Women Leadership in STEM
Women's Leadership in STEM
Cost: None (all programme costs, including travel and lodging, are covered)
Cohort Size: 30 Women Leaders
Program Duration: December 2025 – November 2026
Format: Hybrid (virtual and in-person sessions)
Deadline: 30 September, 4:00 PM IST
Women’s Leadership in STEM (WLS), launched by the Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC), an enterprise under the Department of Biotechnology, Ministry of Science & Technology, Government of India, Grand Challenges India, and WomenLift Health, is a part-time leadership development programme designed to strengthen the power and influence of mid-career women in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields across India. This programme is tailored for women professionals with 10–25 years of experience, whether in permanent or contractual roles, who are associated with recognised public and private STEM institutions or lead their own organisations as entrepreneurs and innovators in STEM.
This hybrid programme developed in collaboration with the Center for Creative Leadership, will provide cohort members with the tools and frameworks for expanding and developing their leadership styles, foster an inclusive and diverse network of women STEM leaders in India, and enhance their voice, presence, and influence.
About the Programme
India has observed a progressive trend in the participation of women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines at the tertiary education level. Women constitute approximately 43.2% of enrolments across undergraduate, postgraduate, and doctoral programmes in STEM fields. This representation surpasses global averages and reflects ongoing efforts to enhance gender diversity in higher education. Despite these advancements, the transition of women from academic settings to professional roles in STEM research, innovation, and entrepreneurship remains limited.
The challenges that impede women’s participation in STEM careers and leadership roles are multidimensional, including gender stereotypes and biases, socio-cultural factors, challenges maintaining work-life balance, limited access to networks and mentors, and inadequate opportunities for skill development and career advancement. Addressing these challenges requires systemic changes along with attitudinal and behavioural shifts.
Through its focus on transformative leadership and mentorship for women working in STEM, the WLS programme aims to offer a pathway for their increased representation and participation in decision-making processes, leading to more balanced and diverse leadership teams.
The programme is designed to empower women in STEM institutions to expand their leadership sphere and realise their potential to:
- Confidently rise as leaders and decision makers;
- Cultivate the next generation of powerful women STEM leaders; and
- Foster a strong network of champions and institutional partners.
The 2026 Women’s Leadership in STEM program will include 30 women leaders in STEM who will participate in both separate and joint events throughout the year.
Elements of the Programme
The programme includes three fully funding, five-day residential workshops, which include elements of authentic, inclusive, strategic, and impactful leadership.
Leadership Project
The Leadership Project is an opportunity for each cohort member to design and lead an effort that taps into their expertise, network, passion, and creativity to create STEM and health impact.
Participants enter the programme with a project idea and develop a theory of change, stakeholder analysis, and implementation plan with the guidance of their mentor, coach, and technical experts. The implementation phase of the project begins in the latter half of the programme. Finally at the Lift-Off event, each cohort member presents a summary of their project’s development and early outcomes. Implementation of the project does not have to be fully complete by the end of the Journey and will likely continue beyond it.
There are only four rules for the Leadership Project:
- It should focus on improving outcomes at the intersection of STEM and gender equality, or take a gendered lens on a STEM-related issue
- It should leverage your leadership skills
- It should be within your scope of control or influence, but also stretch you beyond your day-to-day work requirements
- You should be passionate about it
The Leadership Project can address real-world challenges related to themes such as:
- Centering women and girls in entrepreneurship and innovation
- Catalysing Institutional Change
- Optimising Pathways to Leadership
- Building Integrated and Resilient Health Systems
- Driving Impact Through Entrepreneurship and Innovation In STEM
Your Leadership Project could accomplish one or more of the following, but is not limited to:
- Answering a STEM and gender-based research question
- Promoting awareness of STEM, health, and/or gender issues in a particular group
- Developing a new or improved technology, service, or product
- Improving a system, process, or approach within one’s organisation or ecosystem to better support STEM -based women innovators and entrepreneurs
- Empowering women in your community or sector to succeed as STEM -based entrepreneurs, leaders, or innovators
- Applying a gender lens to improve existing STEM products, services, or initiatives.
- Building networks or communities that support collaboration among women in STEM
- Encouraging cross-disciplinary innovation by women at the intersection of STEM and other fields
Virtual and In-person Residencies
Cohort members explore leadership frameworks, research, and tools in highly interactive sessions and in-person residencies and workshop-style sessions focused on dynamic practice. The sessions include dynamic discussions and hands-on exercises to enhance skills, apply them, and reflect on lessons learned
Access to Mentorship
Effective women leaders are championed by a strong support network, including mentors. We identify senior-level leaders from the STEM disciplines to serve as mentors to the cohort. Mentoring groups, comprised of multiple participants and one mentor, are formed based on complementary backgrounds and professional trajectories. Participants will be able to rely on their mentor as a technical and career resource through the programme.
Coaching
Cohort members are paired with an executive coach who works one-on-one with them to build on their strengths and address areas for growth. Leadership style assessments will inform these conversations and enhance each participant’s understanding of their own leadership skills. With this feedback and support from their coach, participants can decide which leadership competencies to focus on, paving the road for them to be a more powerful and effective leader.
