By Jacquie Harper | General Manager
Empowering Female Diversity in STEMM: 2026 Project Update
In 2026, Innovative Young Minds continued to give young women direct access to STEMM workplaces, professionals and career pathways through our online, satellite and residential programmes.
A key development was our June partnership with Affinity Medical Imaging. The Affinity Satellite piloted the short-format online model at the heart of our GlobalGiving project. Students toured a working medical imaging clinic virtually, explored X-ray, CT, ultrasound, MRI and nuclear medicine, and heard directly from professionals about study options, careers and everyday work.
The pilot reached 249 students from 116 schools. Participant satisfaction was 99%, and 97% of respondents said they were more motivated to explore STEMM careers. One student told us: “I was unsure about medical imaging, but now I know I do want to pursue it.”
The event demonstrated that one focused online experience can connect hundreds of young women with a real workplace, female role models and career information, regardless of geography. The virtual tour and event wrap-up are now available on the IYM website, extending the experience beyond the original participants.
https://www.iym.org.nz/satellite-events
The Affinity pilot directly informs our GlobalGiving project, which will create 10 targeted, scalable online STEMM experiences. The planned series is designed to reach more than 4,000 students across New Zealand and the South Pacific. Each session will showcase STEMM pathways and women leaders through interactive content and live questions and answers. Sessions will also be added to a permanent, open-access platform.
Our wider 2026 delivery reinforced this learning. IYM Online included participants from the Pacific, while our tenth Residential Programme gave 39 students an intensive week of workplace visits, workshops and problem-solving activities.
The Affinity pilot has given us practical evidence of what this model can achieve. The next step is to apply those lessons to the planned 10-experience series, which we can deliver with your help.
Links:
Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.
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