Girls organise science research programme to grow interest in STEM among S’pore female students

SINGAPORE – From finding out about the effects of food-waste antioxidants on repeatedly heated hawker-centre cooking oil, to observing the routine of otters in Singapore, 66 girls put their research skills to the test in a two-month-long science research programme.

They did so in a programme their own peers, a group of schoolgirls aged 16 and 17, put together from scratch and which lasted from early July to early September.

The girls-for-girls programme, the INTEGIRLS Singapore Science Research Program, was spearheaded by five teens who are part of INTEGIRLS Singapore, which was set up here in 2022 as a chapter of an existing US-based group.

The five are: Singapore American School students Amber Anbei Chi, 16, and Jenny Jeong, 17; United World College Dover Campus students Lauren Pak and Nayoon Kim, both 16; and Raffles Institution student Stephanie Jeslyn Goutama, 17.

INTEGIRLS Singapore aims to encourage interest in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) among girls.

In Singapore, the number of women working in STEM jobs was 35 per cent in 2024, up from 29 per cent in 2014, and above worldwide figures.

Globally, women are underrepresented in the STEM workforce. The World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report 2024 found that women represented 28.2 per cent of the STEM workforce compared with 47.3 per cent in non-STEM sectors. This could also contribute to a gender wage gap due to the higher salaries in the STEM sector.

This was the first time INTEGIRLS Singapore had organised a longer-term programme, though it had one-off events in the past.

Amber, the INTEGIRLS co-chapter head, said she had joined many maths, robotics and science competitions and programmes. She noticed “in many of those spaces, I often found myself as one of only a handful of girls in the room”.

She added: “Through INTEGIRLS, we hope to make some of these opportunities more visible and accessible, allowing girls to meet researchers and mentors, experience STEM beyond the classroom, and discover for themselves where their interests and strengths may lie.”

Lauren, the group’s other co-chapter head, said of organising the research programme, a first for the group: “During the planning period, we worked on the programme structure, contacted mentors and participants, looked for sponsors and partners, prepared for the opening ceremony, organised the research teams, and planned for the in-person showcase logistics. Altogether, we sent more than 420 e-mails to mentors, participants and sponsors.”

The core team from INTEGIRLS Singapore (from left to right): Jenny Jeong, 17, Lauren Pak, 16, Amber Chi, 16, Nayoon Kim, 16,and Stephanie Goutama, 17.

The girls recruited the participants from 13 different international and MOE schools, including Nan Hua High School, National Junior College, Nanyang Junior College and Temasek Junior College. They also recruited mentors, including faculty members from local universities, to guide participants in their projects.

One of the participants, Raisa Saluja, 15, from UWCSEA Dover, said she joined the research programme as she was interested in exploring research projects outside of school and wanted the chance to work under a mentor.

Saying that she was excited about the “more independent and collaborative environment”, she added: “The programme has made me more interested in considering a STEM-related major or career, since I enjoyed exploring and putting our research into action to investigate complex problems.”

Her team’s research project focused on nuclear fusion and investigated how magnetic field strength affects the electrical power output of a simulated tokamak (a doughnut-shaped magnetic chamber), work that could potentially add to the development of fusion power plants.

Lee Seok Woo, the programme director of the Master of Science in Nanotechnology and Nanoscience, and an associate professor at the School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at Nanyang Technological University, mentored her team.

Said Lee: “In the STEM field, there is always a strong need to discover and encourage more female scientists. So, when I was first approached by INTEGIRLS, I was both surprised and absolutely delighted to learn that middle and high school students had taken the initiative to organise such a meaningful event themselves.”

Another participant, Zoe Alaia Djojonegoro, 14, researched smooth-coated otters, which contributed to observations of local wildlife. Said the Singapore American School student: “The most interesting finding was that the morning routines of otters are quite flexible and they don’t have a fixed schedule.”

Said Michelle Tan, an NUS Department of Life Sciences alumnus and member of the Otter Working Group, one of the mentors for wildlife biology projects: “Overall, INTEGIRLS is a valuable opportunity for female students to not only gain exposure and interest in STEM subjects, but also learn soft skills such as teamwork, resilience, communication and responsibility.”

INTEGIRLS’ Amber said of the feedback received from the programme: “Some also commented that student-organised programmes like this can, in certain ways, work better than traditional university-organised outreach activities because young people often understand what interests and engages other young people.”

For more information: https://singapore.integirls.org/