Science Editor Anoushka Sinha recounts her experience attending STEM Women’s career fair, held on 11 June 2025 at the Queen Elizabeth II Centre near St James Park, highlighting the diverse opportunities available to recent graduates.
The event, aimed at young women graduating with degrees in STEM, included exhibitions on careers from household names including British Airways, Rothesay insurance, and the Royal Navy.
The Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA) and Cambridge GaN Devices (CGD) both showed off their internships available to current English-speaking students looking to pursue further education and research.
While studying STEM is a virtue of its own, many find themselves seeking alternative routes out of university.
An exhibitor from BNP Paribas explained that people often come from finance backgrounds, but they prefer the person who comes without knowing anything but has the willingness to ask questions and learn.
Right at the entrance to the event, were presentations by AWE Nuclear Security Technologies, Capgemini and GUNVOR.
A software engineer from Capgemini, Nana Akua T-Mensah, and a human resources representative from GUNVOR, Catherine Noël, both talked about their career paths and the advice they would have given their younger selves.
Laughter filled the room as Nana touched on the relatable experiences she had as a female graduate – often being cut off by her male colleagues. However, there is a bright side as she reflected that even though she was silenced, her work spoke for her.
KCL’s Womxn in STEM society has reported “mental health issues disproportionately affecting female science students”.
This coincides with observations made by KCL postgraduate researchers in July 2024 – “women often feel like they have to work at least twice as hard as their male counterparts to get that role, promotion, or raise”.
Despite the multiple Athena SWAN awards that KCL’ s Physics and Maths departments have, women and minority genders in STEM at King’s often still feel discriminated against, with students and societies on Guy’s campus being highlighted as particularly “intimidating” to queer people.
All women in STEM know the challenges posed by male dominated fields, but with institutions such as STEM Women holding events like the career fair in June, or the upcoming one in October, a somewhat coherent path out of university is cleared for the next generation of young women and queer people in STEM.
