The 25th International Conference on Transparent Optical Networks (ICTON 2025) was held at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC) in Barcelona, Spain, from July 6-10, 2025.

The conference was an occasion, like the previous year, for WeInTel (Women In Telecommunication and optical networks) and WiTaR (Women in Telecommunications and Research) to collaborate in a workshop organised by Dr. Sima Barzegar, Education and Training Officer at Barcelona Supercomputing Center & Dr. Pantea Nadimi Goki, Assistant Professor at Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna. This special event dedicated to fostering diversity and inclusion in their field.

The two-hour session showcased, in addition to a panel discussion and a survey, six distinguished speakers who presented cutting-edge research and insights in photonics and telecommunications (PDF presentation):

1. Aina Serrano Rodrigo discussed advances in photonics packaging for space and sub-THz communication systems, emphasising hybrid integration and mechanical design.

2. Vanessa Villegas Zannella presented on scalable and adaptive 6G transport architectures based on ultra-wideband space-division multiplexing.

3. Valentina Gemmato, a PhD student, shared her work on coherent-detection LiDAR systems leveraging hybrid SOI-InP integration.

4. Francesca Samà highlighted innovations in integrated opto-microfluidic interferometric chemical sensors on silicon chips.

5. Prof. Dr. Carmen Mas Machuca addressed the development of resilient and secure quantum key distribution (QKD) networks.

6. María Gracia Puga Villanueva and Helena Moço Lopes, EDI officers at the Barcelona Supercomputing Center, discussed advancing science through inclusive gender equality plans.

A MENTI survey (results in PDF)was conducted to explore gender balance initiatives and perceptions within organisations, focusing on training, actions, and business impact.

Responses showed mixed awareness of EDI training—some had no knowledge of initiatives, while others noted hiring policies promoting gender balance. A few mentioned women in leadership and tech roles. Suggestions included mentorship programs, celebrating women’s achievements, and supporting working mothers. Participants stressed that gender equality is essential, not just a trend.

Most (80%) believe gender diversity benefits business success. Key strategies recommended were showcasing successful women, improving support systems, and focusing on retention over participation.

Respondents agreed that gender balance in design, hiring, and funding leads to fairness. They called for more workshops, early STEM education, and quotas when needed, along with better promotion of initiatives to boost women’s involvement in tech. Additionally, the Equity, Diversity & Inclusion unit from the Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC) presented on strategic approaches to fostering inclusive research environments.

The session concluded with a dynamic panel discussion, encouraging open dialogue on gender equality challenges and opportunities in telecommunications.

The Women in Telecommunications and Research (WiTaR) Working Group proudly held its convened session on June 4th at EuCNC & 6G Summit 2025 in Poznan, Poland. Focused on increasing visibility and inclusivity in the 6G research and innovation landscape, the session was a resounding success—bringing together academic and industry leaders to spark meaningful dialogue and propose targeted actions for gender equity within the SNS JU context.

First, the session opened with warm remarks from WiTaR Chair, Bahare M. Khorsandi from Nokia, with Bahare’s insightful overview of WiTaR’s recent progress and role in shifting the gender dynamics within the SNS programme.
Then, Didier Bourse curated impactful video messages in “Voices from Europe”, then introduced this year’s theme: “Women Visibility/Invisibility – Targeted SNS Actions”, laying the foundation for deeper discussions.
Followed by Dinh-Thuy Phan-Huy (Orange), the first-ever Orange fellow, who shared her experience as a Woman engineer at Orange and the importance of senior women role models in the domain, supported her career as an “An adventurer at the service of Orange“.

A panel moderated by Bahare M. Khorsandi featured diverse perspectives from Ahmad Nimr (University of Dresden), and Stefan Wunderer (Nokia), followed by an engaging BarCamp led by Pooja Mohnani. Participants actively co-created strategies around business vision, standardisation, and the intersection of sustainability with diversity, guided by Uwe Herzog (Eurescom GmbH), Prachi Sachdeva (TNO), and Stefan Wunderer. The session concluded with a clear roadmap for WiTaR’s next steps, reinforcing the collective commitment to a more equitable and inclusive 6G ecosystem.

