tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-41510410143654008362024-03-19T12:28:33.433+00:00ScienceGrrl 2013Science is not for boys, it's not for girls: it's for everyone.lulucrumblehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07449102379996325573noreply@blogger.comBlogger35125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4151041014365400836.post-8756520732966812842013-06-20T21:56:00.002+01:002013-06-20T22:12:59.864+01:00Women in the Workplace<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2ZP4dDY7SVeercqqxyXAZHogm7oRE-GjSKrFJYWbrkC5z5369zDAS93PzlCVrHc2Wz0xSZJQ5aZwSM0f2n_bFCFaoVpv6jGAMgvOeH2OkphmM8zhcb5CHK0Zb1XKaDxGeeGYCl_OtZFA/s1600/20062013724.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2ZP4dDY7SVeercqqxyXAZHogm7oRE-GjSKrFJYWbrkC5z5369zDAS93PzlCVrHc2Wz0xSZJQ5aZwSM0f2n_bFCFaoVpv6jGAMgvOeH2OkphmM8zhcb5CHK0Zb1XKaDxGeeGYCl_OtZFA/s320/20062013724.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Today the <a href="http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201314/cmselect/cmbis/342/342.pdf" target="_blank">Business, Innovation and Skills Committee published its report of the enquiry into Women in the Workplace</a>, which drew on 103 written submissions, oral evidence from 46 witnesses, and many more responses to discussions on Woman's Hour and Mumsnet.<br />
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It's a thorough report, and also a well-written and engaging read. However, those who live with or advise on the issues affecting women in the workplace will not be surprised by the content - it is generally all too familiar. The usual sticking points are all here: stereotypes and gender representation, equality legislation and equal pay, flexible working, maternity leave and childcare, the role of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, the lack of women in senior positions. It acts as a usual summary of where we, as a culture, are at with regard to these persistent obstacles and discusses some of the reasons why we are still wrestling with them over 40 years after the Equal Pay Act came into force.<br />
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What did surprise me was that the report opened with a section entitled 'Nature or Nurture?' which explored whether the disproportionate number of women in particular professions had biological or cultural origins. Mike Buchanan from the <a href="http://c4mb.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">Campaign for Merit in Business</a> stated that "the male brain is better for systemising and the female brain for empathising" and sociologist <a href="http://www.catherinehakim.org/" target="_blank">Catherine Hakim</a> claimed that only "20% of women in all societies are work-centred and careerist in the way men are". I don't know anything about the research on which these statements are based, but I wonder what conclusions the committee were expected to draw from them. If men are inherently better at systemising, should women not be expected or encouraged to think systematically, nor expected to enter careers where the ability to make logical deductions is essential? If women are inherently better at empathising, should we expect men to deal dispassionately with their fellow human beings, to be absent from the caring professions and 'hands-off' as fathers? Similarly, is being work-centric and careerist really what typifies men? Is women's success in any career dependent on how much they can be 'like men' in putting their jobs above everything else?<br />
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I am surprised that we are still discussing this in 2013. Surely Ann Oakley nailed it with <a href="http://www.annoakley.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=18&Itemid=2" target="_blank">'Sex, Gender and Society' in 1972</a>, 5 years before I was born. If we look around the world at the wide variety of roles adopted by men and women in different cultures, I think it's clear that the cultural expectations of men and women have a much heavier influence than any slight biological differences in the way we think. Interpreting these cultural norms, the status quo, as what both sexes really want only serves to limit men and women alike and prevent them reaching their potential and giving full expression to all they are and are capable of. I breathed a sigh of relief when, on hearing further evidence, the committee decided that "the root of the problem of the stereotyping of jobs come from the cultural context in which careers decisions are made, not from innate differences between men and women".<br />
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I'm particularly glad that this evidence came from the reknowned physicist <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/space/universe/scientists/jocelyn_bell_burnell" target="_blank">Prof Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell</a>, Bola Fatimilehin of the<a href="http://www.raeng.org.uk/" target="_blank"> Royal Academy of Engineering</a>, and engineers Claire O'Connor and Charlotte Dunford. Women from fields very similar to mine, requiring a very similar skill-set, speaking about how fulfilling they found their work. This is what we need to hear more of - the stories of women in 'atypical' careers who are happy to be found thriving where mainstream culture does not expect them. I will reiterate what I told the committee, that "we need more visible, accessible and inspirational female role models from a wide variety of careers, and to enable access to those role models for young women at all stages of their education". ScienceGrrl, a network of people passionate about passing on their love of science, technology, engineering and maths to the next generation, has a significant role to play in showing women the opportunities that are open to them. And by that, I don't just mean the fulfilling careers themselves, but that it is possible to have a career in STEM and related fields and the other things you want in your life too; being 'work-centred and careerist' is not the only route to professional success or personal happiness. Most pertinently, it is possible to be who are you are, and do science...or whatever else you were made to do.<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11519479136983894353noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4151041014365400836.post-34801968678467906372013-05-15T17:50:00.002+01:002013-05-15T17:50:59.552+01:00<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">Being 8 years old, staying 8 years old....</span></h2>
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I love how even the lab's solutions room can provoke a state of wonder in someone who has never set foot in a library of chemicals before. The -80C freezer also gets a good reaction. That's before we're anywhere near the electrophysiology rig and confocal microscope. Having the chance to open someone's eyes to the realities of working in a lab is pretty great, and it's why I encourage A level students to come in and talk to scientists and spend time watching experiments. Recently, a student asked me if I got bored analysing my data. I answered truthfully: 'yeah, sometimes it's a little repetitive but if I want to know the answer it has to be done!'. She looked confused for a moment and then it dawned on her: "Oh! In my practicals we already know what the graph should look like so it seemed a waste of time!". </div>
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The idea that science is uncertain and creative was alien to her. She had been taught to get the 'right answer'. Happily, she agreed that not knowing was much more fun - and then began reconsidering her plan to study medicine in favour of a pure science. I don't know what she will decide, but I do know that the spark of curiosity we have about science as kids can get lost along the way in that quest for the 'right answer'. We don't talk about uncertainty and failure enough - and certainly not in a way that encourages creativity and mindful observation. But poking the world and seeing what happens comes naturally to kids - and so, these pieces from two 8 year old ScienceGrrls make us grin from ear to ear. Aimee Bromfield-Brown spent a day with ScienceGrrls in the Natural History Museum (Tori Herridge) and Imperial College London (myself, Clare Bakewell and Alexandra Anderson). Lara Smith wrote in to tell us that science was great - we agree! Have a read, and a smile. And then let's work out how we nurture Grrls like them. </div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">My name is Aimee Bromfield-Brown. I am 8 years old and I love science.</span></h2>
