International partnership explores how to inspire more young women into Economics

On January 26, Julie Caddy, a secondary school Economics teacher from Merewether High School in Newcastle, Australia, visited Cardiff Business School as part of her five-week UK study tour funded by the prestigious Premier’s Reserve Bank of Australia Economics Scholarship.

Her research project, Closing the Gender Confidence Gap: Investigating Strategies to Encourage Female Students to Study HSC Economics, sought to understand how schools and universities could better support and inspire young women to pursue Economics. A key highlight of her visit to Cardiff Business School was the focus group conducted with Dr Luisanna Onnis and Dr Tommaso Reggiani for this study.

During her visit, Julie aimed to learn more about the impact of Discover Economics, an initiative in Wales, a programme promoted by the Royal Economic Society, that has been instrumental in widening participation in Economics and challenging gender stereotypes about who studies the subject. Cardiff Business School faculty members are playing a leading role in the development of the scheme.

In addition, Julie exchanged ideas with our colleagues on effective outreach strategies and explore how successful Cardiff Business School practices could be adapted to the Australian context. She also visited Fitzalan High School, a local community-focused school that works closely with our faculty and has achieved notable success in increasing female participation in Economics. Her visit helped her to gain insights into the teaching approaches, role models, and institutional support that has made a difference.

Julie's visit to Cardiff represented an important opportunity for the Global-Civic strategy promoted by Cardiff University, bringing together schoolteachers, university academics, and policy initiatives around a shared goal: ensuring that more young women feel confident, capable, and welcome to study Economics.