Next District 13 conference will be in Akureyri 31.August – 3. September 2023 Soon we will start the registration for the conference and we will send you information about that very  soon.          fotos: Allan. V. Jensen How to get to Iceland: Flights to Akureyri From Copenhagen direct to Akureyri with Niceair https://www.niceair.is/ To Keflavik you have Icelandairwww.icelandair.is and you can book the flight to Akureyri with a stop in Reykjavik in one ticket. Play airlines https://www.flyplay.com Bus to Akureyri from Reykjavík https://straeto.is/en/route-planner/timetables/landsbyggdin/route-57 We have also blocked some hotels and you will be able to book them when you book the conference. The agenda will be available soon.   Women in STEM Scholarship 2023 Women of any age and nationality, studying a science, technology, engineering or mathematics (STEM) degree programme <Link to STEM: https://www.ice.gov/sites/default/files/documents/stem-list.pdf> at an accredited university/college/institute, who demonstrate a superior academic record and an outstanding potential in the field, and are living or studying in Zonta District 13 areas: Denmark, Iceland, Lithuania or Norway are eligible to apply. Students must be enrolled in at least the second year of a bachelor programme through the final year of a master’s programme by 1 June 2023 and must not graduate before April 2024. The Women in STEM Scholarship 2023 is USD 5,000 for the applicant in Zonta District 13. The application deadline is 1 June 2023. Application form and further information on the Women in STEM Scholarship 2023 can be found here <link to https://zonta-district13.org/who-we-are/d-13-committees/women-in-technology-committee/>. Zonta addresses that women are still largely underrepresented in STEM fields with the Women in STEM Scholarship, which encourages women to pursue education, career opportunities and leadership roles in STEM fields.   Former Governor, Consultant, Professor Dorte Olesen, Gentofte, turns 75 on 8 January. [caption id="attachment_2341" align="alignleft" width="300"] Foto: Rochelle Coote[/caption] Dorte Olesen obtained her master's degree in mathematics and physics in 1973 and quickly entered a scientific career in the border area between these two subjects. She got her PhD degree from the University of Southern Denmark in 1975 and in 1981 she became a DSc from the University of Copenhagen (KU), shortly after her appointment as Associate Professor at the Department of Mathematics. Her research career also led her to the USA as a Member of the Mathematical Sciences Research Centre at Berkeley for the academic year 1984-85, and she was quickly entering  leadership positions at the Faculty of Natural Sciences at the University of Copenhagen and became the first (and until 2019 also the only) female dean of natural sciences in 1986. In 1988, she became Denmark's first female full Professor of mathematics. She was also a member of the Danish Government's Research Policy Council from 1987-93, where she, among other things, spearheaded an evaluation of Danish health science. In 1989, she became director of the newly formed UNI-C, Denmark’s IT-Center for Research and Education, which was a merger of the computer centers at the Technical University and the big universities in Copenhagen and Aarhus. UNI-C was responsible for a number of IT services for schools and universities, including the Danish research network DENET, which was Denmark's major link to the Internet. Since several university teachers wanted an Internet connection to their homes, in 1991 UNI-C established the first general Internet service for ordinary PC users, the so-called inet service. This provided a significant breakthrough for the use of the internet in Denmark, and this commercial ISP part of UNI-C's business grew rapidly in the following years. In connection with the liberalization of telecommunications, it was sold to Tele2 in 1997, and UNI-C then focused sharply on establishing a range of easily accessible services for schools, e.g. SkoleIntra and Unilogin and the education portal EMU - originally the abbreviation stood for "Electronic Marketplace for Teaching Materials", but the time was not yet ripe for e-commerce, and EMU changed character to a learning platform. Dorte Olesen then, as chairman of a committee under the Danish Association of IT-companies, ITB, helped to establish the Danish E-commerce Award, which for a number of years was awarded in close cooperation between UNI-C, ITB and the newspaper Børsen. When e-commerce had become more widespread, the annual award processing was handed over to the Association for Danish Internet Trade. In 2011, Dorte Olesen returned to mathematics at DTU's large institute for mathematics and computer science, DTU Compute. Together with a colleague from the University of Copenhagen, she updated and republished a textbook on the research field C*-algebra in 2018. She is still employed at DTU Compute as a consultant in a large research project, and in recent years she has also spent much of her time disseminating natural science and technology to wider circles, not least in connection with the celebration of the 200th anniversary of Hans Christian Ørsted's discovery of electromagnetism, HCØ2020 – here she was, among other things, deeply involved in a major exhibition about Ørsted's discoveries, which, despite the Corona-pandemic, was had more than 150,000 visitors, first in Rundetaarn July-September 2020, then at the Southern Danish University Library October-December 2020 and then at the Steno Museum in Aarhus throughout 2021. Right now, the majority of the exhibition is set up at the energy company Ørsted in Gentofte.Already in 1988, Dorte OIesen