Posts

‘The Lady of the Lakes’ – the true story of Lake District conservationist Beatrix Potter

By Dr Heather Williams / May 21, 2017

This week’s blog is from Olivia Frost, a 23 year old Masters student studying Wildlife Filmmaking at the University of the West of England in Bristol, who shares the plans for her latest project:  In a time when women were told that they couldn’t, or that they shouldn’t, one woman did… All my life I’ve been extremely…

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100 Years of the Medical Women’s Federation: The Past, Present and Future

By Dr Heather Williams / May 11, 2017

This week, we welcome Sarah McLoughlin of the Medical Women’s Federation, to tell us more about their work and events to mark their centenary next month: “Recently released stats by the GMC reveal that in 2017, 46% of registered doctors in the UK are now women and, with women also making up 55% of all…

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Raising Dauntless Daughters

By Dr Heather Williams / May 3, 2017

We’re tremendously excited to host this guest blog from Steph Green, founder of Dauntless Daughters. Steph lives in the West Midlands with her husband and two children, and believes the world would be a better place if we were surround by images and stories that showed our daughters how amazing women are. So she founded Dauntless Daughters, a…

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Tiring of Twenty

By Dr Heather Williams / March 30, 2017

For the past 30 years, girls have made up only 20 % of physics A-Level classrooms. Women make up only 9 % of professional engineers and only 11 % of physics professors. Dr Jess Wade reports back with some new, and very good news, from the launch of the Improving Gender Balance report from the Institute of…

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Send #WomenInSTEM around the globe

By Dr Heather Williams / February 10, 2017

To mark the UN International Day of Women and Girls in Science, we present <insert drum roll here> this guest blog from Alice Gray, science blogger, creator of Gray Matter and the driving force behind some limited edition goodies which are being sold in aid of ScienceGrrl: “You have brains in your head. You have feet…

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8 Reasons Why Kids Should Science More [Infographic]

By Dr Heather Williams / February 9, 2017

Teacher? Parent? Big kid? Michael Hervas of Psysci.co recently sent this nice infographic which we wanted to share with you. He says: “We firmly believe that children should be encouraged to learn about science and be involved with science as much as they possibly can be, even from an early age. And we believe this…

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In for the long haul

By Dr Heather Williams / February 1, 2017

This always happens. Someone somewhere makes a stand against something. A big, bold gesture that commands attention, that challenges the status quo. Fairly shortly after, we hear the question: “But what difference did it make?” So it was that this article appeared in this week’s Metro, questioning the impact of the women’s marches which occupied…

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Reflections on #womensmarchlondon

By Dr Anna Zecharia / January 22, 2017

 On Saturday 21 January 2017 – the day after Donald Trump became President of the United States – hundreds of thousands of people across the globe stood up for women’s rights and equality. Our @annazecharia was at the London march. The photos which accompany this post are by Louise Morris. Find her as @LouMorrisPhoto on…

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‘Boss it!’ – ScienceGrrl at Kensington Town Hall

By Dr Heather Williams / October 19, 2016

The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea hold an annual two-week Celebration of Science, discussing everything from bird eggs to smart cities and high-performance sports. On their opening day seven ScienceGrrls descended – on a mission to ‘boss it’. In this guest post, Dr Jess Wade reports back on an eventful panel discussion: The celebrated Dr…

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Hurrah for Hephzi!

By Dr Heather Williams / October 19, 2016

Congratulations to skin biology researcher, ScienceGrrl member and ScienceGrrl Essex chapter lead Hephzi Tagoe, who was awarded with the New Researcher Prize by the Royal Society of Biology last week at an awards ceremony celebrating excellence in science communication. The award was given for her commitment to science communication, in particular her Shaping Healthy Attitudes and Protecting the…

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Project FAB

By Dr Heather Williams / September 29, 2016

ScienceGrrl sponsored a prize at this year’s Conference for Astronomy and Physics Students in Glasgow, for the best presentation about work towards improving inclusion and diversity in physics. The winner was Fraser Baird, who is working towards an MSc in Physics with Astrophysics, and also oversees Project FAB – an STFC-sponsored outreach initiative in primary schools. In…

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So ‘Brexit means Brexit’ – so what next?

By Dr Heather Williams / September 14, 2016

Ahead of the UK referendum on membership of the European Union, scientists largely came out in support of voting to Remain in the EU. But, on 23rd June, those voting Leave secured a narrow majority. In recent weeks, UK government ministers have affirmed that ‘Brexit means Brexit‘ and ‘Brexit means leaving the European Union‘ but there…

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The New Generation of Engineers: A Photography Project

By Guest Blogger / July 13, 2016

ScienceGrrl was formed out of a collective desire to showcase and celebrate women in Science and Engineering careers – and a collective frustration with the approaches some organisations were taking to advertise these careers to young women. We had a firmly held belief that appealing to girls was not about making science ‘pink’ but instead…

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Lancashire Science Festival – Draw a Scientist

By Dr Heather Williams / July 6, 2016

For the last 4 years, ScienceGrrl has been delighted to participate in Lancashire Science Festival at the University of Central Lancashire (UCLAN) in Preston. The festival comprises talks, shows, and a packed show floor of exhibitors who showcase science to local school children over two days, and then to over 10,000 members of the public…

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What does a physicist look like?

By Dr Heather Williams / June 15, 2016

In April, the Institute of Physics (IoP) released the results of a survey of their membership, entitled ‘What does a Physicist Look Like?’ The results represent 13% of IoP members, which doesn’t sound like many, but interestingly the age profile mirrors the known profile of the membership. Even more interestingly, 44% of respondents were under 29…

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Create a step change – demand 50:50

By Dr Ellie Cosgrave / May 27, 2016

For decades the numbers of women in science and engineering professions have remained depressingly stagnant, with percentages hovering limply in the single figures. Despite significant investment in media campaigns, outreach activities, and educational programmes aimed at women- many are still scratching their head as to why nothing is changing. Although the reasons for under-representation are…

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Untold Stories – Setting the Record Straight

By Dr Heather Williams / May 11, 2016

Our network of ScienceGrrl members runs to over 400 nationwide. Where possible, we link our members with local chapters, headed up by enthusiastic chapter leads. Chapters provide opportunities for informal networking, peer support, and grass-roots activism and public engagement, often in partnership with local initiatives. This post is the second of a short series by…

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Revisiting ISSET

By Dr Heather Williams / April 27, 2016

ScienceGrrl began by producing a 2013 calendar showcasing the real work of a diverse mix of women in STEM, and some of the funds went towards sending a team from Oaklands School in Tower Hamlets to the Mission Discovery summer school, organised by the ISS Educational Trust. With Tim Peake running a marathon in space…

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Returning to STEM – because science is for everybody

By Guest Blogger / April 16, 2016

This is a guest post by Gabriele Butkute, Science Policy Assistant at the Royal Society of Biology. In the midst of a skills shortage in STEM we need to look carefully for potential sources of talent. One of the potential options is to access and acknowledge those who for one reason or another have been…

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Meet Fatima: Stories of social exclusion & science

By Tania Browne / April 15, 2016

This week we at Science Grrl are delighted to bring you a guest post from Emily Dawson, on the particular issues for young women at the intersections of class and race.  What happens when being passionate about science isn’t enough to help you do science stuff? I first met Fatima in 2010 as part of…

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