Full session details: https://www.eucnc.eu/programme/special-sessions/convened-session-1/

At both the beginning and end of the workshop, video contributions from four EU leaders were shared, each emphasizing the initiatives and daily work being undertaken to reduce the gender gap and raise awareness in the workplace. These included:

• 00:10 – Rehana Schwinninger-Ladak, EC, Deputy Director in DG Connect responsible for Advanced Digital Skills
• 4:39 – Lyse Brillouet, Orange Executive Vice-President Research
• 7:15 – Muriel Attane, EARTO Secretary General
• 13:57 – Thierry Klein, Nokia Bell Labs Solutions Research President

On October 30, WiTaR joined SNS ICE and Riga TechGirls at 5G Techritory to lead a vital discussion on gender diversity and sustainability in telecoms. This impactful event, titled “Shifting the Balance,” brought together industry and academic leaders to advance gender balance and explore diversity’s role in shaping the future of 6G.

Key Highlights:

1. Opening Remarks on Inclusive Tech Spaces: Representatives from WiTaR and Riga TechGirls emphasized creating welcoming spaces for women and underrepresented telecom groups, driving innovation and equity.
2. Interactive Bar Camp on Gender Diversity: Attendees shared insights and challenges and discussed strengthening gender diversity in telecom R&D.
3. Focus Areas:
   • Digital Skills & Upskilling: Exploring the need for ongoing learning to equip a diverse workforce for 6G.
   • 6G Sustainability & Ecosystem Diversity: Panelists examined sustainability’s role in 6G network development.
   • Cybersecurity Diversity: Discussed how diverse perspectives are essential for innovative, resilient security solutions.
4. Diversity’s Impact on 6G Use Cases: The session reviewed survey results on how inclusion enhances 6G’s accessibility, highlighting the need for ongoing improvements in gender equality in telecom R&D.

Thank You to Our Community!

Thanks to all attendees and speakers, including Pooja Mohnani, Prachi Sachdeva, Rolands Bīrons, Maria Giuffrida, Anna Olovna, and others, for contributing to this meaningful event. Together, we’re building a more diverse, sustainable telecom future!

During the ICTON 2024 in Bari, Italy happening between the 14th and 18th of July 2024, the WiTaR working group and the Women in Telecommunication and Optical Networks (WeInTel) organised a successful workshop, dedicated inspire and raise essential awareness on gender diversity in telecommunications and optical networks.

This joint effort was brought together by the SNS JU SEASON and the ALLEGRO projects representatives within the WiTaR group.

Five amazing women speakers gave insightful technical talks, showcasing their expertise and contributing greatly to the discussions:

• Marta Blanco Caamaño
• Valentina Gemmato
•  Laia Nadal, PhD
• Margita Radovic
• and Leyla Sadighi.

After that, an eye-opening survey on gender diversity was conducted in the STEM field, revealing important perspectives and areas for improvement!

Between the 2nd and 5th of September 2024 in Valencia, Spain, the WiTaR working group in collaboration with the IEEE ComSoc Women in Communications Engineering (WICE) and the COST Action CA20120 on Intelligence-Enabling Radio Communications for Seamless Inclusive Interactions (INTERACT) participated at the IEEE PIMRC 2024 conference on the Special Session called: Bridging Gaps: Female Researchers in Mobile Radio Communications at Industry and Academia.

The session held on Wednesday 4th between 16:20-18:00h CET goals’ was to highlight the role of women in telecommunications, further raising awareness of gender inclusivity and engaging different stakeholders.

After an introduction of the work performed for the different supporting group towards the presence of female researchers in their area of influence, the 3 speakers were:

• • WiTaR: Irene Alepuz, iTEAM-UPV Spain
  • COST CA20120 INTERACT: Laurent Clavier, Chair COST CA20120 INTERACT, IMT Nord Europe/Univ. Lille
  • IEEE ComSoc WICE: Ana G. Armada, UC3 Madrid, Spain

Then, a keynote from Dr. Silvia Rueda from the Spanish Ministry of Research and Universities. Unit of Women and Science was delivered.

Followed by a round table of 6 women from industry and academia was organised for them to share their views and professional experience on the role of women in the field of telecommunications. With the participation of different persons in different stages of their career (pre-doc, postdoc, senior…) and from Industry and academia. , the round table was chaired by Conchi Garcia-Pardo from iTEAM-UPV, and the speakers were:

• • Ana G. Armada, PhD, Full Professor, UC3 Madrid, Spain
  • Xueli An, PhD, Huawei.
  • Silvia Rueda, PhD, Spanish Ministry of Research and Universities.
  • Sofia Perez-Simbor, PhD, Rhode & Schwarz Benelux
  • Monika Drozdowska, Pre-doctoral researcher, Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV), Spain

Finally, the wrap-up and conclusions were made by Conchi Garcia-Pardo from the UPV, Spain.