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<span style="color: #222222;">My auntie told me about a group called ScienceGrrl and she contacted them for me. </span><span style="color: #222222;">They arranged for me to see a real scientist and a laboratory. </span><span style="color: #222222;">My trip was even better because I actually did this:</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222;">First I went to the Natural History Museum. I got to see fossils. There were many interesting things like rigid sloth poo - yuk! And a baby dwarf elephant's teeth and bones - wow!</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222;">I then went to a lab and a scientist did an experiment and showed me how many colours there are in grass. It actually looked green to me before. There were 3 and it was amazing.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXakp46qIDnAgxRZNeOu_EnZ_JOXWnC1Gymhp2AYotOVgZK_Jb54O69Z-acc7P1sRBDQwEG9O9JLAbXmOSJg6D1_dENcm_piY4zpvpzdDoE9IbGTCl246jGSpbEocNgQPAsdYw9V6-tNyI/s1600/aimee+chemistry.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXakp46qIDnAgxRZNeOu_EnZ_JOXWnC1Gymhp2AYotOVgZK_Jb54O69Z-acc7P1sRBDQwEG9O9JLAbXmOSJg6D1_dENcm_piY4zpvpzdDoE9IbGTCl246jGSpbEocNgQPAsdYw9V6-tNyI/s320/aimee+chemistry.jpg" width="239" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #222222;">Then I went to another lab where they were doing an experiment about worms and their food. The scientists wanted to know if the worms went to the food that was good for them and avoided food that was bad for them, or whether they tried the bad food first then went to the food that was good for them.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222;">I really liked the science I saw.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222;">ScienceGrrl encouraged me to want to be a scientist even more. That experiment worked!!</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNitSLDGN8zjgVVVPmG6L7LFud3nxz3jlb0MFzmdZKAyS8Jx6cLyVzo6_mSXMQWfKn151ircYxdOzXcQUtNPrcqVxTDkb5QpLnnUBKDSLGbFaTKRDiRYMts8gf18Eee431BCxJ4ElNpXqw/s1600/aimee+and+alex.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNitSLDGN8zjgVVVPmG6L7LFud3nxz3jlb0MFzmdZKAyS8Jx6cLyVzo6_mSXMQWfKn151ircYxdOzXcQUtNPrcqVxTDkb5QpLnnUBKDSLGbFaTKRDiRYMts8gf18Eee431BCxJ4ElNpXqw/s320/aimee+and+alex.jpg" width="239" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">Why science is great! By Lara Smith</span></h2>
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<span style="color: #222222;">Science is really cool! There are so many amazing things to find out and do! It is also extra-fun. Read on to find out why…</span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222;">I think science is fun because you get to find out really cool facts and do really fun experiments such as making gloop or even swinging water over your friend’s head! The great thing about them is that things almost always don’t turn out the way you think they will. Also, there will definitely be a great fact or two to be discovered.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222;">I would like to be a cosmologist when I grow up. This is because I am really interested in cosmology and astrophysics. I have a telescope and have tried to focus it on stars but I’m not able to. Luckily, I have found out more from lots of other sources such as going to the Science Museum and watching the documentary Wonders of the Solar System. I have learnt lots from it and would really recommend it to you. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222;">My favourite science fact is…</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">LIGHT TRAVELS AT THE SPEED OF 186,000 miles per sec</span></h2>
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So, what do you think? Science is great, but are you interested? I hope you are! If you are, here are some websites you should look at:</div>
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<a href="http://www.galaxyzoo.org/">http://www.galaxyzoo.org/</a> - help astronomers classify galaxies</div>
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<a href="http://planetfour.org/">http://planetfour.org/</a> - explore the surface of mars for the first time</div>
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These are both zooniverse projects. For more, go to <a href="https://www.zooniverse.org/">https://www.zooniverse.org/</a></div>
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Some programmes to watch:</div>
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-Stargazing Live </div>
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or if you like animals…</div>
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-Africa </div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">Thanks Aimee & Lara - you've made our day!</span></h2>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11704069355454222823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4151041014365400836.post-54953216180896687672013-05-13T22:09:00.004+01:002013-05-13T22:09:57.366+01:00TrowelBlazers: celebrating awesome trowel-wielding women<br />
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<i><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Image reproduced here with the kind permission of the Gertrude Bell Archive </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Newcastle University (<a href="http://www.gerty.ncl.ac.uk/" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">http://www.gerty.ncl.ac.uk</a>, Image A_340),</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"> and may not be further reproduced without permission</span></i></div>
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It’s easy to imagine the academic
world at the turn of the 20<sup>th</sup> Century, right? A world
closed to all but the most privileged of men – whiskered gentlemen
in stiff suits, pipe smoke and port, explorers with a whiff of pith
helmet about them.</div>
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Imagine, then, arriving on the island
of Crete in 1904 to find not one bold, brave young woman researcher
digging up the past – but four: <a href="http://trowelblazers.tumblr.com/post/50088845965/bold-brave-and-bloody-brilliant-harriet-boyd-hawes">Harriet
Boyd</a>, Blanche Wheeler, Edith Hall and Dorothea Bate.</div>
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Or the Arabian Desert in 1900, where
that striking figure riding towards you, headscarf billowing, at the
head of a caravan of camels is <i>not</i> Lawrence of Arabia – he
was barely out of short trousers then – but <a href="http://trowelblazers.tumblr.com/post/50088858366/gertrude-bell-1868-1926-awesome-in-arabia">Gertrude
Bell</a>.</div>
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Try archaeology* in the interwar years,
then. In our popular imaginations this is proper Indiana Jones
territory. But in 1929, on the far eastern edge of the Mediterranean
Sea, <a href="http://trowelblazers.tumblr.com/post/50088765409/dorothy-garrod">Dorothy
Garrod</a> was leading an <a href="https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=294129424054093&set=a.294129410720761.1073741827.294126610721041&type=1&theater">excavation
team of<i> </i><i>five</i> women</a>. Over the next five years, in
caves dotting the steep-sided cliffs of Mount Carmel, Garrod’s team
would uncover remarkable remains of Neandertals and some of earliest
evidence for modern humans outside of Africa.</div>
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There were many, many women
archaeologists, palaeontologist and geologists in the 19<sup>th</sup>
and early 20<sup>th</sup> Century who were well known and respected –
then – for their work and achievements. Now, however, they have
been forgotten. This isn’t totally surprising – after all, how
many men from those fields are household names? But it’s more than
just forgetting a name or six; we’ve failed to retain the idea that
women like these formed a significant – if under-represented and
often resented – part of the cultural and academic landscape. We’ve
allowed them to slip from our popular consciousness.</div>
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It’s a cautionary tale.</div>
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Fast forward to today. Women are a
significant, but under-represented, part of the cultural and academic
landscape (sound familiar?). Like our predecessors, we face
institutionalized prejudice and inequality, even if our individual
work is respected. In fifty or a hundred years time, will our
existence and contributions have made as small a dent on people’s
imaginations as the women of yesteryear?
