Title: Women in IT: Research from Germany and Bangladesh
Speaker: Andreea Molnar (Swinburne University of Technology)
March 17, 2026. 3PM. Room TG23.
Abstract: Despite a growing number of initiatives aimed at increasing diversity in IT degree programs, women remain significantly underrepresented. Moreover, even when women do enroll, they tend to leave these programs at higher rates than men, despite entering with comparable levels of interest. I will first share insights from a study carried out in Germany, focusing on what motivates women to enroll at the Technical University of Munich and the factors that support their persistence in IT degrees. Then, I will discuss results from a study exploring what motivates Bangladeshi women to enroll in IT programs.
Bio: Dr. Andreea Molnar is an Associate Professor at Swinburne University of Technology. Her international career includes positions at Lancaster University (UK), the University of Portsmouth (UK), and Arizona State University (USA). Dr Molnar has a PhD from the National College of Ireland and a M.Sc. in Modeling and Simulation from Babes-Bolyai University, Romania. Her research interests focus on technology for good and include serious games, human-computer interaction, adoption and diffusion of information systems in general, and computer science education. Dr Molnar has been the recipient of the Anna Boyksen Fellowship at the Technical University of Munich and is currently a Fellow of the International Science Council. Her work has been featured in high-impact journals such as Nature, Frontiers in Public Health, and ACM Transactions on Computing Education, and highlighted by media outlets including Times Higher Education. She is a Senior Editor for Information Technology & People.