Women in Science: Inspiration for your career

After the great success of recent years, KIVI is organizing Women in Science again this year.

How do (other) female engineers shape their careers and how do they realize their plans? Do you want to hear inspiring stories about getting a job after your studies? Do you want to discuss with other ladies about how it is to work in the world of science and do you want to follow a nice workshop? Then you may not miss Women in Science!

During this event, three successful women will give their vision on achieving successes and career plans in this traditional men's world. Chair of the day is Ir. Esther de Bruijn, founder at Unite2Build and board member of KIVI Network Female Engineers.

Prof. Dr. Ir. Gabriëlle Tuijthof is Full Professor Biomedical Device Design & Production at University of Twente. Her research focuses on minimally invasive orthopaedic diagnosis and intervention, for which she strives to design of medical devices that form a ‘perfect’ synergy with the capabilities of the clinician. She received a number of national grants to perform here research including VENI, APASIA, and Open Technology grants.

Gabrielle does not stop once a nice publication has been achieved, but is committed to bring the new development to the clinic, for which she received various public-private grants such as TKI-LSH, Demonstrator and Take-off grants, and formed long standing collaborations with various university hospitals. This also implies that she brings a network of innovative SME companies, and solid knowledge on the Medical Device Regulation. Finally, the sharing of knowledge is valued highly, which is expressed in he active involvement in education of engineering and design courses and co-development of various bachelor and master programs.

Ir. Edith Balm is Line Manager and Trainer at Thales in Hengelo. Edith Balm graduated in Applied Physics in 1998. Realizing that her main drive was on people and how to get the best out of ourselves, she went from project manager to manager of teams in various companies. Currently she is resource manager in Thales supporting a team of 65 persons with various roles like software engineers, architects, product owners, scrum master and project managers. Recently she started a trainers education with How Company in order to be able to train others on our ‘human skills’, like communication methods, increasing commitment and responsibility and personal leadership. 

The pitch is about leadership. Leadership in general and within Thales. Personal leadership has everything to do with taking control over your own life, achieving the dreams (not illusions!!!!) you want to achieve and being an example for the people around you. This is the topic of the pitch and the process in which the audience can take part. Furthermore she will elaborate on one of the leadership programs within Thales set up for the software department (Accelerate).

Dr. ir. Susan Roelofs is CEO and founder of Locsense. She obtained her MSc. degree in Applied Physics from the University of Twente with a specialization in Biophysical Engineering. In 2015, she completed her PhD on microfluidic desalination within the electrical engineering, mathematics and computer science faculty at the University of Twente. During her PhD, she won the Marina van Damme grant, which supported her stay at MIT and take the first steps in founding Locsense.

Prior to starting her PhD, Susan was a visiting researcher at the University of Queensland on the topic of optical tweezers. In addition, she worked in the renewable energy sector as a consultant and research and developer. Locsense was founded in December 2015, and focuses on the development and supply of in-vitro bio-electronics. Susan is managing director of Locsense and responsible for strategy, operations and technology development. Locsense launched the Artemis impedance spectrometer / TEER detector in 2019, which has been successfully commercialized. Next to sales of hard- and software, Locsense participates in various innovative R&D projects concerning in-vitro testing. 

Of course there is plenty of time for questions and discussion with the speakers. There is also a sandwich buffet and afterwards a drink with the chance to network with the other participants. 

Besides there are also two workshops. When registering you can indicate your preference for worskhop 1 or workshop 2.

1. Workshop Choose to Re-use by Femke Mud

Femke is working in a thrift store and is a werelddocent (worldteacher) on elementary schools in Twente. In class she talks and teaches about her passion for recycling. How can we make a difference in consuming and reusing our clothing for example. Instead of discarding a broken or incomplete product, we can use it and make it durable by adding our own story. In the workshops she wants to challenge you to be creative with what is available and to make it your own. We live in the results of choices and ideas that have been made in the past. Our ideas and sustainable choices create the future for next generations. Chair of the day is Esther de Bruijn, Founder at Unite2Build and board member KIVI Network Female Engineers.

2. Workshop Presenting/pitching by Violeta Dimitrova and Anne Arts (The Chain Company)

Different trends bring different changes to many operations and recruitment is no exception. In the past few years, video introductions have become widely used by many companies to help the recruitment team narrow down the stream of promising candidates. Violeta and Anne will tell you how to create, develop, and refine a compelling elevator pitch introduction to help you differentiate yourself from the crowd and make a stellar impression! During the workshop, they will discuss the type of introductions, the formula of the elevator pitch, and help you prepare your own script!

The program is as follows:

16:00h     Walk in with coffee, tea and cookies        
16:25h     Welcome by chair of the day Esther de Bruijn

16.30h     Pitch 1 by Gabriëlle Tuijthof

16.45h     Pitch 2 by Edith Balm

17.00h     Pitch 3 by Susan Roelofs

17:15h    Group 1 follows workshop 1 / group 2 goes to the restaurant for sandwich buffet and discussion
18:15h    Group 2 follows workshop 2 / group 1 goes to the restaurant for sandwich buffet and discussion

19:15h    Closure with a drink 

This event will be organized by KIVI Students Twente in cooperation with KIVI Regio Oost and KIVI Network Female Engineers and is powered by Novel-T, Techniekpact Twente, The Chain Company and Thales.