Celebrating game changers in the field of science

Lorna Maria Aine - Technology, Youth and Innovation advocate at UNICEF (STEM rising star award)

What you need to know:

Whereas the government is promoting the teaching and learning of science-related subjects at all levels, some individuals have also privately taken on the drive by changing the attitude towards sciences by the youth

Though Uganda introduced the science policy where science subjects were made compulsory to all students at O-Level in 2006, the number of female students and generally all students who take science combinations at A-Level and later science-related courses at university is still low. It is, therefore, in this spirit that a number of organisations, the ministry of Education and the Uganda National Council for Science and Technology continue to advocate for and encourage students at different academic levels to embrace Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) related courses.
Uganda recently held the Africa Science Week for the very first time with a variety of activities such as; training of students, discussing the emerging scientific and technology trends in Uganda, a networking session for top scientists and awarding of women doing impactful work in the field of STEM, among other activities.
“The purpose is to celebrate STEM and the people in it, to celebrate our work and have conversations about issues of policy, the eco system and what is working or not, and pave ways for scientists to grow and in effect, develop the African continent,” Joanita Nalubega Nvanungi, the Uganda ambassador for the Next Einstein Foundation (NEF), the initiators of the science week noted.
Through encouraging citizens to participate and appreciate the impact of science and technology in their daily lives, some women were awarded for their work in STEM. Nalubega explains that the NEF called upon female applicants who were changing communities in STEM. “We got 29 nominees for the three categories. These were further forwarded to the NEF secretariat in Rwanda who did the selection of the three winners,” she explains.
The three awards included; The rising star in STEM award which was to be presented to a Ugandan young woman or girl (below 35 years) who through their work is encouraging and or enabling other girls and young women to build thriving STEM careers too.
The Phenomenal Mentor for Girls in STEM award was to be presented to a woman who, through her work or private initiative has done a tremendous job guiding young women and girls in the pursuit of STEM careers.
Finally, the Innovative Woman in STEM award given to a young woman (below the age of 35) in Uganda whose innovation in a field of STEM has revolutionised a given space and greatly contributed to the livelihood of the communities in which this innovation is applied.

Lorna Maria Aine - Technology, Youth and Innovation advocate at UNICEF (STEM rising star award)
She believes in growing of tech talent across Africa as a solution to the rampant youth unemployment. Her work, therefore, spans from capacity building of teams to mentoring young people to take on a tech career and has recently joined an agenda to create evidence-based learning for youths interested in acquiring tech skills. She has worked with Tech companies such as; Andela Learning Community, DataLadies among others. She has contributed to initiatives such as Women in Science, Technovation and STEM Camp Uganda. “This award confirms to me that Uganda continues to be a breeding ground for tech talent,” she said.

Betty Kituyi - regional manager, Fundi Bots (Phenomenal Mentor for Girls in STEM)
She is a Chemistry teacher who has been passionate about science from the moment she entered the science lab and for the past eight years, she is incredibly passionate about helping students learn science better. Between 2010 and 2017, she brought fun and love for science to thousands of children through Café Scientifique, a programme which brings science experts to various schools around Uganda to talk about the kind of science that does not appear in classrooms such as piloting and aeronautics, astronomy, nanotechnology and robotics. Additionally, since 2012, she has been a part of the Fundi Bots team, which is transforming and accelerating science learning through robotics in African classrooms.

Zilla Maree – (Innovative Woman in STEM)
She founded an agritech company that digitises the agricultural value chain to deliver better production and marketing services to farmers and other agribusinesses. Through her value chain digitisation platform, EzyAgric and her network of community-based agricultural service providers, village agents, she bridges the information and service delivery gap between farmers and agribusinesses. Her company currently employs more than 20 full-time employees and 460 village agents as temporary employees, who provide services to close to 60,000 smallholder farmers using information and communications technology.