Love Tech committee members and mentors, January 2023.
As impossible as it is to believe, we’re a whole month into 2023! It’s been cold, it’s been dark (get outside at night and check out our amazing Manx Winter skies!). It’s therefore been the perfect time to batten down the hatches and…
Get planning!
This means Love Tech have spent the month busy behind the scenes. Committees and sub-committees have met and we’re delighted to say plans are coming together.
Confirmed 2023 events so far therefore include two April dates – Love Tech x Met Office on the 13th and attendance at the Graduate Fair on April 12th.
In addition to this, following on from last year’s popularity, we’re looking forward to another Mat Sat space event! A cyber security panel discussion is in the pipeline too alongside a biosphere event. Our ‘STEM books in schools’ project is also on-going and we’ve still more plans to announce.
As well as the above, mentors and mentor access sessions continue to play an important role in our mission to ‘Inspire and empower girls and young women to explore opportunities in STEM through events and mentorship in the Isle of Man.’
This month therefore saw us host our annual STEM mentor strategy session! Here’s what committee member, Lisa Karran had to say about it.
“The Love Tech committee met with our mentors this month to discuss our strategy for the year and do some events planning. We see our mentors as having a key role in Love Tech’s success through showing young people the types of STEM opportunities available in the Isle of Man right now. It was therefore wonderful to reconnect with them to discuss new ideas and new ways of going about things and we now have lots of ideas to go away and work on.”
In other news, we’ve been making some important adjustments to our website. More information on this project coming soon, but the overall idea is to consolidate the site as an informative and valuable STEM resource.
As part of this we’re looking to build on our video library and will soon be looking for a sponsor to support this important initiative. If you feel your organisation would love to help here, please get in touch by emailing us at support@lovetech.im
In addition to this, as well as sponsors, if you’re looking for a cause to support, Love Tech are always on the lookout for volunteers and mentors who also want to live in a world where women and men have truly equal opportunities, representation and recognition in STEM.
Areas where you might like to get involved therefore include the following:
Becoming a STEM mentor, ambassador and role model in our Island’s unique UNESCO biosphere community.
Educating and inspiring girls about STEM study and career opportunities.
Encouraging others to kindle and develop love for lifelong learning.
Helping us build a female-friendly tech community.
Lastly, thank you to everyone who follows our social pages. We’ve been working hard to maintain a strong social media presence and every like, share and comment really helps us maintain visibility. This is very much appreciated.
And of course, THANK YOU as always to Chamber of Commerce for all your support and for making us your 22/23 Charity of Choice!
Love Tech Ltd is an Isle of Man registered charity no. 1293. Check out our website www.lovetech.im for more information.
Lady Lorimer and the Love Tech team at a special Government House reception that took place in June to mark Lady Lorimer’s acceptance of her position as Love Tech patron and mentor.
Thanks to everyone for your support throughout 2022, it’s been a busy year so let us proudly present, (drum roll!)…
#lovetechlowdown2022!
Here goes…
#february brought our first #techmums club to a close! An amazing group of ladies participated and had a whole load of fun increasing their tech knowledge – the feedback was fantastic!
In #april we then headed to the Isle of Man Graduate Fair at the Comis Golf Club for a fun-packed ‘meet the mentors’ afternoon.
Next stop was #June – a particularly busy month!
First, we teamed up with Beach Buddies for ‘Love Tech X Beach Buddies – Ballaugh Family Beach Clean.’ Families and supporters were invited to hang out with the Love Tech team, find out about our work and events, all whilst having an enjoyable afternoon helping to keep our beaches clean.
In the same month, our team and mentors went back to school at QEII and Ramsey Grammar!
‘That was actually quite good.’ Student feedback from our Secondary School Mentor talks (we’ll take that!).
Here our mentors, such as zoological scientist, Rachel Jarvis, actuary, Heather Beck, and software developer, Martyna Wilk, shared their fabulous journeys with students. So, here’s to some future Manx STEM stars!
Finally for June, our committee, mentors and supporters were invited to a reception at Government House to mark Lady Lorimer MBE’s gracious acceptance of the position of Love Tech patron.
Lady Lorimer’s career background is in science and technology. This is therefore a great scoop for us. Her support and expertise undoubtably make her an excellent role model for our cause.
‘I am delighted to have been invited to serve as patron of Love Tech, a local charity that recognises the importance of bringing diverse perspectives to the fields of science, technology, engineering and maths.’ Lady Lorimer.
In #July we then embarked on Cloud Coding – Love Tech X Met Office. This event took place at Ronaldsway Meteorological Office giving our budding Meteorologists the chance to learn all about Manx weather (a common topic of local debate!).
Meteorological equipment and instruments were discussed and demonstrated and, as you can imagine, the event went down a storm!
At the end of July, we also kicked off our Love Tech STEM Summer Roadshow. This took place over the summer holidays across 3 locations on 3 different dates. It also saw us joining forces with our friends from Code Club and Young Engineers, offering children a range of STEM activities to learn from all whilst having a great time!
#august then featured our four ‘Gadgeteers Summer Reading Challenges’ at The Henry Bloom Noble Library. Our mentors got busy here, setting the kids problem-solving tasks and teaching them all about energy!
Next, #september brought us Sea Watch at the Sound – Manx Whale and Dolphin Watch X Love Tech. The Sound is known as a cetacean and seal hotspot, so this event was all about inviting members of the public to grab a pair of binoculars and get hot-spotting!
As if this wasn’t enough, ManSat x Love Tech – Reach for the stars was another popular event in September. Here, members of the public were given the chance to learn more about the diverse career opportunities available in the Space industry. As an extra bonus, they got to hear from a panel of industry professionals about ManSat’s bursary scheme.
