Rhona Savin

Two PhD researchers from the EPSRC Sustainable Chemistry CDT, Rhona Savin and Neelam Mughal, along with a PhD researcher from the Next Generation Biomaterials Discovery programme grant, Dara O’Brien, organised the Inaugural Women in Chemistry conference at the University of Nottingham on International Women’s Day 2019. With 150 international delegates registered and overwhelmingly positive feedback received both on the day and through the Twitter coverage, the day was determined a roaring success.

Rhona, Dara and Neelam strived to create an event to highlight the challenges associated with building a career in the chemical sciences and to celebrate the inspiring female chemists who are already succeeding in their chosen STEM careers.  In this way, they hope to inspire the next generation of female chemists to realise their full potential in chemistry-based careers.

After many months of fundraising from sponsors and booking the speakers, The Women in Chemistry Conference and Careers event was born! Thanks to the EPSRC CDT in Sustainable Chemistry, RSC, SCI, UCB, Key Organics, Evotec, Croda and the School of Chemistry over £3,000 was raised, which allowed the event to be free and fully inclusive.

One aspect of the conference that was particularly successful, but slightly unusual, was that after attending many talks and lectures throughout their PhDs, all three organisers agreed that the ones which stood out to them as the most inspiring were the ones incorporating aspects of the scientist’s personal life and career journey into their stories. So this was included in all the speakers’ talks throughout the day.

Held at the iconic Trent Building, the agenda comprised  talks by six speakers: Dr Deborah Kays from the University of Nottingham, Professor Rachel O’Reilly from the University of Birmingham, Dr Jessica Gould from Croda, Dr Suze Kundu from Digital Science, Nessa Carson also known as @SuperScienceGrl and Dr Alyssa-Jennifer Avestro from the University of York. All six speakers gave interesting and inspiring talks and participated in the lively panel session at the end of the day. Shearer West, Vice-Chancellor at the University of Nottingham, opened the event with a warm welcome and Sarah Sharples, Pro-Vice-Chancellor of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion closed the day with a motivational speech on the importance of this topic both at Nottingham and beyond. As well as organising the event, Rhona, Neelam and Dara hosted the event, each chairing a different session along with SCI ambassador and fellow CDT colleague Teresa Ambrosio. As well as the talks, there was a poster session during lunch and a networking session at the end of the day. During both sessions, the discussions around equality, diversity and inclusion continued with great enthusiasm. Rhona, Dara and Neelam would like to thank everyone who attended, speakers, sponsors and delegates alike, for participating and getting involved so readily which really contributed to the amazing atmosphere throughout the day.

Some of the quotes received on the day: 

“Great conference, hope it happens again next year” 

“The honesty of the speakers really stood out to me”

“The event really highlighted that there is an actual community of female scientists”

“I thought it was great the speakers added a personal touch to their talks”