had become President of the Society for the Dissemination of Natural Science, founded by Hans Christian Ørsted in 1824. She has just handed over this post to the astrophysicist Anja C. Andersen, but she is still involved in the work, and the Society is thriving and experiencing a greatly increased interest in its activities. Since 1990 she has been a member of Denmark's oldest Zonta club, Copenhagen I. She has been Club President and member of numerous club committees. The 20 Danish clubs have a strong collaboration in Zonta Denmark, which is also Area 01 in District 13, and nationally Dorte Olesen has, among other things, been at the forefront of awarding special biannual Danish Zonta fellowships to female PhD students in engineering and natural sciences and annual Jane M. Klausman Women in Business scholarships to female business students with strong leadership potential. In the period July 2018- June 2020 she was Governor for ZI's district 13, and July 2020- June 2022 International Director of Zonta International and Zonta Foundation for Women. Now she is back in district work as Chair of District 13's UN and Council of Europe Committee, and the Amelia Earhart Committee.A number of other board positions have also taken her around Europe, in Denmark she has been a member of  the board of the natioanl newspaper Politiken, the insurance company Fagpension, The Pharmaceutical University and Roskilde University, where she was chairman of the first board in 2004. -2008. At European level, she was 2003-2009 President of the European research network organization TERENA, and in 2014-17 member of the board of the organization GEANT with offices in Amsterdam and Cambridge, a post requiring quite a bit of travel, so she left this in December 2017 to make time for becoming  Governor of District 13 in 2018 -20. Also the EU Commission has over many years asked her to participate in a large number of expert groups and as an evaluator for new IT development projects. In 2016, she was a member of a UN high-level expert group on a technology bank for the least developed countries set up by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. She now sits on the board of the Politiken Foundation and Politiken Holding Company as well as the Society for the Dissemination of Natural Science, and has just joined the board of the Ellehammer Observatory.Leisure time is often spent in the garden, which over the years has become more and more biodynamic, so that both people, plants, birds and insects thrive. This applies both at home in Gentofte and in the summer house in Vollerup near Kalundborg, which the family has owned for more than 40 years.  

Former Minister of Culture, Minister of Research and Head of Culture Jytte Hilden, Member of the Zonta Club Copenhagen I, turns 80 on September 12, 2022. [caption id="attachment_2311" align="alignleft" width="300"] Foto: Sara_Skytte[/caption] Personally she has this short summary: ”Pedagogics and politics became my destiny, I love the Periodic Table, the Danish Constitution and the Moraine landscape of Odsherred. In 1953 my parents bought a small house in Odsherred, and we have stayed in the plantation since then. So this is also where I shall celebrate my 80^th birthday together with my family. My life has been long, with light, shadow, bumps on the road, black holes and star moments. I was born curious with a desire to change the world, and this lasts a lifetime.” Not many people would declare their love of the Periodic Table for the elements, but Jytte Hilden loved her education as a chemical engineer and stayed with her subject for many years, first as a researcher and then as a high school teacher. Her enthusiasm for the subject inspired many of her students to also choose to study chemistry, and especially for the girls she was undoubtedly a role model. After many years as a very popular chemistry teacher at Nørre Gymnasium, Jytte became headmaster at Roskilde Katedralskole from 1983-93. At this point her political career in the Social Democratic Party had also picked up speed and this led to her becoming part of the Government as Minister of Culture 1993-96 and later as Minister of Research from 1996-98. In both offices she has left her marks – the most visible probably being the new big building for the Roayal Library in Copenhagen, named the “Black Diamond”. This new building gave the library a much better frame for its activities and contributed significantly to the new Waterfront of Copenhagen. She is also remembered for her efforts to improve the career opportunities for female researchers, both for the sake of the women involved and to ensure that Denmark can realize its full potential in the competitive international world of research. From 1999-2004 Jytte Hilden was Head of Culture at the Royal Library, and afterwards she threw herself into a long and varied series of activities, including travels with her 6 grandchildren and writing or editing a series of books, including the ”99 pink elephants” about an impressive series of Danish women who broke the norms for what women could undertake. She was early on active advocating for equal rights and opportunities for women in all areas, and this has lasted throughout her long and active life, first as a teacher, then as a top politician and in the last 20 years as an active member of the Zonta Club of Copenhagen I. She was active in developing Zonta Clubs in Lithuania and often housed Zonta committee meetings in her flat in Copenhagen, and she was the one who finally got the Club on Facebook. Still spending much time in her summer home in Odsherred, she also formed connections to the Zonta Club in Holbæk and has been active the Women’s Network in Odsherred.