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Not if we can help it! On <a href="http://trowelblazers.tumblr.com/post/50088704663/awesome-trowel-wielding-women-we-salute-you">Friday</a>
we launched the TrowelBlazers blog to carve out more space on the
Internet for the story of women’s contributions, past and present,
to the fields of archaeology, palaeontology and geology (authors
note: we aren’t above a spot of land grabbing, and given
field-boundaries are a tad blurry and multi-disciplinary study
common, we will also be featuring women geographers, explorers and
anthropologists).</div>
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By scouring the Internet and beyond for
images and videos, and posting them alongside short, readable
snippets of information, we want to reset people’s imaginations. As
the blog grows, we hope that the volume of entries – as much as the
individual stories – will be its own powerful testament to just how
significant these women were, <a href="http://trowelblazers.tumblr.com/tagged/maeveleakey">and
continue to be</a>.
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Because it isn’t just the derring-do
of pioneer-era women we are interested in, we want to celebrate the
full diversity of trowel-blazing women working today, from all
backgrounds and from all parts of the world. On top of this, we want
to highlight the networks of women that have worked together over the
years – something often lost in heroic tales of success against the
odds, where women are inevitably framed by a world of men.</div>
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It’s quite an agenda we’ve set
ourselves, and we need help building up this picture. We aren’t
historians of science - we are learning too - and we know that we
haven’t even scraped the surface of the awesomeness of these
trowel-wielding women (even if we are quite proud of our spreadsheet
with nearly one hundred women on it already). Anyone can <a href="file://localhost/Link/%20http/::trowelblazers.tumblr.com:submit">submit
a post to our blog</a>, or join in the conversation on <a href="https://twitter.com/trowelblazers">Twitter</a>
and <a href="https://www.facebook.com/TrowelBlazers">Facebook</a>.
Together, we can showcase the aggregate contribution of these trowel
blazers.</div>
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One exception to the rule can be
dismissed, many exceptions cannot. In essence, that is the spirit of
TrowelBlazers, served up with a dash of ancient wonder, a sprinkling
of adventure and – of course - buckets of mud and sweat.</div>
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* Yes, archaeology is a science (some
bits more than others), but we are interested in women beyond the
realms of science as well.</div>
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The TrowelBlazers blog can be found
here: <a href="http://trowelblazers.tumblr.com/">trowelblazers.tumblr.com</a></div>
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TrowelBlazers is run by Victoria
Herridge (@ToriHerridge), who provided this guest post, <span style="text-align: center;">Suzanne Pilaar Birch (@suzie_birch),
Rebecca Wragg Sykes (@LeMoustier) and Brenna Hassett (@brennawalks).
They all also tweet at @trowelblazers.</span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11519479136983894353noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4151041014365400836.post-32445793382089824282013-04-25T10:48:00.000+01:002013-04-25T10:49:24.259+01:00Pants in spaaaaace!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrxsUxz014g7d_rdP7_X7gvao9toA72E03zcnKUDSL-B6p01kwKBgVoKH8ITVAOwDC3tmgLRRQgPwGP3NEFc4hjm9Srxu88mhgHM2KJTmwrpEvHKjMIpvYUKc4vn8XSajdvaqSHBArZ8U/s1600/3grrls.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="263" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrxsUxz014g7d_rdP7_X7gvao9toA72E03zcnKUDSL-B6p01kwKBgVoKH8ITVAOwDC3tmgLRRQgPwGP3NEFc4hjm9Srxu88mhgHM2KJTmwrpEvHKjMIpvYUKc4vn8XSajdvaqSHBArZ8U/s320/3grrls.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><i>Pictured left to right: <a href="https://twitter.com/beckypants" target="_blank">Becky John</a> of <a href="http://www.whomadeyourpants.co.uk/shop/pages.php/shop" target="_blank">WhoMadeYourPants</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/lizbonnin" target="_blank">Liz Bonnin</a> of <a href="http://www.lizbonnin.com/" target="_blank">BBCs ‘Bang Goes the Theory’ and ‘Stargazing Live’</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/alrightPET" target="_blank">Heather Williams</a> of <a href="http://www.sciencegrrl.co.uk/" target="_blank">ScienceGrrl</a>, each holding a pair of pants which make up our <a href="http://www.whomadeyourpants.co.uk/shop/pantspacks.php?giftset=82" target="_blank">new unique product</a>. Thanks to the <a href="http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/" target="_blank">Science Museum</a> for permission to also feature the model of the Hubble Space Telescope, in their space gallery. </i></span><i style="font-size: small; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Copyright ScienceGrrl/Tirion Jenkins.</i></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><b>The 24th April saw the anniversary of the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, and to celebrate, two organizations with shared ambition for women to fulfil their potential are reaching for the stars and celebrating.....with pants. </b></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Launching a new set of beautiful underwear, </span><a href="http://www.sciencegrrl.co.uk/" style="letter-spacing: 0px;" target="_blank">ScienceGrrl</a><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> has teamed up with </span><a href="http://www.whomadeyourpants.co.uk/shop/pages.php/shop" style="letter-spacing: 0px;" target="_blank">Who Made Your Pants? (WMYP)</a><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">, a social business created to empower marginalised women through work. Sales of these </span><a href="http://www.whomadeyourpants.co.uk/shop/pantspacks.php?giftset=82" style="letter-spacing: 0px;" target="_blank">gorgeous limited edition pants with a customised USB stick “astronaut lady”</a><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">, will help to fund the work of each of these brilliant and empowering organizations.</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></div>
