SINGAPORE - The Nanyang Technological University (NTU) organised its largest single event on Friday to attract more young women to take up engineering and science.

The university showcased local and international female scientists at a public symposium held to tie-in with French scientist Marie Curie's Nov 7 birthday.

Marie Curie was the first woman awarded the Nobel Prize, and the first person to win the award in two different categories - physics in 1903 and chemistry in 1911. Her ground-breaking work led to the discovery of radioactivity.

The inaugural Women in Engineering, Science and Technology Symposium is part of NTU's ongoing efforts to increase the number of women in both fields.

It is led by a group of female NTU professors, including Assistant Professor Sierin Lim from the school of chemical and biomedical engineering.

The event features big names in science such as Professor Ada E. Yonath, who won the Nobel Prize for chemistry in 2009. She is best known for her pioneering work on the structure of the ribosome, cells which help make proteins.

Other prominent speakers include Professor Daniela Rhodes, one of the few women in the UK Royal Society, which is highly regarded for advancing science globally.

In a statement on Friday, NTU president Bertil Andersson said: "We now have fewer women in the important fields of engineering, science and technology; and we are missing out on all that potential and half of the best brains."

"We hope to inspire and empower young women to choose and stay in engineering or science as a career by giving them a platform to network with role models."