseBio member universities and research centres to apply to take part in this programme is 23 February.
The AseBio member universities taking part in this initiative are:
- University of Santiago de Compostela
- Alfonso X El Sabio University
- CEU San Pablo University
- University of Navarra
- Universidad Europea de Madrid
- Public University of Navarra
The AseBio member research centres taking part in this initiative are:
- Centro de Biotecnología y Genómica de Plantas (CBGP)
- CNIO
- CIBER
- CRG
- CSIC
- Fundación IMDEA Alimentación
- Institut d'Investigació Sanitaria Germans Trias y Pujols
- Institut Quimic de Sarria
- Instituto de Biomedicina de Sevilla (IBIS)
- Instituto de Investigación Biomédica (IRB BARCELONA)
- Instituto de Salud Carlos III
- Instituto Maimónides de Investigación Biomédica de Córdoba (IMIBIC)
- Fundació Institut d'Investigació Sanitària Illes Balears (IdISBa)