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<i>The 'Reach for the Stars' pack - three gorgeous pairs of pants in ScienceGrrl colours (a long weekend of lacy loveliness) AND an astrogrrl 1GB USB stick. </i><i>Copyright ScienceGrrl/Tirion Jenkins.</i></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">“We believe that every little girl should grow up believing that she has as much chance as every little boy of flying to the moon or living on the international space station.” </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">said <a href="https://twitter.com/beckypants" target="_blank">Becky John</a>, founder of Who Made Your Pants? “We believe that at five, ten or fifteen years old, girls’ horizons should be as wide as boys and we believe that hope is priceless, and that aspiration is key to driving people out of poverty, both financial and of ambition. </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Who Made Your Pants? is all about empowering women. We love ScienceGrrl’s </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">determination to show real women doing real science and are delighted to be working </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">with them.”</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">And it can be a poverty of aspiration that stops people choosing science as a career. For some families who are unable to provide such aspiration, hope needs to come from outside the home to harness the inherent wonder and curiosity of children and use it as an inspiring force.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">This is where ScienceGrrl comes in, encouraging girls to consider a career in science through real role models, connecting with local schools and providing work experience opportunities, and many other activities supporting those in science careers. The mission of ScienceGrrl is “to celebrate and promote STEM careers by building and strengthening a network of people who are passionate about passing on their love of STEM to the next generation”.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">“This is a wonderful collaboration between two organisations that share a passion to inspire and empower. I’m delighted to be associated with this gorgeous product which has at its heart such noble ambition, and to be part of an initiative that encourages women to reach for the stars and achieve their dreams” <a href="https://twitter.com/lizbonnin" target="_blank">Liz Bonnin</a>, Scientist and presenter of BBC's ‘Bang Goes the Theory’ and ‘Stargazing Live’.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><a href="https://twitter.com/alrightPET" target="_blank">Dr Heather Williams</a>, Medical Physicist and Director of ScienceGrrl, says: “We’re delighted to be partnering with WMYP. ScienceGrrl seeks to collaborate and strengthen like-minded organisations and initiatives, and I think we have a lot in common with WMYP in encouraging women to reach for the stars and fulfil their potential”.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">This is a unique collaboration and opportunity to support the empowerment of women in science and in the workplace - so <a href="http://www.whomadeyourpants.co.uk/shop/pantspacks.php?giftset=82" target="_blank">buy our pants to give more women that chance</a>. There's even <b>£15 off today</b> (25th April 2013)!</span></div>
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<i>This post is adapted from this morning's ScienceGrrl press release. If you'd like more information or would like to feature this story, please contact ScienceGrrl <a href="http://www.sciencegrrl.co.uk/#/contact/4566816457" target="_blank">here</a>. </i><br />
<i>Dr Heather Williams is available for interview.</i></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11519479136983894353noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4151041014365400836.post-85323870226626475592013-04-11T21:41:00.000+01:002013-04-11T21:46:30.898+01:00Physics Girlies - young female science students review the ScienceGrrl 2013 calendar<br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">One of the aims of the ScienceGrrl 2013 calendar (now sold out, sorry!) was to show young women that science is for people just like them, and hopefully inspire them to pursue a career in science. But did we manage it? </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">I asked the <a href="https://twitter.com/PhysicsGirlies" target="_blank">Physics Girlies</a> at <a href="http://hollylodge.liverpool.sch.uk/" target="_blank">Holly Lodge Girls' College</a> in Liverpool what they thought. This is what they told me, via Kate Doran, the KS3 Science Co-ordinator.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><i>The calendar is closely scrutinised by the Physics Girlies. Good job we checked for typos.</i></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hannah Fityo</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Helen Czerski PhD [January 2014], studies something
which I think is really fascinating. She looks at bubbles in breaking
waves to understand how they affect our weather and climate.
Basically a tiny bubble can lead you into the core of our planets
complex weather system! How extraordinary is that?! </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It must be absolutely remarkable
knowing that every day you are a tiny bubble away from discovering
something amazing.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Holly Dono</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I think that this calendar is very
unique. Each month the calendar shows different women in the science
world achieving amazing accomplishments. This calendar is very
encouraging to young women like me, showing them all of the
scientific career opportunities that are available to them. The
calendar promotes women who aren’t the stereotypical female
scientists and in the descriptions the calendar shows women who have
hobbies as well as amazing academic achievements such as running and
music. In my opinion this calendar is great; it serves its purpose as
I feel encouraged to get involved in the world of science.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Grace Kervin</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My favourite part of the calendar is
the March page. This is because our science building is called
‘Rosalind Franklin Building’ and Rosalind Franklin herself is
mentioned on this page. I didn’t really know why our building was
called Rosalind Franklin (I knew she was a Scientist) and I was
impressed to read: “by exposing DNA to X-rays, she produced
diffraction images that revealed molecular structure”. This page
has also opened my eyes to other female scientists, Jocelyn Bell
Burnell, Jill Tarter, Hedy Lamarr.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>The Rosalind Franklin Building at Holly Lodge Girls' College</i></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Samira Hassan</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I think the ScienceGrrl calendar was
a great idea as it has shown me that there are a lot of things you
can do with science. I feel inspired to try hard and never doubt
myself and go for whatever career I want and whatever feels right!
