When it comes to science, “rock stars” are nothing like celebrities – most people can recall a few names if any at all. Sergey Tokarev, Roosh founder and an initiator of SHE is SCIENCE, once held a poll in his IT company asking to name any female scientists. Some could remember Marie Curie, others not a single name. This is when the initiative SHE is SCIENCE was born.

SHE is SCIENCE is an educational art project that promotes 12 Ukrainian female scientists in Ukraine and abroad. The project exhibition has travelled all over the regions of Ukraine and also reached France, Bulgaria, Germany, and other countries.

According to Sergey Tokarev, they wanted from the very beginning to promote Ukrainian female scientists in a modern way by combining different approaches. This way, they invited prominent Ukrainian illustrators headed by Sergey Maidukov, so they could create 12 portraits of women in science, each in their style. Then, there was a literary competition among Ukrainian youth. Girls aged 14 to 21 were asked to write an essay about any of the 12 female scientists and describe not only the life of the specialists but also their thoughts and emotions regarding the life and achievement of the representatives of Ukrainian science

“We wanted to create an exhibition so that it would be really interesting for young people to see it and learn the stories of its heroines, without any coercion from teachers or parents,” says Sergey Tokarev.

The presentation of the 12 portraits was held in Kyiv on June 10, 2021. That day, the First Lady of Ukraine Olena Zelenska was presented at the event and congratulated personally the girls who won the essay contest. The event also included a charity auction: the funds raised from selling the portraits eventually covered the education expenses of the girls who won the contest.

Once the project was officially opened, the exhibition SHE is SCIENCE traveled all over Ukraine starting with Zaporizhzhia, Kryvyi Rih, and Mariupol. After that, the portraits were shown in more than ten cities and free copies of the exhibition were sent to more than 300 public institutions so they could hold the exhibition in place.

“We originally planned to hand out 300 copies. However, the demand was incredible. It was so great that we kept on receiving requests even after 300 copies had run out, so we decided to make an extra issue so that more school students can get inspired by the exhibition,” says Sergey Tokarev.

Once the success of the initiative in Ukraine was obvious, the exhibition started its journey to conquer Europe. In September of the same year, Germany hosted the exposition. SHE is SCIENCE was demonstrated during the Days of Ukraine in Brandenburg and Berlin.

After that, the 12 portraits were exhibited in the capital of Belgium with the support of the Embassy of Ukraine to the Kingdom of Belgium. Sergey Tokarev recalls an interesting aspect of demonstrating the exhibition in Bulgaria.

“Fourth-year Bulgarian students from Lviv National University and fifth-year Ukrainian students from Sofia University have translated the essay into Bulgarian as part of the International Project Ukrainian-Bulgarian Translation Workshop. Thus, the exhibition has already united our countries in a fruitful collaboration,” says the initiator of SHE is SCIENCE.

SHE is SCIENCE is organized by the educational initiative STEM is FEM and supported by UNICEF and UN Women in Ukraine as part of the UN global campaign Generation Equality.