Erika Ábrahám , Miguel Goulão , Milena Vujošević Janičić , Sarah Jane Delany , Amal Mersni , Oleksandra Yeremenko , Özge Büyükdağlı , Karima Boudaoud , Caroline Oehlhorn , Ute Schmid , Christina Büsing , Helen Bolke-Hermanns , Kaja Köhnle , Matilde Pato , Deniz Sunar Cerci , Larissa Schmid
{"title":"为什么女性要攻读计算机科学博士学位?","authors":"Erika Ábrahám , Miguel Goulão , Milena Vujošević Janičić , Sarah Jane Delany , Amal Mersni , Oleksandra Yeremenko , Özge Büyükdağlı , Karima Boudaoud , Caroline Oehlhorn , Ute Schmid , Christina Büsing , Helen Bolke-Hermanns , Kaja Köhnle , Matilde Pato , Deniz Sunar Cerci , Larissa Schmid","doi":"10.1016/j.jss.2025.112586","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Context:</h3><div>Computer science, even now, attracts a small number of women, and the proportion of women in the field decreases through advancing career stages. Consequently, few women progress to Ph.D. studies in computer science after completing master’s studies. Empowering women at this stage in their careers is essential, not just for equality reasons, but to unlock untapped potential for society, industry and academia.</div></div><div><h3>Objective:</h3><div>This paper aims to identify students’ career assumptions and information related to Ph.D. studies focused on gender-based differences. We propose a program to inform female master students about Ph.D. studies that explains the process, clarifies misconceptions, and alleviates concerns.</div></div><div><h3>Method:</h3><div>An extensive survey was conducted to identify factors that encourage and discourage students from undertaking Ph.D. studies. The analysis identified statistically significant differences between those who undertook Ph.D. studies and those who did not, as well as statistically significant gender differences. A catalogue of questions to initiate discussions with potential Ph.D. students which allowed them to explore these factors was developed. These were structured into a <em>Women’s Career Lunch</em> program where students can explore and discuss the benefits of Ph.D. study.</div></div><div><h3>Results:</h3><div>Encouraging factors towards Ph.D. study include interest and confidence in research arising from a research involvement during earlier studies; enthusiasm for and self-confidence in computer science in addition to an interest in an academic career; encouragement from external sources; and a positive perception towards Ph.D. studies which can involve achieving personal goals. Discouraging factors include uncertainty and lack of knowledge of the Ph.D. process, a perception of lower job flexibility, and the requirement for long-term commitment. Gender differences highlighted that female students who pursue a Ph.D. have less confidence in their technical skills than males but a higher preference for interdisciplinary areas. Female students are less inclined than males to perceive the industry as offering better job opportunities and more flexible career paths than academia.</div></div><div><h3>Conclusions:</h3><div>The insights collected from the survey facilitated the development of a questions catalogue structured into the <em>Women Career Lunch</em> program to help students make a more informed decision concerning whether they should pursue a Ph.D. in computer science. Localised versions of this program, in 8 languages, were created to support its adoption in different countries and assist in mitigating the female under-representation challenge.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51099,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Systems and Software","volume":"231 ","pages":"Article 112586"},"PeriodicalIF":4.1000,"publicationDate":"2025-08-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":"{\"title\":\"Why do women pursue a Ph.D. in Computer Science?\",\"authors\":\"Erika Ábrahám , Miguel Goulão , Milena Vujošević Janičić , Sarah Jane Delany , Amal Mersni , Oleksandra Yeremenko , Özge Büyükdağlı , Karima Boudaoud , Caroline Oehlhorn , Ute Schmid , Christina Büsing , Helen Bolke-Hermanns , Kaja Köhnle , Matilde Pato , Deniz Sunar Cerci , Larissa Schmid\",\"doi\":\"10.1016/j.jss.2025.112586\",\"DOIUrl\":null,\"url\":null,\"abstract\":\"<div><h3>Context:</h3><div>Computer science, even now, attracts a small number of women, and the proportion of women in the field decreases through advancing career stages. Consequently, few women progress to Ph.D. studies in computer science after completing master’s studies. Empowering women at this stage in their careers is essential, not just for equality reasons, but to unlock untapped potential for society, industry and academia.</div></div><div><h3>Objective:</h3><div>This paper aims to identify students’ career assumptions and information related to Ph.D. studies focused on gender-based differences. We propose a program to inform female master students about Ph.D. studies that explains the process, clarifies misconceptions, and alleviates concerns.</div></div><div><h3>Method:</h3><div>An extensive survey was conducted to identify factors that encourage and discourage students from undertaking Ph.D. studies. The analysis identified statistically significant differences between those who undertook Ph.D. studies and those who did not, as well as statistically significant gender differences. A catalogue of questions to initiate discussions with potential Ph.D. students which allowed them to explore these factors was developed. These were structured into a <em>Women’s Career Lunch</em> program where students can explore and discuss the benefits of Ph.D. study.