The calendar’s appearance is attractive and makes me want to look
at who the people are in each picture! I think it’s a great way to
get ideas for future career paths from the people in the pictures.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Jumanah Ahmen</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Personally, I love the calendar. The
information, layout and logo are well thought out and you can see the
amount of effort that has been put into making this calendar
interesting and useful. It is more than just a calendar. I love the
science dates that are included one the relevant days and the little
facts too.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Lisa Murphy</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My favourite part of the calendar is
the month May because I would never have looked at these women
and said ‘Definitely a scientist’ and I like that! You don’t
need to look like the stereotypical scientist shown in the media to
be a scientist. The careers on this page are also really interesting
to me and are something that I would like to look into for my future.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">I'm pretty pleased with that - </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">particular thanks to Lisa, for being so very lovely about May... </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">anytime you want to talk about careers in Medical Imaging, let me know!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">ScienceGrrl volunteers in Liverpool have also visited Holly Lodge Girls' College so they can meet female science role models for real. It's so encouraging to us to meet young women who really love science, and to know we are encouraging</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> them to put that love to work in their careers. All the very best to you, Physics Girlies - science needs you! </span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11519479136983894353noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4151041014365400836.post-91976155560185864262013-04-03T00:01:00.001+01:002013-04-03T00:09:07.607+01:00Maths?... no thanks.<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Last week I was sorting through my ScienceGrrl e-mail and came across a really encouraging message from a lady who'd just returned to study Maths in her 50s. I thought it sounded like she had a story to tell, and asked her to write a blog for us. Which she did. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I give you - the inspirational Ingrid Walker-Gibbs.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHjK5ctQZwKFvQpKMAa2eimjdhoZ_wf2-Yh4mWoLkrnE7vAsvN1qZOQ5RT0tQ-iTGM-78IjHJ_VmdXrZI-AQLN8pNVw_ypHP0R8xpYWdnEB1tmujXUF77ATqv1gXVDuJtPU6aEydkISFc/s1600/download.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHjK5ctQZwKFvQpKMAa2eimjdhoZ_wf2-Yh4mWoLkrnE7vAsvN1qZOQ5RT0tQ-iTGM-78IjHJ_VmdXrZI-AQLN8pNVw_ypHP0R8xpYWdnEB1tmujXUF77ATqv1gXVDuJtPU6aEydkISFc/s200/download.jpg" width="167" /></a> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBxNKL-xy27zOxQQnzIGUV_-NFvB4AEiLlzASYvO2hrLfpNnhaF0osK1nw22lFUvuhkvtMBTBu2CdWkQn_E1v2J6F14ydZ5UP2nGXcKf7n3UoeeR-d1DSDZgoqF8FSh0kUmoZylOz8Pyg/s1600/Ing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBxNKL-xy27zOxQQnzIGUV_-NFvB4AEiLlzASYvO2hrLfpNnhaF0osK1nw22lFUvuhkvtMBTBu2CdWkQn_E1v2J6F14ydZ5UP2nGXcKf7n3UoeeR-d1DSDZgoqF8FSh0kUmoZylOz8Pyg/s200/Ing.jpg" width="161" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Ingrid in 1970 - and today</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"Hello. Until very recently the title of this post is how I felt about maths.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'd like to tell you a little bit about why I was put off maths - and consequently the sciences - at a young age, and what I'm endeavouring to do about it now.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Born in 1960 my education was via state-funded, primary and comprehensive schools (in Essex), and class numbers were around 30 or so children, with one teacher.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In a crowded environment learning's not always an easy ride, even for a child with a good subject knowledge; a quiet, shy child however, with only a feeble understanding of a particular topic, is easy to lose by the wayside and any chance of that feeble amount of knowledge developing, can be lost.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I was one of those quiet children, and especially so when it came to maths or the sciences. (My head seems able to grasp languages and rhythms better than it does figures.) I can recall, aged 11 or 12, my maths teacher looking at my very worried face after the input; she came and sat with me, quietly taking the time to explain the whole process <i>again</i> whilst everyone else got on with the work. I remember the glow of understanding I felt when it all suddenly went 'click!' and how I quickly grabbed my pencil and got on with the task everyone else was doing.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Unfortunately for me, that was the one and only time she had a moment to sit one-to-one with me and explain things.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It was even worse for me in Chemistry, Physics and Biology. I'd to go into melt-down and get shouted at by the teacher for 'not listening'; I <i>was</i> listening, but I didn't understand, and I cringed at the idea of showing my 'stupidity' to everyone else. I ended up absolutely hating the sciences. It was a shame, but I do understand that sometimes the teachers just didn't have the time to gather up all the stragglers and talk over <i>what,</i> and <i>why</i> they didn't get it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Towards the end of my 3<sup>rd</sup> year (Yr 9 equivalent) someone, somewhere high up, decided that the maths group I was in and all the maths groups below it should be precluded from doing maths as they obviously <i>couldn't</i>! So we were actually stopped from doing maths classes altogether and put into something they called “Book-keeping” classes instead. These lessons were taken by the teacher who also taught typing and shorthand, and we added or subtracted long columns of figures with headings like “Expenses” and “Receipts”. We were also allowed to use 'adding machines' (the precursor of calculators)...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">...the end result was that I left secondary school without a maths qualification.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now though, aged almost 53, my life is a different matter.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I recently decided on a career change and for the past 4 years I've gone back to school; I work as a Teaching Assistant at the local primary (and it's by no means the 'easy little job' that so many consider it to be!). There I regularly come across the kind of child that I was: quiet, shy and unwilling to draw attention to themselves. I'm really hoping that time will eventually show how I've been able to help at least some of them.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When I started working at the primary school, I realised that I'd have to do something about my appalling maths as listening with the children to the teacher's input at the start of the lesson just didn't suffice! So I enrolled on an Adult Learning Community maths course and I'm pleased to say I passed Level 1, and am now midway through Level 2, which I'm told is a GSCE equivalent. It all gives me a very good perspective from which to work at school.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Do you know what? I love it... I absolutely <i>love maths</i>. Hah! I never thought I'd ever say that. <i>And</i> I'm not frightened to say that I find some things difficult to comprehend [fractions], others though [volume and area] pah! Easy-peasy.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Don't snigger... this is big stuff for me :)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So, I intend to continue on this course for as long as it runs (and who's to say it won't close tomorrow?!)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Why continue further with maths? Because I'm <u>really</u> interested in Cosmology, and I think I'm going to need a Physics qualification to study that!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Thank you for taking the time to read this; I hope it might inspire others – of all ages, and all walks of life.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Lastly, a huge thank you to ScienceGrrl for being there, and for giving me courage to really give it a go!"</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11519479136983894353noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4151041014365400836.post-10685079892381308622013-03-18T21:10:00.002+00:002013-03-18T21:23:07.834+00:00ScienceGrrl celebrates International Women's Day - with TASTE, in Uganda<br />
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<i>I'm really chuffed - as we say in Yorkshire - to introduce this guest post from Amy
Buchanan-Hughes, founder of <a href="http://www.tasteforscience.org/" target="_blank">The African Science Truck Experience (TASTE)</a>. TASTE runs a mobile science laboratory in rural Uganda so
that students in underprivileged secondary schools can get a hands-on
experience of science.</i></div>
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<i><br /></i></div>
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According to <a href="http://sciencegrrluk.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/the-amazing-adventures-of-sciencegrrl.html" target="_blank">an earlier post on this blog</a>, TASTE’s copy of the ScienceGrrl calendar is in the “most
intriguing” location worldwide. Following the calendar’s first
Official Engagement in the field this Friday, I thought ScienceGrrl’s fans would be interested to hear about how it has been
inspiring Ugandan girls to think beyond their usual narrow horizons.</div>
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Uganda is a difficult place to be a woman. One day, I asked to borrow a bike to go from my village to the nearby town. I was met with awkward surprise from my friends. “But Madam Amy… if a girl rides a bicycle, she can lose her virginity, and then nobody will marry her.” The outrage that this stirred in me made me even more determined than usual to fight against the gender stereotypes!</div>
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International Women’s Day is a public
holiday here, so we at TASTE had a whole day free from our regular
teaching programme with the mobile lab. In honour of the occasion, I
decided to hold seminars exclusively for girls in three different
towns. We went as a group of four women scientists to talk about the
rich variety of careers that are open to the girls, should they
continue to study sciences at A-level and university. We elicited
some giggles when we lined up to demonstrate the ‘evolutionary’
line of women scientists: from Holly, a gap year student who’s
going to study civil engineering at Sheffield University, to Lina,
who worked in the UK civil service following a Bachelor’s degree in
Natural Sciences, to me, with a MSci in Biochemistry, and finally our
esteemed guest Dr Elizabeth Kyewalabye, the third woman ever to
qualify as a veterinary doctor in Uganda, now with a string of high
profile scientific jobs to her name.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhK7XRSghfJLbH4_1S2b0BXWrtvjBzMv_g125fOgEWbUhs1yexbDZcWcMmucQaGUgtlJPScKi6jY6QSZKloHyJApPUrtxe-un1ui94JYmIU1cny4upViFJg-mlUQQOZhL35NM3g6RafGs0/s1600/2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhK7XRSghfJLbH4_1S2b0BXWrtvjBzMv_g125fOgEWbUhs1yexbDZcWcMmucQaGUgtlJPScKi6jY6QSZKloHyJApPUrtxe-un1ui94JYmIU1cny4upViFJg-mlUQQOZhL35NM3g6RafGs0/s320/2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b>Dr Elizabeth
Kyewalabye inspires girls to follow in her footsteps</b></div>
<b><br /></b>
First, I should explain why we were so
keen to encourage the girls to pursue science in particular. While
doing research for TASTE, I was particularly interested in local
perceptions of gender and of how it affects scientific ability. I was
not exactly thrilled by the results. For example, a comment on a
major Ugandan news website says “Boys have more chances of studying
by revising their notice [notes] while girls have less time due to
their Nature. When girls are washing boys are studying and when boys
are reading again girls are cooking… This cannot be changed because
it is a Natural order.” Also, when I asked the head teacher of a
local mixed-sex school why few girls study sciences, he replied that
“Pretty girls spend all their time with boys instead of studying,
so they only have time to do easy subjects like arts. Science
subjects are harder so only ugly girls can do science subjects.”
