Women in Tech Cyprus to reflect on 2025 and set 2026 priorities

Women in Tech Cyprus will open the new year with a small community gathering in Limassol, aiming to carry forward the momentum built over the past year around women’s participation in science and technology.

The Saturday morning meeting, scheduled for January 10, from 10.00 until 12.00,  at Marina Breeze, is designed as a relaxed but purposeful forum.

Organisers say it will provide space to reflect on the key moments of 2025, set out plans and priorities for 2026, and ground those discussions in a short, practical micro-workshop intended to spark ideas for the year ahead.

Framed as an informal setting, the gathering is meant to encourage conversation, reconnection and the exchange of perspectives, rather than formal presentations. Attendance will be limited.

The January meeting follows a year of intensified discussion on women in STEM in Cyprus, most notably marked by the second Women in STEM Cyprus Summit, titled ‘Voices of Change’, which was held in November.

The summit, held under the auspices of President Nikos Christodoulides and co-organised by Women in Tech Cyprus and TechIsland, brought together more than 300 participants from academia, business and politics.

As reflected in coverage at the time, the focus extended beyond visibility to examine why women’s representation in STEM continues to lag despite strong participation at entry level.

Speakers agreed that the gender gap in STEM, including in leadership roles within artificial intelligence, persists not because of a lack of ability, but because of structural barriers.

Deep-rooted social norms and stereotypes, they said, reinforce insecurity and bias from early education through to senior decision-making.

While women contribute significantly to science and technology, only around a quarter of seats on research boards are held by women, underlining the gap between available talent and who ultimately advances.

Retention emerged as a central concern. Research referenced at the Summit showed that 41 per cent of women working in STEM had considered leaving, or had already stepped away from, their careers.

Speakers stressed that these decisions were not linked to skills, but to burnout, limited progression opportunities, gender bias, rigid working conditions and the difficulty of balancing professional roles with caregiving responsibilities.

The discussion also turned to artificial intelligence, where speakers warned that systems often replicate existing bias because they are trained on biased data and developed by teams lacking diversity.

Addressing this, they argued, requires transparency, bias audits, more diverse development teams and clearer organisational accountability for fair and inclusive outcomes.

The summit concluded with a call for systemic change, stressing that lasting equality cannot be achieved without reshaping cultural expectations, challenging ingrained bias and redesigning workplace structures that continue to place the burden of adaptation on women.

Tanya Romanyukha, Director of Women in Tech Cyprus and General Manager of TechIsland, said the event reflected the clarity and honesty of its participants, describing it as an initiative evolving into an institutional platform grounded in data, open dialogue and collective commitment.

Referring to survey findings presented at the Summit, she noted that 81 per cent of women who chose STEM studies or careers did so out of personal interest, adding that the barrier lies not in ambition but in the lack of flexibility and the pressure to make “safe” choices.

She also pointed to the wider economic implications, saying global growth could increase by around 20 per cent if women participated in the workforce at the same rate as men.

It is against that backdrop that the January gathering has been framed.

Organisers say the aim is not to revisit November’s debates, but to ensure continuity, keeping the conversation active as the community looks ahead to the year to come.