Last Thursday, 6 February, the Aula Magna of the Faculty of Medicine of the Universitat de València held the second edition of «Women Lead. Shaking Science (WLSS)».

A meeting where the current women’s leadership in science, innovation and technology was analyzed, the problems, challenges and difficulties they confront and they were given some keys about how to stay in the executive positions.

More than 400 people were subscribed to this second session with the slogan ‘Women Lead. Shaking Science’. Among the distinguished speakers were the Executive Vice-President of the Women and Science Committee of CSIC and Vice-President of Researchers and Technologists Women Association (AMIT), Carmen Mayoral; the Programme Officer at the International Telecommunication Union Office for Europe from the United Nations, Valentina Standic; the Emeritus Dean founder of the University of Luxemburg, ex-president of the The Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) and ex-president of the European University Association, Rolf Tarrach; the Executive President of the Valencian Foundation Rei Jaume I awards, Javier Quesada; the Chief Scientific Officer and cofounder of Monod Bio, Neolukin Therapeutics and Axxis Bio, Alfredo Quijano, and the CEO od ASTI TechGroup and president of ASTI Talent and Technology Foundation, Verónica Pascual, among others.

The event consisted of a first part with master lectures and three panel discussions that tackled themes related with women’s leadership in science and technology. In the afternoon, the attendees participated in different workshops in which suggestions and solutions for the current and future scientific leaders were generated. Some of the themes were “The power to connect to lead”, “Conversations for the development”, “The art of getting others to do” and “How to communicate addicted to your audience”. These workshops were lead by the group of coaches of the project FUTURE, every one of them certificated professionals by the International Coach Federation (ICF).

The second edition of WLSS counted again with the support of the Dean Conference of the Spanish Universities (CRUE), Spanish Federation of Technology Centers (FEDIT), the Foundation Rei Jaume I awarded, the Researchers and Technologists Women Association (AMIT) and the Universitat de València (UV), among other national and international institutions.

The event was embedded in the project FUTURE, leaded by the Spanish Association for Executive Development in Science + Innovation + Arts (ASEDEC+I+A), which follows three main objectives: bring closer knowledge, experience and tools in scientific women leadership, increase the technological and scientific development and strengthen the female scientific talent.