Tough at the Top
Thursday 15 May, 19.00-20.30
Have there ever been enough women in science? What about the remarkable individuals featured in ‘From Atoms to Patterns’? And are we ignoring important differences between the sexes as we try to resolve why there are so few women working in science today? Join our guests to debate these issues and more.
Speakers
Helena Cronin, author of ‘The Ant and the Peacock: Altruism and sexual selection from Darwin to today’
Georgina Ferry, science writer and broadcaster, author of ‘Dorothy Hodgkin: A life’
Julia Goodfellow, Vice-Chancellor, University of Kent
Facilitator
Toby Murcott, science writer and presenter.
This event is free.
In support of the ‘ From Atoms to Patterns’ exhibition.
Helena Cronin
I am at LSE, where I launched and currently run the immensely popular programme Darwin@LSE and am Co-Director of the Centre for Philosophy of Natural and Social Science. My work is on evolutionary theory, particularly its application to human nature. My book 'The Ant and the Peacock' (CUP) received wide critical acclaim, and I am co-editor of the series 'Darwinism Today'(Weidenfeld and Nicolson). I am currently writing a book on a Darwinian understanding of sex differences in our species.
Georgina Ferry
I have been a writer and broadcaster on science for almost 30 years, working at different times for ‘New Scientist’, BBC radio and various newspapers and magazines. My biography 'Dorothy Hodgkin: A Life' (1998) was the first of four books on science and scientists I have published in the past decade. I live in Oxford and have a husband and two grown-up sons.
Julia Goodfellow
I am Vice-Chancellor of the University of Kent and took up my post on 1 September 2007.
I was previously Chief Executive of the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), the Government body responsible for an annual research portfolio worth more than £300 million.
I joined BBSRC in January 2002 after more than 20 years at Birkbeck College, University of London, where I was Vice-Master and Head of the School of Crystallography. I had been responsible for an internationally recognised research group and my ongoing research interests included the use of computer simulation techniques to study the structure and function of large molecules. I was appointed Vice-Master of Birkbeck College in 1998 and Professor of Biomolecular Science in 1995.
From 1997 to 2001, I was a member of BBSRC’s Council. I am a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences, the Institute of Biology, the Institute of Physics and the Royal College of Arts. I was awarded a CBE in 2001.
I was the first female chief executive of any of the UK’s Research Councils. I am married and have two children. My interests outside science include feminist detective fiction and making tapestries.