New Delhi: Although there has been progress made towards gender equality, gender barriers within the field of academia, especially in scientific research.
Vaishnavi Manivannan, an Indian-origin student residing in Muscat, Oman is the founder of WiResearch (Women In Research), an organization that strives to eliminate the gender biases for women in scientific research and makes research more plausible to conduct and accessible for girls from under-resourced regions of the world.
Through several of her research internships and projects, a pattern that Vaishnavi had observed is a small percentage of female researchers across all establishments. She traced this problem back to high school.
Vaishnavi says, “with not enough female role models and inspiration, young female students tend to step back from indulging in scientific research projects. In order to tackle this problem, I wanted to create a global youth platform that can offer all the resources one would need to conduct research.”
Till date, this organization has garnered over 500 individuals from over 7 countries to help more than 1000 girls get started with research! With the help of local sponsors, grants, donations and even support from the United Nations, WiResearch has raised ₹ 10.8 lakh (10k USD+).
Manivannan, who is in Grade 11 at ABA Oman International School, also interviews under-represented female researchers from universities. Till date, she has interviewed professors from IIT, IISc and Sultan Qaboos University.
For more on Vaishnavi’s organization, go to wi-research.org!
Source: indiaeducationdiary.in, 3/05/22
