A new mentoring program has brought more than 50 female students from across Australia to Canberra this week with the aim of fostering their curiosity in science, technology, engineering and maths.
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Four Canberra students are among 54 girls participating in the first stage of the Curious Minds learning and mentoring initiative at the ANU until Saturday.
The program, developed by Australian Science Innovations and the Australian Mathematics Trust, hopes to encourage more young women to pursue careers in STEM-related fields.
The program's deputy director, Kathryn White, said the initiative was funded by the federal government under Tony Abbott to promote STEM in schools, with a renewed focus on underepresented students including girls and students from indigenous, rural or regional backgrounds.
She said the 54 female students chosen had also performed well in at least one of the annual national science or maths competitions.
Dr White hoped the program would inform and inspire the group to pursue their passion for science and maths.
A 2014 report found boys outnumbered girls in year 12 physics three to one, while almost twice as many boys than girls study advanced mathematics.
"Given the fact that in science, engineering and in STEM more generally women are underepresented means we're not taking advantage of 50 per cent of our population," she said.
"There are a number of reasons why women might be underepresented in the sciences but if we can take girls who are enthusiastic about this and give them a leg up and foster their enthusiasm and given them opportunities, hopefully we can go some way to addressing that in the future."
Curious Minds began on Wednesday with a summer camp involving a three-session lab based around building and testing water filters, alongside lectures from some of countries top female scientists and excursions to Mt Stromlo Observatory and Mt Stromlo Water Treatment camp.
The girls will then reunite mid-next year for a winter camp.
Each of the girls has also been paired with a mentor who will help them set and achieve goals in the six months between the two camps.
"I think the strength of this program is not only do we have two camps but the mentoring that will go on between those two will hopefully maintain that enthusiasm and give the girls a chance to develop their own research projects or engineering projects in their home schools," Dr White said.
Lyneham High School year 10 student Claire Yung said she enjoyed a variety of STEM subjects, particularly physics.
She said she looked forward to meeting inspirational scientists and other students with a similar passion.
"I like the element of curiosity," she said. "I hope to be inspired and excited about science."
Gungahlin College student Sayalee Surve hoped to see more women entering STEM fields "if that's what they love".
She said she was honoured to participate in Curious Minds.
"It's a fantastic opportunity and being able to take part and gain knowledge, make new friends, it's an opportunity that you should take if you've got it in your hands," she said.
"Anyone whose passionate about science, maths or technology should pursue it if possible."
