DIREC TALK: How can we encourage more women to study computer science?

DIREC Talks is a series of monthly talks where you can gain insights into some of Denmarks best researchers’ knowledge of digital technologies.
In this talk Claus Brabrand from IT University of Copenhagen (ITU) will give a presentation on diversity and computer science, and why it is important to get encourage more women to study computer science. Claus is head of Center for Computing Education Research (CCER) at ITU.
In 2015, only 10% of students on ITU’s Bachelor of Software Development were women. ITU decided to do something about this and a number of initiatives were launched. Now, the percentage of women has risen to 23% (in 2020). We will present an overview of ITU’s efforts to address this gender imbalance in computing.
Also, we will present brand new research on how to change educational activities so that they appeal more to women.
Finally, we will show the effect of ITU’s onboarding initiative BootIT and how this connects with increasing diversity.
The talk is based on joint work with among others: Melissa Høegh Marcher, Ingrid Maria Christensen, Therese Graversen, Pawel Grabarczyk, and Sebastian Mateos Nicolajsen (all from the IT University of Copenhagen). Read more here direc.dk/direc...