ENNIS students Aodha Marrinan and Sarah O’Rourke were among sixteen University of Limerick students to recently receive scholarships at a virtual awards ceremony as part of the Johnson & Johnson Ireland Women in STEM2D (WiSTEM2D) Award Programme.
Both Aodha and Sarah study Biomedical Engineering at UL. Now in its sixth year at UL, the WiSTEM2D programme is run in collaboration with Lero – the Science Foundation Research Centre for Software, and will provide the scholarship recipients with extensive industry mentoring and leadership training. WiSTEM2D refers to Women in Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, Manufacturing and Design. The WiSTEM2D programme underlines J&J’s commitment to developing and implementing high-impact strategies to support female students undertaking STEM2D degree courses at UL and in universities around the world. 
Currently, there are approximately 117,800 people across Ireland who are working in jobs that require STEM skills. However, the CSO reports that just 25% of these roles are performed by women, with just 5% in leadership roles.Whilst there has been a general upswing in the number of students choosing STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) subjects on their CAO applications, uptake among females remains low. Figures from a 2019 UCD Study reveals that over 40% of males list a STEM course versus just 19% of females.
Professor Ita Richardson, Principal Investigator in Lero, and Professor of Software Quality in the Department of Computer Science and Information Systems at UL said, “These scholarships provide great support and encouragement to our female STEM2D students, who we are committed to supporting. UL, through Lero, is delighted to partner yet again with Johnson & Johnson on their WISTEM2D Awards Programme. This year’s recipients will be role models for the generation of girls who are currently in primary and secondary school, and have potential to be leaders of the future”.