Times have changed since women were barred from laboratories and unable to take science degrees. But have they changed enough?

Watch the Q&A for this talk here (exclusively for YouTube Channel Members):    • Q&A: Why we need more women in scienc...  
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This talk was recorded at the Royal Institution on 16 November 2023, with collaboration with Digital Science. Find out more here: https://www.digital-science.com/

Despite making great strides, the numbers of women studying physics and engineering remain small, and those who go on to successful careers are very few.

Join Dame Athene Donald as she explores, using her own experience and those of other top scientists who are women, the factors that drive women to give up on a career in science. From societal expectations, prejudice, hostility, and condescension to unconscious and systemic bias, particularly in science research, as evidenced by recent studies.

In this talk, discover how diversity is crucial to solving the problems of today, and why women should have their proper place as equals, in the lab, and in the committees where top-level decisions are made.

Dame Athene Donald is Professor Emerita in Experimental Physics and Master of Churchill College, University of Cambridge. She has spent her career in Cambridge, specializing in soft matter physics and physics at the interface with biology. She was the University of Cambridge's first Gender Equality Champion and has been involved in numerous initiatives concerning women in science. Athene has served on a variety of committees at the Royal Society, chaired its Education Committee from 2010-14 and currently serves on its Council (as she has before) and is a member of the Science Policy Committee. She served on the Scientific Council of the European Research Council from 2013-18 and was a Trustee of the Science Museum from 2011-16.

She was elected Fellow of the Royal Society in 1999 and appointed DBE for services to Physics in 2010.

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