The world is currently facing several challenges, many of which will be solved using new and innovative technologies.
Humans have been solving problems in this way for millennia, and will necessarily be doing so long into the future.
Since 1970, the number of women completing degrees in STEM subjects and entering the workforce has increased.
In many ways, we are better equipped to tackle these issues, with more tools and knowledge in human hands than ever before.
This is thanks, in part, to the increasingly important role that women are, and will be, playing in driving science and innovation in a changing world.
Problems such as global health and food security are both urgent and ongoing; climate change is affecting the endemic range of mosquitoes and the diseases they carry, while food security in light of plummeting grain exports from Ukraine, is in sharper focus than it has been for many years.
There is a three-fold increase in the number of women taking up vital roles to drive innovation and technology.
Tackling these issues will require not only international cooperation but the best and widest possible pool of talent available – that means expanding the next generation of women in STEM
Since 1970, the number of women completing degrees in STEM subjects and entering the workforce has increased dramatically, from representing just eight percent of the workforce to 27 percent in 2019.
While we have some way to go, and challenges remain, this is a three-fold increase in the number of women taking up vital roles to drive innovation and technology.
Encourage and nurture the curiosity and creativity in the young women around you.
In the past few years, however, the number of women graduating with STEM degrees has somewhat stagnated, especially in the UK.
The number of core STEM graduates has risen steadily, if slowly, from 22,020 in 2015 to 24,705 in 2019.
The picture is rosier in the US with the number of female STEM graduates rising from 212,532 in 2015 to 276,429 in 2021.
In Europe, the proportion of female STEM graduates is roughly 33 percent.
There is also progress to be made in translating these graduates into influential figures and women in leadership roles.
This is a cause that is close to my heart.
After graduating with a Ph.D. in science in 2012, I am now CTO at Oxitec, the company I joined soon after graduating.
Creating technology and innovation to tackle global issues will require a new generation of problem solvers.
The senior leadership team at Oxitec is a rare example of a company tackling global issues with women representing half the voices at the table at every level of leadership.
In general, 59 percent of Oxitec’s employees globally are female and the CTO, CFO, and Brazil country director are all women in the executive leadership team.
Of the senior positions in my team, half are women.
We are a company tackling a wide range of issues in the world, some of the biggest, from newly endemic malaria in Djibouti to crop-destroying insects in South America.
Each of these is complicated and multi-faceted, being affected by climate change, resistance to pesticides, and other factors, and yet we must tackle them.
We recruit and train the best scientists, thinkers, and leaders, seeking to keep and promote our best and brightest every chance we get.
Our technology uses a self-limiting gene that delivers a targeted, non-toxic, and environmentally sustainable solution for controlling pests that spread disease, threaten food production, or harm ecosystems.
Our lead product is our FriendlyTM Aedes mosquito.
By increasing the diversity and equality of STEM fields and the biotech industry, we can increase the chance of being able to tackle global problems quickly and effectively.
By releasing FriendlyTM males we can control the population of biting females effectively and without the use of pesticides or insecticides.
Currently, this technology is being applied to three mosquito species, including Aedes aegypti, and five other pests, including Fall Armyworm and the Cattle Tick.
The genes inserted into these animals are safe and non-toxic for any animals that may feed on them and for any people in areas where they have been released.
When we stop releasing our genes disappear without a trace.
Creating technology and innovation such as Oxitec’s FriendlyTM Mosquitos to tackle global issues will require not only the experience and expertise already in the industry but also a new generation of problem solvers.
This requires not only a thorough knowledge of the discipline, whether that be biology, chemistry, or some combination of other subjects, but also immaculate attention to detail, analytical thinking, and an ability to communicate and work with your peers.
By increasing the diversity and equality of STEM fields and the biotech industry, both at the micro level i.e., in a team or a business, and at the macro level across countries and the world, we can increase the chance of being able to tackle global problems quickly and effectively.
The biggest challenges necessarily attract the right kind of talent, but we must broaden and deepen the pool.
While it may seem like an insurmountable challenge to cure cancer, eradicate malaria and ensure the world has enough food, really they are problems made of a million tiny issues, each needing a solution developed by a talented team.
I did not set out to save the world or become CTO when I joined Oxitec.
Still, by being active in service to our mission, and being the best I could be in every role I was asked to take up at the company, I have been able to showcase my skills in a way that has made my challenging journey feel like a natural progression.
I can trace how each area I spent time in has helped me develop the skills I need in my job today.
By staying with Oxitec, I have been able to take on an active role in tackling some of these global challenges in a tangible and intensely rewarding way.
The biggest challenges necessarily attract the right kind of talent, but we must broaden and deepen the pool.
For everyone who finds themselves wishing to help humanity face the challenges ahead, there are many, many opportunities to work on tackling the problems we are facing — everyone has a role and many of them are in science.
I have focussed on women as this is a giant, underutilized talent pool globally, but we will not be able to rise to the challenge without improving the equality and diversity of both STEM fields and areas such as the biotech industry across the board.
Encourage and nurture the curiosity and creativity in the young women around you — excite them about what science has brought and what they can add in the future.
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Kelly Matzen is Chief Technology Officer at Oxitec. She graduated from Boston College with a degree in Chemistry and Caltech with a Ph.D. in Molecular Biophysics before joining Oxitec in 2012. She leads a team of world-class and passionate experts — based in the UK, Brazil, the US, Panama, and Djibouti — who develop, validate and manufacture Oxitec’s Friendly™ genetics-powered pest management solutions.