ScienceGrrl Calendar launched
18 October 2012
A calendar featuring stunning images of UCL scientists and UCL locations has been launched to raise money for projects that encourage young women and girls to see science as an enriching, exciting and productive career choice.
ScienceGrrl Calendar 2013 showcases the real face of female scientists, with photographs that demonstrate the impact of their work. Sujata Kundu (UCL Chemistry alumna), Lia Han (UCL Physics & Astronomy), Sheila Kanani (UCL Mullard Space Science Laboratory) and Eleanor Stride (UCL Mechanical Engineering) all appear in the calendar alongside a many other female scientists working around the UK.
Some of the photos in the calendar also feature male scientists who have shown their support for more women in science, including Mark Miodownik (UCL Mechanical Engineering) and Kevin Fong (UCL Neuroscience, Physiology & Pharmacology).
Four out of the 13 photos were shot at UCL locations; the Quad, the Gustave Tuck Lecture Theatre, an optomechanics lab and an ultrasonics lab.
The 13 images in the ScienceGrrl Calendar 2013 can only showcase a small part of the fascinating and valuable work undertaken by the diverse range of women in STEM, but it is a beautiful introduction to the female face of science.
Heather Williams (Founder and Director of ScienceGrrl)
The calendar will be sold to raise funds for initiatives that will help girls and young women engage with STEM subjects and realise STEM careers. These include the development of Breakthrough: the gender stereotypes project, which aims to challenge gender stereotypes through tailored school lessons; funding places at the Mission Discovery summer school for young people - the majority girls - who would otherwise be unable to attend; and enabling teams of university science students to take part in the iGEM synthetic biology competition.
Founder
and Director of ScienceGrrl, Heather Williams said: "ScienceGrrl celebrates
what female scientists are already doing and encourages girls and young women
to follow in our footsteps - and achieve even greater things.
"The 13 images in the ScienceGrrl Calendar 2013 can only showcase a small part of the fascinating and valuable work undertaken by the diverse range of women in STEM, but it is a beautiful introduction to the female face of science."
To round off the UCL connection, the calendar was also produced by a UCL alumna and current masters student, Louise Crane. Louise studied Human Sciences (2003-6), has just started a MA in History of Medicine and was behind the sell-out Geek Calendar 2011 that raised £16,000 for the Libel Reform campaign.
In 2010 the UKRC/WISE reported that women form only 12.3% of the skilled workforce in science, engineering and technology.
Image above: (from left to right) Helen Arney, Sheila Kanani, Jen Gupta, Helen Keen. Credit: Ben Gilbert/ScienceGrrl