Women in STEM

Ongoing since 2024

Fee waivers so girls can compete at PsiFi, science boot camps for school girls from low-income families, and mentors who have built careers in STEM.

The women of SPADES, dressed in pink and white, around a bench under flowering trees.

Why we started

We started Women in STEM in 2024 because we kept noticing the same thing. Plenty of girls are good at science, but fewer of them have someone to ask for advice, or get pushed to enter a competition. If your family can’t cover the registration fee, the odds are slimmer still.

So we build it into what SPADES already does. At PsiFi we waive fees for girls who couldn’t otherwise compete. At EmpowerHer we bring in women who have built careers in STEM to talk honestly about how they got there. Our boot camps get school girls doing real experiments, and our podcast, In Sync with Her, is long conversations with women doing interesting work.

What we've done

PsiFi scholarships
Part or full fee waivers so girls from underprivileged backgrounds could compete at PsiFi.
EmpowerHer
A hands-on session at PsiFi XVI for teenage girls exploring STEM, with women speakers, mentoring and honest stories about getting past the hard parts.
Financial Literacy in the Digital Age
A workshop with The Circle for women from LUMS and beyond: money management, career planning and the digital tools that help with both.
STEM mentorship boot camps
Hands-on science for middle- and high-school girls from underprivileged backgrounds, run with our Social Responsibility Program. Beginner coding, lab work, engineering basics, and balloon rockets.
In Sync with Her
A podcast of candid conversations with women leading in business, technology, the arts and entrepreneurship. Episode 0 featured Sadaf Rehman.
Women in STEM at LSS
A workshop and an all-female round at the 2026 LUMS Science Symposium, on the gaps in research on women's health. Teams picked one gap and presented on what is known and what is missing.