KIDS IN STEM
At EBU Technology & Innovation, curiosity and creativity collide! Since 2019, we’ve proudly taken part in the International Girls in ICT Day, an inspiring global initiative launched by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) back in 2011. The goal? To empower girls and young women to dive into the world of STEM — Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics — and to spark their interest in the limitless possibilities of media and technology.
Every year, this world-wide celebration brings together schools, governments, industry leaders, and UN partners to spotlight the talent and energy of the next generation of innovators.
Beginning in 2022, EBU opened its doors to host an exciting, hands-on day at our headquarters, where participants explore the fascinating space where STEM meets broadcasting — and where the local and international communities connect through innovation and imagination.
Now, as of 2025, we’re expanding the experience! The initiative has evolved into Kids in STEM @ EBU, welcoming both girls and boys to join in the fun and discovery. This broader EBU event builds on the foundation of International Girls in ICT, inviting all young minds to explore, experiment, and shine.
Girls in ICTday 2025 at EBU
Once a year, 'Girls in ICT Day' gives students a peek into their future in tech. It's a UN initiative that focuses on girls to tackle the gender gap in ICT—but boys are welcome too!
This year, the EBU in Geneva hosted 20 local primary school kids for a full day behind the scenes of media and tech. They learned to spot fake news, built a news studio, and actually produced their own news bulletin. Pretty cool, right?
The girls kicked things off by splitting into three groups: journalists and interviewees, production crew, and a gen AI team. After some practice and rehearsals, they were ready to shoot their news show.
Meanwhile, the boys checked out the EBU Media Control Room—where live and recorded content gets managed and delivered. Then they swapped: boys got their turn filming the news bulletin, girls explored the MCR.
Everyone walked away with real hands-on experience from inside a media operation. Here's hoping some of them come back as professionals one day!
Girls in ICTday 2022 at EBU
On Saturday 30 April 2022, the EBU welcomed local schoolgirls to their Geneva headquarters for the ITU Girls in ICT Day. It was all about making tech fun and hands-on!
The girls got an immersive audiovisual experience, learning to record, edit, and mix speech and music using real software tools. They even used EBU Euroradio's Storyboard tool to publish audio on social platforms—basically doing what the pros do.
Plus, they got backstage access to the Eurovision master control room and the EBU's production studio. Not a bad way to spend a Saturday, right?
It was a cool glimpse into media technology that hopefully sparked some future careers!
Collaboration Makes Us Stronger
Since 2017, EBU Technology & Innovation (T&I) has been a proud supporter of BBC WiSTEMand its participation in the International Girls in ICT initiative. Over the years, our female engineers have shared their experiences of working at the intersection of technology and media, helping to inspire girls to explore the many exciting study and career paths available in STEM.
What began as a single collaboration has grown into a strong and enduring partnership. Today, EBU T&I and BBC WiSTEM continue to deepen their ties, working together to showcase the breadth of activities within EBU’s innovation community to the 1,000+ members of the BBC WiSTEM network.
As part of this ongoing collaboration, we offer BBC WiSTEM members the opportunity to engage directly with EBU T&I’s flagship events, including two complimentary places at each of our six major gatherings throughout the year. These events open the door to international exchange, joint learning, and professional growth across the broadcast and technology sectors.
We also promote knowledge sharing and cross-border collaboration, offering BBC WiSTEMmembers access to our regular Lightning Talks—a series of concise, thought-provoking sessions organized by the EBU Technical Committee’s Think Tank. BBC WiSTEM reciprocates with invitations to BBC WiSTEM Annual Lectures and other significant WISTEM events.
Together, we’re building a stronger, more inclusive community of innovators—one that celebrates diversity, encourages collaboration, and inspires the next generation of technical leaders in media and beyond.
EBU Technology & Innovation works towards greater gender diversity in media technology through actions that target the short, medium and long term.
Women are widely underrepresented in STEM disciplines (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics). Achieving greater gender diversity therefore requires a long-term strategy that targets the grass-roots-level and can generate sustained momentum.
We set immediate targets that define the direction – such as by taking up the BBC's 50:50 challenge. We also work through the organization's networks and partnerships to increase awareness and encourage today's female engineers to be proud and visible. And we support initiatives that help to demystify STEM disciplines and attract new generations, especially young women, to the engineering field.
And finally, we aim to work with educational institutions and our Members to actively help train these future generations.
Towards a more balanced line-up at T&I events
As a major producer of engineering events at the EBU, our aims are two-fold:
- Increase consistently and over time the active participation of women as speakers, panellists and moderators at key EBU T&I annual events
- Give women a platform to raise their public, professional profile
For this, we set ambitious but realistic targets: Overall, we aim for incremental increases in female representation at our key events and a global figure of 25% female speakers at the end of the first 12-month period (July 2022).
T&I is proud to be supporting equal opportunity for women to have their voices heard in the world of broadcast engineering. Our 25% target is far from gender parity but also exceeds the typical female/male ratio in broadcast technology. We would be proud to achieve this figure.
