Awareness
Dell EMC International Womens Day collaboration with University of Limerick explores challenge of changing mindsets
Dell EMC International Womens Day Pictured: Fiona McCarthy, VP for Human Resources, Dell EMC, Jim Breen, VP Johnson & Johnson, Dr Mary Shire, VP Research, University of Limerick, Joy Neville, Former Ireland Rugby captain and Caroline Spillane, Director General, Engineers Ireland. Picture Sean Curtin/True Media.
Dell EMC International Womens Day collaboration with University of Limerick explores challenge of changing mindsets
Dell EMC today opened the doors at its Limerick Campus to members of the Mid-West business and education community to celebrate International Women’s Day. The event was hosted by Dell EMC in collaboration with University of Limerick and supported by Johnson & Johnson, and explored the challenge of ‘Changing Mindsets’ in the working world.
The event commenced this morning with a series of inspirational speakers including Professor Paul McCutcheon, VP Academic & Registrar, University of Limerick and Fiona McCarthy, Vice President for Human Resources.
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Opening the Dell EMC International Womens Day event Fiona McCarthy, Vice President for Human Resources, Dell EMC said: “Dell EMC is delighted to host today’s event. We’ve been working closely with the team at University of Limerick in the build up to today and I think we’ll all agree we’ve an exciting line-up of speakers. As a company, we are very focused on the area of diversity in the workforce. Not just regarding gender but also in terms of inclusion of employees with different cultural backgrounds and abilities. We understand that managing diversity and championing an inclusive culture is essential to our collective success. For a global business with a global customer base, it makes sense to have people working on our team that our customers can relate to and easily engage with.”
Speaking today at the Dell EMC International Womens Day, Dr Mary Shire, Vice President Research, University of Limerick said: “Understanding the barriers and misconceptions that females face in terms of STEM is complex. The student-led research being carried out at UL through the WiSTEM2D programme is exploring these barriers and misconceptions and will provide us with a better understanding that can lead to changes in how we address these in a more holistic and evidence-based way.”
Dell EMC International Womens Day Pictured: Fiona McCarthy, VP for Human Resources, Dell EMC, Jim Breen, VP Johnson & Johnson and Dr Mary Shire, VP Research, University of Limerick.
Picture Sean Curtin/True Media.
Helen Shaw from Athena Media chaired the Dell EMC International Womens Day event with a series of breakout discussions. Each of the discussions explored different areas where changing mindsets and achieving greater gender balance need to be considered.
The first focused on WiSTEM2D, a project led by Johnson & Johnson and University of Limerick.
According to Jim Breen, Vice-President, Worldwide Engineering and Technical Operations, Johnson & Johnson, “building a diverse STEM2D community is one approach Johnson & Johnson is taking as part of a broader effort to accelerate the development of women leaders and to support women at all stages of their lives. One of our objectives of this partnership was to build on UL’s ongoing work to expand the reach and quality of STEM education, and to attract more women to fields traditionally dominated by men.”
A number of UL students participating in the WiSTEM2D programme attended the Dell EMC International Womens Day event, and prizes were presented for projects undertaken by some of those students.
This year International Women’s Day falls during Engineers Week, a national week held annually to highlight the career opportunities within the sector. Recognising Engineers Week, a specific discussion was held focused on engineering and encouraging more females into the sector with Andrew Tindle, VP Manufacturing, Dell EMC; Niamh Colman, Manufacturing Engineer, Johnson & Johnson and Caroline Spillane, Director General, Engineers Ireland.
Caroline Spillane Director General of Engineers Ireland said: “Lack of diversity in engineering is a concern in many countries and it is a priority issue for Engineers Ireland. Our future engineers will help to modernise a better Ireland – and all voices need to be heard. To deliver the best creative solutions to societal needs, we need to narrow the gender gap and create balance within the profession. Engineers Ireland has sought to address the gender divide at a grassroots level through our nationwide STEPS initiative, where we encourage all young people to actively explore the world of STEM while also promoting engineering as an exciting and diverse career choice.”
The last session of the Dell EMC International Womens Day explored the unconscious gender bias in the workplace with a series of presentations by Dan Roberston, Diversity and Inclusion Director, Employers Network for Equality & Inclusion (ENEI); Sam Blanckensee, National Development Officer, Transgender Equality Network Ireland and Joy Neville, Former Ireland Rugby captain, Grand Slam winner and first female to officiate at European rugby match.
Today’s event was hosted by Dell EMC in collaboration with University of limerick and the support of Johnson & Johnson. Just over 200 people from the Mid-West community from business and education attended the event. At Dell EMC campuses in Cork and Dublin, smaller celebrations for International Women’s Day were held both focused on highlighting diversity across all areas of the business.
Dell EMC, a part of Dell Technologies, enables organisations to modernise, automate and transform their data centre using industry-leading converged infrastructure, servers, storage and data protection technologies. This provides a trusted foundation for businesses to transform IT, through the creation of a hybrid cloud, and transform their business through the creation of cloud-native applications and big data solutions. Dell EMC services customers across 180 countries – including 98 percent of the Fortune 500 – with the industry’s most comprehensive and innovative portfolio from edge to core to cloud.
