Women in Science Inset Day - Success!

9 November 2018

STS held its first Inset Day for teachers, on the subject of 'Women in Science', to help encourage young women into STEM degrees and careers.

Women in Science, by Rachel Ignotofsky, plus assorted STS goods.

Prof. Joe Cain presents at the Women in Science Inset Day.

The day began with a brief introduction from Dr Emma Tobin, covering the programme for the day, before Dr Emily Dawson held a session on 'The Co-construction of Gender and Science'. Head of Department Prof. Joe Cain then gave a talk on using biographies to move beyond the idea of the 'genius male scientist' - a talk based around the book 'Women in Science' by Rachel Ignotofsky. Free copies of the book were also given to attendees to help provide inspiration for future classes.

Dr Ambrosio at the Art Museum for the STS Inset Day.

Following a short coffee break, the group then moved to the UCL Art Museum where Dr Chiara Ambrosio discussed using objects and informal science learning spaces to move beyond standard teaching approaches. Using a variety of artwork from the museum, Chiara discussed ways in which historical views of men and women can be countered, allowing for a less gender-biased teaching method. Following a brief tour around UCL's 'Disrupters and Innovators' exhibition, the group then broke for lunch, finishing off with a detailed session on using data analytics to make gender inequality more visible, held by PhD student kat cecil.

Feedback from attendees suggests that the event was a success. Responses included:

"The speakers were all extremely engaging and knowledgeable! Thank you!"

"This was a really useful + insightful workshop - thank you so much!"

"Really good discussion, get to think things through properly. Love the background and literature."

We're likely to hold further inset days in future. If you would like to be sent details of future events, please contact us at sts@ucl.ac.uk and we'll make sure to notify you.