Spring Retreat
Description
Please click WINGS 2024 for this year's upcoming WINGS
WINGs 2023 was held at Ringwood Hall in Chesterfield, from the 17th-20th April 2023 . There were 7 keynote speakers, and 48 attendees, totaling to 55 participants. The keynote talks consisted of six talks from mathematicians in academia, and a career talk from a mathematician working in government. Alongside the keynote talks, we had two streams of contributed talks, one for number theory, and one geometry. These contributed talks were 20 minutes in length and gave early career participants the chance to present their research/research interests.
More information on the contents of the talks, as well as the slides for the talks, can be found at Talks. All keynote speakers were asked to devote 15 minutes to talk about their career path, and their experiences as women in mathematics. They also shared their experiences and advice in a 90 minute career panel, where the audience was invited to ask questions on topics ranging from applying for postdocs, choosing the right area of research, responding to inappropriate comments, managing a work/life balance, etc. There were a range of social activities too, from a murder mystery game, to a movie night, to a pub quiz and karaoke.
Here is some of the feedback we received:
“I loved WINGs! It's such a great event, and a lot of changes from last year edition were such an improvement (I especially liked the career panel!).”
“It was an amazing, life-affirming experience. I came away feeling so motivated and empowered, and that I had met so many lovely and inspiring people. The atmosphere was so relaxed, it felt easy to make new friends and discuss difficulties we face as women/non-binary people in academia. I have had some doubts about staying in academia after my PhD because of these difficulties and being in a minority, but after WINGs I felt like I had the start of a support network which I could continue growing if I do stay. I also felt comfortable enough to ask for some feedback on my contributed talk from one of the keynote speakers, which was really helpful. Thank you so much for organising this incredible event!”
“It was one of the nicest conferences I've been to! The environment was so friendly and welcoming which made it very easy to just dive into all the maths we learned. It was a great way to meet other women, and to learn about other research areas. The fact that the environment was so nice and supportive encouraged me to ask many questions which I probably would have been shy to ask in a different environment. I'm very grateful to the organisers for this conference.”
We are very grateful to the funding bodies for their support, namely the LSGNT, King’s College London, UCL, Imperial, the Heilbronn Institute and the University of Warwick. We were able to cover all travel and accommodation costs for all participants and speakers. This year’s edition was larger than last year’s, and thanks to the increased funding, we were able to organize a four day conference rather than three, and accept all UK + European registrations. We really enjoyed organizing this year’s edition and believe it was a valuable experience for all participants. Events like these are important in encouraging women and other underrepresented genders to continue on in academia, and provide an important forum for questions, concerns, and common experiences.