Charming.<br />
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With these attitudes commonly accepted
as truth, girls quickly lose confidence about their ability in the
sciences, and their performance slips. We teach from Senior 1 (the
equivalent of year 7 or 8 in the UK) to Senior 4 (when students sit
their O-level exams), and in all of the thirteen schools we currently
work with, I have seen the same story: in Senior 1, the girls
dominate the science lessons, answering and asking questions
enthusiastically, and taking the lead in small group work. By Senior
4, however, they are quiet and reserved, allowing the boys to take
over, and suddenly discovering something very interesting on their
desk when they are asked a question.<br />
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During our Women’s Day seminars, we
used our own experiences to tell the girls that their gender should
never put them off studying sciences and choosing science careers. We
then focused on introducing career paths that most students have
never heard of. Students here aspire to be doctors, nurses or
engineers, because they have heard that these careers are well paid
and respected. These are all great jobs and, indeed, they are very
much needed in Uganda. But there is a whole wealth of other careers
that these young people could and should be aiming towards, that they
simply have no awareness of.
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhR7nRvdRysoDxj_G4JkRDzciWPLFPTXTmKgyQLFZX2PcuUa1dq3uOzGz_qVbk4S0O9TLutVDbCcjeh4sj0d4o9sdXY_Q63UEIfXR80hp_TYK_vw6qMbnEO9BLesx9SKDTIHd5Eyq_cl9Q/s1600/3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhR7nRvdRysoDxj_G4JkRDzciWPLFPTXTmKgyQLFZX2PcuUa1dq3uOzGz_qVbk4S0O9TLutVDbCcjeh4sj0d4o9sdXY_Q63UEIfXR80hp_TYK_vw6qMbnEO9BLesx9SKDTIHd5Eyq_cl9Q/s320/3.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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<b>Students are
told to aim for good jobs, but there is usually little or no career
advice provided by their schools</b></div>
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A lot of the problem lies with the
local teachers, many of whom rarely venture beyond their own town. On
the first page of students’ exercise books in Senior 1, I found the
opening question of “Why do we study Physics?” The answers,
dictated by teachers, were typically listed as: “To pass exams. To
understand physics. To get jobs as engineers.”<br />
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However, the real horizons are wider
than they can possibly imagine. In 2011, the Ministry of Education in
Uganda published a list of the eight most marketable career fields in
Uganda for the near future:</div>
<ol>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Health and medical services</div>
</li>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Biotechnology</div>
</li>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Agriculture, forestry and natural
resources</div>
</li>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Information Communication
Technology (ICT) Applications</div>
</li>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Fisheries and aquaculture</div>
</li>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Environment</div>
</li>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Energy – solar/wind</div>
</li>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Manufacturing and process
engineering</div>
</li>
</ol>
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Reading down this list, I noticed one
thing that they all have in common: unsurprisingly, they all rely
heavily on sciences. TASTE’s mantra in lessons is to “Illustrate,
instruct and inspire”, and the seminars gave us a great opportunity
to do the “inspire” part, by showing the girls how a background
in science could lead to them doing jobs that could improve not only
their own lives, but their whole country, and even the planet.</div>
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Up until this point in the seminars,
the girls were paying attention carefully, but they were very
serious. However, when we brought out the ScienceGrrl calendar,
their faces lit up.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNhivUzEuihixOwYQ-IYhykF9yuiHuvGJRoZD2_av2rwydrpT9Mpvc7a-3N8qNXthTFQk2VyCivdmkmI0cHlfS22gYOsXLvmuLvsojqlVxjjxfi4EZxy5lDF5V6oLLumuloTUu_MPNXnQ/s1600/4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNhivUzEuihixOwYQ-IYhykF9yuiHuvGJRoZD2_av2rwydrpT9Mpvc7a-3N8qNXthTFQk2VyCivdmkmI0cHlfS22gYOsXLvmuLvsojqlVxjjxfi4EZxy5lDF5V6oLLumuloTUu_MPNXnQ/s320/4.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Sometimes language is a barrier, and
culture even more so, but each picture spoke a thousand words.
Suddenly, our words became reality, as we told the girls about each
woman in each picture: “This lady tries to make artificial bones
out of chemicals because she thinks we could use them as building
materials someday” – cool!