In fact, Autumn saw us busy all round and it was a huge pleasure to be involved in STEM FEST 2022 and to participate in Chamber’s Digital Forum at Eagle Labs.
As well as this, Love Tech continued to roll out our STEM books in schools’ initiative across the Island’s primary schools, with eight assemblies conducted too.
This on-going event has been sponsored by PwC, enabling us to leave behind a number of Bridge Bookshop sourced STEM books for each school library. There was also much excitement when Lady Lormier chipped in here, giving Sulby school children insight into her own STEM expertise!
Finishing off the year, #november and #december saw us run our 2nd #techmums digital training club. This time our free, 6 week course was run in partnership with Jo Cutsforth Training and Coaching, helping local mums gain the digital skills necessary for 2022 and beyond.
‘Fantastic course, informative and helpful. It was great meeting others in the same situation and I really enjoyed all the sessions.” #techmum feedback!
All in all, it was a busy 2022!
More thanks are due to all our mentors and volunteers – watch this space because we’ve plans for you to hear everything about them.
Also, we couldn’t have done any of our work without our incredible sponsors and supporters – with a MASSIVE thank you to the Chamber of Commerce.
From all of us here at Love Tech, here’s to a stemtastic 2023!
Love Tech Ltd is an Isle of Man registered charity no. 1293. We inspire and empower girls and young women to explore opportunities in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) in the Isle of Man. We are also proud to be the Chamber of Commerce’s nominated charity 2022/23.
If you’d love to get involved – either as a volunteer or a sponsor, head over to our website www.lovetech.im to find out more, or get in contact at lovetechiom@gmail.com.
It’s been a busy month for Love Tech. As well as TechMums – our digital training club in collaboration with Jo Cutsforth of Jo Cutsforth Training and Coaching, we’ve continued to run our STEM books for primary schools’ project.
PwC Isle of Man have been a fantastic partner here. Their sponsorship has enabled us to donate Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) books to each primary school as we roll out our scheme across the Island.
We’re also using the opportunity to deliver assemblies that detail the amazing jobs being done here on the Island using examples from Love Tech’s many mentors. Our patron, Lady Lorimer, has been getting involved too and visited Sulby School with us to give a talk to the children about her own experience of working in STEM.
As well as this, Love Tech are incredibly grateful to Bridge Bookshop for helping us source appropriate titles for the children. Many of our primary school libraries now contain a diverse selection of age-appropriate STEM books such as How Cities Work, Shark Bytes, Fantastically Great Women Who Changed the World and Build you own Website for Beginners.
In other news, Love Tech have also been supporting www.mathsweekengland.co.uk via our social media – sharing information and resources from #mathsweekengland (Nov 14th-18th) on our social media and highlighting our own ‘Mentor of the Month,’ Maths Mentor and Actuary, Heather Beck.
Heather is a Maths whizz whose job involves calculating future risk in the insurance industry, using high level probability, statistics and models! Our you tube video exploring Heather’s role, plus more details about all our initiatives can be found on our social media pages with the handle @lovetechiom.
Last, but certainly not least! Love Tech Ltd are hugely honoured to have been awarded Isle of Man UNESCO biosphere partner status. This is an important step for us in terms of loving our Island and helping its economy develop in a sustainable way, especially through our community orientated education and mentoring programmes.
To find out more about us, please visit our website, lovetech.im. Also, if you would love to join our active team of volunteers, or women in STEM mentors, please drop us an email at lovetechiom@gmail.com.
Love Tech Ltd is an Isle of Man registered charity no. 1293. We inspire and empower girls and young women to explore opportunities in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) in the Isle of Man. We are also proud to be the Chamber of Commerce’s ‘Charity of Choice’ 2022/23.
Introducing our fabulous patron, Lady Lorimer MBE!
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Jayne Hartley (PDMS), Lady Lorimer, Angela Van Der Berg (chair, Love Tech). Photo thanks to Dave Kneale/ Isle of Man Newspapers.
On Thursday, June 23rd (way back when it was still sunny!), Love Tech happily welcomed on board our fabulous patron, Lady Lorimer, MBE.
“I am delighted to have been invited to serve as patron of Love Tech, a local charity that recognises the importance to bring diverse perspectives to the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics in order to advance scientific progress and reverse skills shortages.” Lady Lorimer.
With a background in science and technology, Lady Lorimer is ideal for the position. Since her appointment she has also been a fantastic source of support in our mission. This is to inspire and empower girls and women to explore STEM opportunities on the Isle of Man.
In particular, Lady Lorimer recently attended Sulby School as part of our STEM books in primary schools’ initiative. We’re presently rolling this PwC Isle of Man sponsored project out to all 33 of the Island’s primary schools. Its goal is to give the children insight into local STEM careers, as well as to provide STEM related books for their libraries. (Thank you so much Bridge Bookshop for helping us source appropriate titles!).
It was therefore great to have Lady Lorimer talk about her own experiences in the STEM industries. Needless to say, the children were suitably enthralled!
At a time of global skills’ shortages and when women are still hugely under-represented in these industries, Love Tech are delighted to have Lady Lorimer on our side. She’s an excellent role model and her expertise will undoubtably strengthen our work alerting young people to the exciting career opportunities these fields can offer.
As well as this, Lady Lorimer is now also one of our mentors! You can therefore find out all about her and her exciting career background by clicking here.
Initially operating as a not-for-profit, Love Tech is now an Isle of Man registered charity (no. 1293). We have a brilliant team of 20+ local female business leaders and technologists. These are all volunteering their time to support and mentor young people to explore career opportunities in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM). As well as this, we’re Isle of Man Chamber of Commerce Charity of Choice 22/23. To find out more about us, please visit our website, www.lovetech.im