</div></div><div><h3>Results:</h3><div>Encouraging factors towards Ph.D. study include interest and confidence in research arising from a research involvement during earlier studies; enthusiasm for and self-confidence in computer science in addition to an interest in an academic career; encouragement from external sources; and a positive perception towards Ph.D. studies which can involve achieving personal goals. Discouraging factors include uncertainty and lack of knowledge of the Ph.D. process, a perception of lower job flexibility, and the requirement for long-term commitment. Gender differences highlighted that female students who pursue a Ph.D. have less confidence in their technical skills than males but a higher preference for interdisciplinary areas. Female students are less inclined than males to perceive the industry as offering better job opportunities and more flexible career paths than academia.</div></div><div><h3>Conclusions:</h3><div>The insights collected from the survey facilitated the development of a questions catalogue structured into the <em>Women Career Lunch</em> program to help students make a more informed decision concerning whether they should pursue a Ph.D. in computer science. Localised versions of this program, in 8 languages, were created to support its adoption in different countries and assist in mitigating the female under-representation challenge.</div></div>\",\"PeriodicalId\":51099,\"journal\":{\"name\":\"Journal of Systems and Software\",\"volume\":\"231 \",\"pages\":\"Article 112586\"},\"PeriodicalIF\":4.1000,\"publicationDate\":\"2025-08-25\",\"publicationTypes\":\"Journal Article\",\"fieldsOfStudy\":null,\"isOpenAccess\":false,\"openAccessPdf\":\"\",\"citationCount\":\"0\",\"resultStr\":null,\"platform\":\"Semanticscholar\",\"paperid\":null,\"PeriodicalName\":\"Journal of Systems and Software\",\"FirstCategoryId\":\"94\",\"ListUrlMain\":\"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0164121225002559\",\"RegionNum\":2,\"RegionCategory\":\"计算机科学\",\"ArticlePicture\":[],\"TitleCN\":null,\"AbstractTextCN\":null,\"PMCID\":null,\"EPubDate\":\"\",\"PubModel\":\"\",\"JCR\":\"Q1\",\"JCRName\":\"COMPUTER SCIENCE, SOFTWARE ENGINEERING\",\"Score\":null,\"Total\":0}","platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Systems and Software","FirstCategoryId":"94","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0164121225002559","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"计算机科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"COMPUTER SCIENCE, SOFTWARE ENGINEERING","Score":null,"Total":0}
Computer science, even now, attracts a small number of women, and the proportion of women in the field decreases through advancing career stages. Consequently, few women progress to Ph.D. studies in computer science after completing master’s studies. Empowering women at this stage in their careers is essential, not just for equality reasons, but to unlock untapped potential for society, industry and academia.
Objective:
This paper aims to identify students’ career assumptions and information related to Ph.D. studies focused on gender-based differences. We propose a program to inform female master students about Ph.D. studies that explains the process, clarifies misconceptions, and alleviates concerns.
Method:
An extensive survey was conducted to identify factors that encourage and discourage students from undertaking Ph.D. studies. The analysis identified statistically significant differences between those who undertook Ph.D. studies and those who did not, as well as statistically significant gender differences. A catalogue of questions to initiate discussions with potential Ph.D. students which allowed them to explore these factors was developed. These were structured into a Women’s Career Lunch program where students can explore and discuss the benefits of Ph.D. study.
Results:
Encouraging factors towards Ph.D. study include interest and confidence in research arising from a research involvement during earlier studies; enthusiasm for and self-confidence in computer science in addition to an interest in an academic career; encouragement from external sources; and a positive perception towards Ph.D. studies which can involve achieving personal goals. Discouraging factors include uncertainty and lack of knowledge of the Ph.D. process, a perception of lower job flexibility, and the requirement for long-term commitment. Gender differences highlighted that female students who pursue a Ph.D. have less confidence in their technical skills than males but a higher preference for interdisciplinary areas. Female students are less inclined than males to perceive the industry as offering better job opportunities and more flexible career paths than academia.
Conclusions:
The insights collected from the survey facilitated the development of a questions catalogue structured into the Women Career Lunch program to help students make a more informed decision concerning whether they should pursue a Ph.D. in computer science. Localised versions of this program, in 8 languages, were created to support its adoption in different countries and assist in mitigating the female under-representation challenge.
期刊介绍:
The Journal of Systems and Software publishes papers covering all aspects of software engineering and related hardware-software-systems issues. All articles should include a validation of the idea presented, e.g. through case studies, experiments, or systematic comparisons with other approaches already in practice. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:
•Methods and tools for, and empirical studies on, software requirements, design, architecture, verification and validation, maintenance and evolution
•Agile, model-driven, service-oriented, open source and global software development
•Approaches for mobile, multiprocessing, real-time, distributed, cloud-based, dependable and virtualized systems
•Human factors and management concerns of software development
•Data management and big data issues of software systems
•Metrics and evaluation, data mining of software development resources
•Business and economic aspects of software development processes
The journal welcomes state-of-the-art surveys and reports of practical experience for all of these topics.