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyaDWpX5w8XlAbym84GBpMoUvOGrInq-Mp_ySW6-EbTZ-r7W3UHfYxYzOsdLy7rlYc_NG1R4RMnsmF7QqRLR7fzEgIk31xsyFk42eIWyERXf7CWYcpx-_IQJ0oUuFEfNfReYLgmpE-VGU/s1600/5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyaDWpX5w8XlAbym84GBpMoUvOGrInq-Mp_ySW6-EbTZ-r7W3UHfYxYzOsdLy7rlYc_NG1R4RMnsmF7QqRLR7fzEgIk31xsyFk42eIWyERXf7CWYcpx-_IQJ0oUuFEfNfReYLgmpE-VGU/s320/5.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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“This lady is finding ways of using
sunlight to make energy, without polluting the environment” – how
useful that would be for Uganda, which currently relies almost
exclusively on hydroelectric power. And how about “This lady just
loves science so much that she writes songs about it!” – that got
the loudest laugh of the day.</div>
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After showing them all the pictures, we
passed the calendars around, and suddenly we couldn’t keep order as
the girls crowded around trying to find out more.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRIa1xcLETmEB7odTaNirhHlEN8hiJ5yMzsJhRpMzESYF6hnv2SUR1AwoEtsdd01f05s5ggQxPQBEplvNRDQxCACTh-uIf2HpOITf9HJLV8tnLmYwr6_TI_rq062_3nDcZ58dwE7fFF6U/s1600/6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRIa1xcLETmEB7odTaNirhHlEN8hiJ5yMzsJhRpMzESYF6hnv2SUR1AwoEtsdd01f05s5ggQxPQBEplvNRDQxCACTh-uIf2HpOITf9HJLV8tnLmYwr6_TI_rq062_3nDcZ58dwE7fFF6U/s320/6.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
For the hundreds of girls we teach,
there was no better way for us to communicate ‘YES YOU CAN’ than
by showing them these real examples of real women scientists. In the
end, we literally had to drag the calendars away to move to the next
school, promising as we left that we would bring the calendars back
for the girls to read at another time. My hope is that reading the
biographies will fire their curiosity, and that in a few years to
come some of these girls might even feature in a Ugandan version of
the calendar!</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJ6mHOxVxSpIt2LhHc0DgOfZ5vwM39pKuRfiDKfRNvU-kyWXY7aj6E7gAJi2y7bj-RaAhZ_VC9kJKX4uObLrCrC6vEqjsF8HwRazTjsh-9tvO-_NZ-PoyraQzDk4Ral-yv96J-dSwsbY4/s1600/7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJ6mHOxVxSpIt2LhHc0DgOfZ5vwM39pKuRfiDKfRNvU-kyWXY7aj6E7gAJi2y7bj-RaAhZ_VC9kJKX4uObLrCrC6vEqjsF8HwRazTjsh-9tvO-_NZ-PoyraQzDk4Ral-yv96J-dSwsbY4/s320/7.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br /></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11519479136983894353noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4151041014365400836.post-14666754349062147022013-03-15T17:37:00.000+00:002013-03-15T18:17:00.601+00:00Hatching a plan – the ScienceGrrl strategy for 2013 onwards<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
ScienceGrrl started out as a reaction
to *that* EC video, which spawned the idea to create a series of
images representing who female scientists are and what they do –
the ScienceGrrl 2013 calendar. In the process we collected a network
of people who are passionate about passing on their love of science,
technology, engineering and mathematics to the next generation. We
could have just stopped at the calendar... but I wasn't alone in
thinking it would be a tragedy to dissolve this network of
enthusiastic volunteers, when there were other things left to do in
tackling the problems we had highlighted.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
As I've said from the beginning,
ScienceGrrl isn't “mine”, it belongs to all our members. Also, I
know we are not the only ones who are working on tackling the
under-representation of women in science and complex jumble of
factors that influence that. So we went out to consultation, and
following that consultation, many phone calls, a fair amount of
head-scratching and the use of some fairly epic spreadsheets (love a
good spreadsheet, me) we came up with our strategy, which was
launched at the AGM and voted in unanimously.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
You can <a href="http://issuu.com/sciencegrrls/docs/strategy" target="_blank">read the strategy in all its glory here</a>, but it was beautifully summarised at the AGM by artists
Adrian and Rachel Haak. I find these 'visual minutes' useful in terms
of helping me recall the major themes of the discussion and how they
inter-relate, but more than that, they remind me of the scale of our
ambition. It's audacious, but I find that inspiring rather than
intimidating. I particularly love how collaboration, partnership and flexibility are at the centre, represented as our DNA, with specific projects shown as additional - expressions of that definitive ethic. The whole drawing is below - click on it to enlarge.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUdZWB1On6g0KEkn4Yh61u43RTdJonkuB1I7UYk_fYBg963_-Wlz6xnao_yTYxMQbY_rR0cotZqH4iA0Cc7MrThaoajQPtQiS0diyqU2UC0p92bE8hhRIyX70zrIZiv9NVciilFg_Vfj0/s1600/AGM-artboard.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="185" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUdZWB1On6g0KEkn4Yh61u43RTdJonkuB1I7UYk_fYBg963_-Wlz6xnao_yTYxMQbY_rR0cotZqH4iA0Cc7MrThaoajQPtQiS0diyqU2UC0p92bE8hhRIyX70zrIZiv9NVciilFg_Vfj0/s400/AGM-artboard.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Whilst we've big ideas and ambitions,
we're also aware than Rome (or gender equality in science) isn't
built in a day. It's important, particularly as a grassroots network
of volunteers, that we take developments at a sustainable pace. So
this year is a year of trying things out, developing collaborations,
finding out where we're most needed and the difference we're best
placed to make. And we intend to have a lot of fun doing all this cool stuff.
