The Women in STEM Oral History Project was a joint initiative between the University of Ottawa Archives and Special Collections (ARCS), the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC), and the Canadian Institute of Women in Engineering and Sciences (CIWES). Ten interviews with women of significance to the history of Canadian Women in STEM were conducted over the Fall 2023 semester. In 2025, ARCS received funding from Ingenium: Canada's Museums of Science and Innovation to record fifteen additional interviews for The Women in STEM Oral History Project Phase 2, including bilingual transcripts.
Women in STEM projects
Women in STEM Oral History Project
Profiles in focus
The Profiles in Focus feature highlights individuals who have worked to improve the status of women in Canadian STEM and have made significant contributions to their fields.
Ghazaleh Jerban
Ghazaleh Jerban is a Faculty of Law student at the University of Ottawa completing her doctoral thesis. In 2018, she was the recipient of the inaugural Ingenium-University of Ottawa Fellowship in Gender, Science and Technology for her work focusing on gender aspects of intellectual property law.
Valerie Overend
Valerie was born in Regina, Saskatchewan in 1953. She is best known as a advocate for tradeswomen and encouraging young women and girls to pursue non-conventional career paths.
Monique Frize
Monique Frize (BASc ’66) was the first female engineering graduate from the University of Ottawa. This instalment of Beyond the Lab uncovers how she went on to become a renowned biomedical engineering expert, and one of UOttawa’s most championed alumni. Monique Frize’s fonds are held at the University of Ottawa’s Archives and Special Collections.
Beyond the Lab Podcast
In collaboration with CHUO 89.1 FM, the University of Ottawa’s Archives and Special Collections presents Beyond the Lab. Written and produced by Zoë Argiropulos-Hunter, Beyond the Lab is a historical audio series highlighting women and their contribution to STEM research, which includes fields related to science, technology, engineering and mathematics. These bite-sized podcasts will feature biographical overviews of female pioneers in STEM, as well as interviews with current female researchers and archivists. The primary aim of this collaborative initiative is to promote the Canadian Archive of Women in STEM project launched by the Archives and Special Collections. By raising awareness about the Canadian Archive of Women in STEM, within the campus community and more broadly, the Archives and Special Collections hopes that this method of creative outreach will inspire women in STEM fields to donate their records to the project, and to acknowledge the work of women that often goes unrecognized.
Marina Bokovay
Marina Bokovay is the Head of uOttawa’s Archives and Special Collections. In this first installment of Beyond the Lab, we chat with Marina about the Archives and Special Collections, their purpose and importance, and the department’s Canadian Archive of Women in STEM project.
Allie Vibert Douglas
Allie Vibert Douglas (OC, MBE and LLD ’75), distinguished academic, astrophysicist and dean of women, was born in 1894 in Montreal.
She was a Canadian astronomer and the first Canadian woman to become an astrophysicist. This episode of Beyond the Lab remembers her amazing contribution to her field, and as a pioneer for women pursuing STEM research. Allie Vibert Douglas’s fonds are held at the Queen’s University Archives.
Jennifer Thivierge
Jennifer Thivierge is a PhD candidate in the Department of History at the University of Ottawa. She has received an Ingenium-University of Ottawa Fellowship in Gender, Science, and Technology. Her research focuses on examining the history of Canadian women’s contributions to computer science, particularly women in Canadian university programs between 1945 and 1990. In this instalment of Beyond the Lab, we chat with Jennifer about her research and her experience being the recipient of an Ingenium-University of Ottawa Fellowship in Gender, Science and Technology.