Lift-Off
The event at the end of the programme celebrates the group’s growth as they graduate to a new phase of their leadership. During the Lift Off event, participants are provided a platform to present their Leadership Projects to a larger audience, including influential stakeholders from the health and STEM fields, policy makers, and domain experts, subject to their availability.
Benefits of the Programme
The programme includes three fully funding, five-day residential workshops, which include elements of authentic, inclusive, strategic, and impactful leadership.
Enhanced Leadership Skills
The programme equips women STEM leaders with the tools and strategies to enhance their voice, presence, and influence as leaders. The leadership programme fosters growth both personally and professionally.
Expanded Network
The programme connects participants to a diverse and inclusive network of women leaders, fostering a strong sense of belonging and creating opportunities for global collaboration and learning.
Peer and Mentor Support
Participants will receive support from a powerful group of peers and mentors. The programme provides an opportunity to develop life-long bonds with women with similar career trajectories, enabling learning through shared and lived experiences.
Personal Growth
The program focuses on helping participants discover and embrace their authentic leadership style, which boosts confidence and enables them to take on complex leadership challenges.
Eligibility & How to Apply
You are eligible to apply for WLS if:
- You identify as a woman.
- Work as innovators or entrepreneurs in STEM domains, operating within start-ups, MSMEs, incubators, accelerators, industry associations, or as founders or co-founders of STEM-based enterprises, including those supported by government schemes, private venture capital, or academic and research-linked innovation hubs.
- Work as researchers in STEM within government organizations (both Central and State), UGC-recognised universities, public sector undertakings, private sector entities, autonomous bodies, or research and academic institutions.
- Are a mid-career professional with minimum 10-25 years of experience in STEM field. (Four years of PhD experience will add to the total years of experience)
- Are an Indian National and reside and work within India
- Upon selection, the participant will be required to attend all virtual touchpoints and two mandatory in-person
- All the programme costs, including travel, food, and lodging for the residency workshops will be covered. However, no stipend will be paid to the selected fellows.
- Access to a computer and stable Internet connection would be required to fully access all the material provided through the leadership development programme and attend any virtual sessions (as applicable).
- The participants would be asked to complete some form of psychometric assessments to better inform them about leadership strengths and growth areas.
- While the following are not technical requirements, our hope is that the participants will bring their passion, and commitment to the program, and engage actively with peers, mentors, and take full advantage of the resources provided.
- Click here to access the application portal for this programme. To submit your application, follow the following steps:
- Visit https://www.birac.nic.in and click on the ‘Women Leadership in STEM’ application Link
ii. Create an account to access the application page.
iii. If you are already a registered user, enter your login credentials at the below link to submit your application: https://birac.nic.in/login.php
iv. Once you login into https://birac.nic.in by using login credentials, then kindly click on “Women Leadership in STEM” on the dashboard to submit the application.
v. Applicants are advised to fill‐up and submit their applications early without waiting for the last date to avoid any last-minute contingencies. The system stops accepting applications automatically after 4:00 PM of the last date of submission.
- Visit https://www.birac.nic.in and click on the ‘Women Leadership in STEM’ application Link
- Applicants are advised to provide sufficient details in their applications to allow for an informed and fair evaluation or review.
- Requests for changes in the applications once submitted will not be entertained.
- Please read through the application in its entirety and ensure that your details match the required eligibility criteria. Applicants are advised to read the guidelines for clear instruction and other details for comprehensive preparation of their applications. Given the high number of applications received, we will only reach out to shortlisted applicants.
| Call Opens | October 27, 2023 |
| Closure of Submission | December 20, 2023, 4:00pm IST |
| Cohort Announcement | Last week of February 2024 |
| Cohort Onboarding (Virtual) | March 2024 |
| First Residency | May 2024 |
| Second Residency | August 2024 |
| Third Residency | November 2024 |
Ready to Apply?
The Leadership Project
The Leadership Project is an opportunity for each member to design and lead an effort that taps into their expertise, network, passion, and creativity.
There are only four rules for the Leadership Project:
- It should focus on improving outcomes at the intersection of STEM and gender equality, or take a gendered lens on a STEM-related issue
- It should leverage your leadership skills
- It should be within your scope of control or influence, but also stretch you beyond your day-to-day work requirements
- You should be passionate about it
The Leadership Project can address real-world challenges related to themes such as:
- Centering women and girls in STEM;
- Catalysing institutional change;
- Optimising pathways to leadership;
- Building integrated and resilient health systems; and
- STEM innovation and policy.
Your Leadership Project could accomplish one or more of the following, but is not limited to:
- Answering a research question
- Promoting STEM or gender education in a particular group
- Developing a new or better technology
- Innovating a better way to collect/analyze/use STEM/gender data
- Improving a gender or STEM-related process/system in your organization
- Empowering or enabling women in your community or organization to be successful
- Incorporating a gendered lens into a policy, practice or research project where it was absent
Implementation of the project does not have to be fully completed by the end of the programme and can be continued beyond it.
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