On Tuesday 4th June 2024, WiTaR held a 1h40 convened session to explain the EU-level initiative that promotes gender equality, inclusion and empowerment in the 6G Research & Innovation (R&I) community. This session provided a comprehensive platform to discuss gender inclusivity in deep tech, explore collaborative opportunities, and outline strategic actions for a more diverse 6G ecosystem.

Session Chairs:

• Bahare Masood Khorsandi, Senior Researcher & WiTaR WG Chair (Nokia, DE)
• Marie-Hélène Hamon, Senior Expert & WiTaR WG Vice-Chair(Orange, FR)
• Irene Alepuz Benaches, Researcher (UPV, ES)
• Ishita Mishra, Researcher (Institute PIIU, IT)
• Pooja Mohnani, Project Manager (EURESCOM, DE)
• Marja Matinmikko-Blue, Research Director (University of Oulu, FI)
• Didier Bourse, Research Program Leader (Nokia, FR)

Invited Speakers:

• Academia: Prof. Lena Wosinska, Research Professor (Chalmers University of Technology, SE)
• Industry:
  • Dr. Silvia Provvedi, Senior Project Manager, PMP (Ericsson, IT)
  • Clare McCarthy, Senior Principal, ESG Research and Standards (Nokia, UK)
  • SNS JU Project: Jessica Carneiro, Project Manager (Australo, ES)

The WiTaR convened session began with a welcome and introduction by Didier Bourse (Nokia), featuring a video showcasing female leaders across Europe emphasizing the importance of gender inclusivity in deep tech and 6G.

Following this, Bahare M. Khorsandi (Nokia) presented “WiTaR in a Nutshell,” outlining WiTaR’s mission and initiatives, analyzing gender participation statistics in SNS, and highlighting the EUCNC Conference as a case study for gender representation.

Next, Pooja Mohnani (EURESCOM) explored collaboration opportunities between WiTaR and other SNS projects to promote inclusivity in the 6G R&I community.

The session then moved to industry and academia perspectives on gender diversity, with insights from Prof. Lena Wosinska (Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden) representing academia, Dr. Silvia Provvedi (Ericsson, Italy) & Clare McCarthy (Nokia, UK) from the industry perspective, and Jessica Carneiro (Australo, Spain) sharing experiences from SNS JU projects.

An interactive audience session followed, including an open discussion with the speakers on gender diversity in 6G R&I and the presentation of survey results by Pooja Mohnani.

The session concluded with Bahare M. Khorsandi and Marie-Hélène Hamon summarizing key takeaways and discussing future action points to enhance gender diversity in 6G research and innovation.

Figure1: Invitation WiTAR IWD 2024

On 8^th March WiTaR celebrated international women´s day in online mode. The main aim of this working group is to create awareness about gender diversity, inclusion and empowerment in the 6G Research & Innovation (R&I) community.

This year, Women in Telecommunication and Research Working Group (WiTaR) dedicated their session to #inspireInclusion. The session kicked off with the introduction about the group by the working group Chairs Bahare Masood Khorsandi (Nokia) and Marie-Helene (Orange) who welcomed the participants and shared interesting facts about the formation of this working group, its vision and goals. Together we exchanged, discussed and evolved to “why women in telecommunications should be a part of it” and how we could empower each other.

Figure 2: Survey IWD 2024

This was followed by a short survey organized by Pooja Mohnani (EURESCOM) via the tool mentimeter. This survey was collection of facts and provided insights on the representation of women in ICT roles and companies which led to brainstorming discussion on what could be the potential set of actions to foster knowledge exchange and collaboration.

More than 50 participants from diverse background joined the session. There were interesting contributions from other working groups and project representatives. Finally, the session wrapped up with positive feedback and the organizers shared next set of actions which included participation and presentation at EuCNC in a Convened session on Tuesday June 4th, 11:00 – 13:00.

If you are around then don’t miss and join us to bring a change!

Figure 3: Participants IWD 2024

WiTaR had a second convened session as part of EUCNC 2023. The session received really well by large number of participants from different backgrounds from all genders. The session consist of invited speakers from industry and academia as well as panel discussion on the ways to close the gender balance gap in the Telecommunication sector.

The first WiTaR convened session was organized during the EUCNC 2022 conference and kicked-off a series of convened session.

This session was the opportunity to introduce WiTaR, discuss with representatives from industry and academia about solutions to improve gender inclusivity in research community.