Watch this space.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
If you'd like to fully get on board
with what we're doing, receive regular updates from me, be the first to hear about invite-only events, and eventually
(sometime this year!) gain access to a members-only discussion forum
on our website, please sign up as a ScienceGrrl member. It'll only
cost you £5 for a year and all of that will go towards resourcing
ScienceGrrl's work. For an application form, <a href="http://www.sciencegrrl.co.uk/#/contact/4566816457" target="_blank">please e-mail us here</a>
and we'll be in touch.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11519479136983894353noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4151041014365400836.post-53355780982612867372013-03-13T22:16:00.000+00:002013-03-14T16:04:28.089+00:00ScienceGrrl and International Women's Day<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEio4lKjQMXuuL2JFwzTf9PlY3oAuFLWVRQ-RZ3LGLb9nrW60Qwe0UbKFSAwmQ-TTe8e0iXJ4YYNC0XP5Z_j0HPZhO59Mqdepe-S-8AdzpjDVJVz8ahKy8AABiChNeIFM9WDw9svaW1XODg/s1600/wow.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEio4lKjQMXuuL2JFwzTf9PlY3oAuFLWVRQ-RZ3LGLb9nrW60Qwe0UbKFSAwmQ-TTe8e0iXJ4YYNC0XP5Z_j0HPZhO59Mqdepe-S-8AdzpjDVJVz8ahKy8AABiChNeIFM9WDw9svaW1XODg/s320/wow.jpg" width="239" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
International Women's Day celebrates
the achievements of women worldwide. In Russia (and elsewhere, I
believe) it's a public holiday. Here at ScienceGrrl, we wanted to
take the opportunity this presented to highlight the great work that
women are doing in science. The recent <a href="http://www.wisecampaign.org.uk/about-us/wise-resources/uk-statistics-2012" target="_blank">WISE report</a> highlighted that
only 13% of the STEM workforce are women, but that's still 693,000
women doing interesting and valuable work.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
We've had female scientists wandering
around science museums in London and Manchester, wearing large badges
proclaiming 'I'm a SCIENTIST talk to me' and occasionally jumping on
a purple soapbox to tell people what we do - <a href="http://theorganicsolution.wordpress.com/2013/03/11/sciencegrrl-at-mosi/" target="_blank">Jess Breen</a> and <a href="http://www.therocksremain.org/2013/03/science-grrls-at-mosi.html" target="_blank">Becky Wraggs Sykes</a> have already blogged on this. In Manchester, we teamed
up with <a href="http://manchester.girlgeekdinners.com/" target="_blank">Manchester Girl Geeks</a> to offer soft electronics and
mathematical magic workshops, run by women, to highlight the
creativity of electronics and the fun you can have with maths. We've
had representatives at a <a href="http://www.wisecampaign.org.uk/" target="_blank">WISE</a> 'Mothers of Invention' reception at the <a href="http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/" target="_blank">Science Museum</a> and the
<a href="http://www.csc.mrc.ac.uk/PublicScience/FabricsOfLife/SuffrageScience2013/" target="_blank">Suffrage Science</a> celebrations of women in STEM. And this morning, I
joined a panel discussion concerning women in science at the Women of
the World Festival, with <a href="http://www.emilysidoniegrossman.com/" target="_blank">Emily Sidonie-Grossman</a>, <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/maggie-aderinpocock-a-woman-on-a-mission-proving-science-isnt-just-for-rich-white-men-7584939.html" target="_blank">Maggie Aderin-Pocock</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/mjamme" target="_blank">Marieme Jamme</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/KateBellingham" target="_blank">Kate Bellingham</a>. What a privilege
even to be added to that list!</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhc6rjbGp2hdqBZBPgbePKXIGct7vZxB6WMA-8ov_b4oubVP5AO0v7Scz2ty2UB0X892A9PtPWe7aP9p6SNKOhOo25gLWcYrwbvY10H_g0lUAgDx7SVrFLKRlf3LPffNQMQASbWh877tsw/s1600/maggie.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhc6rjbGp2hdqBZBPgbePKXIGct7vZxB6WMA-8ov_b4oubVP5AO0v7Scz2ty2UB0X892A9PtPWe7aP9p6SNKOhOo25gLWcYrwbvY10H_g0lUAgDx7SVrFLKRlf3LPffNQMQASbWh877tsw/s320/maggie.jpg" width="239" /></a></div>
<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
We talked about the myriad factors
influencing the under-representation of women in science, from
gendered marketing of toys, low confidence, peer pressure, gender
stereotypes, preconceptions about absence of creativity in science,
lack of emphasis on contextual teaching, scarcity of visible role
models and women in leadership, cultural expectations of family
dynamics (as summed up <a href="http://the-flick.com/wordpress/2013/03/the-flick-at-wow-festival-why-are-there-so-few-women-in-science/" target="_blank">here, by The Flick</a>)...but it was by no means negative. Kate Bellingham, the
chair, did a great job of stopping me blathering on, fielding the
many questions from the audience and encouraging points for action.
We could have talked for hours, and I wish we'd had more time to
hatch firm plans to address the issues raised. Perhaps a breakout
session (with coffee and cake, obviously) is needed next year?</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
I was particularly encouraged by
hearing from Marieme Jamme about the growth of technology hubs in
Africa, South America and the Middle East, and the leading role of
women in this context. It confirms to me again that the lack of women
in STEM has nothing to do with women's inherent aptitude for these
subjects, but everything to do with culture, education and
expectation. We've been pushing against these barriers in the UK for
generations, but I take inspiration from Marieme and others like her
that change is – and will be – possible. Until we do, the
potential of so many brilliant female scientists will remain untapped
and the world will be lacking the fruits of their labours and their
genius ideas.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11519479136983894353noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4151041014365400836.post-20144624246805429162013-02-20T22:25:00.000+00:002013-02-21T21:50:00.761+00:00The first ScienceGrrl AGM!<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
Ladies and gentlemen, may I present Isla Stevens, who will now regale us with merry tales of Friday's first ever ScienceGrrl AGM. Over to you, Isla!</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
Last Friday I was lucky enough to be
able to fit in a trip to London for the first ever ScienceGrrl AGM –
calendars, tote bags and posters everywhere. It was great to see a
few familiar friends from the consultation evening at the end of the
year, as well as meet some fantastic new faces – it’s not every
day you get to chat to <a href="https://twitter.com/CeriBrenner" target="_blank">someone who spends their workdays firing lasers</a>.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
Having been involved in the
consultation evening and subsequently as a social media minion under
the guidance of <a href="https://twitter.com/annazecharia" target="_blank">Anna Zecharia</a> (<a href="http://sciencegrrl.tumblr.com/" target="_blank">seen the tumblr yet?</a> Why not?) I’m also lucky
enough to now have membership of ScienceGrrl, which meant I was able
to vote on the motions being raised. It was a strange and wonderful
feeling, realising that I had I say in where we would go next – and
realising that I was along for the journey as well.
</div>
<div lang="" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9VftVueNEL9bpyDzL4_TFHSSKH1kQnRJ0dNFKmzL1AIYKOduQn8uNcsEOspBKEh7YwekYS_4mzEZtt9LrhzEsfqQC5jgPn8z9vBiHTCRE5EJ6O0dWZUXc3gEhb7H6tkWjydDQzP2avow/s1600/photo+%25284%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9VftVueNEL9bpyDzL4_TFHSSKH1kQnRJ0dNFKmzL1AIYKOduQn8uNcsEOspBKEh7YwekYS_4mzEZtt9LrhzEsfqQC5jgPn8z9vBiHTCRE5EJ6O0dWZUXc3gEhb7H6tkWjydDQzP2avow/s320/photo+%25284%2529.JPG" width="239" /></a></div>
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<i>Stand
back, we’re going to try science.</i></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
The mood at the AGM was fantastic –
there was no need for icebreakers or introductions, and there was a
great variety of people there, from all ages and career backgrounds,
networking delightedly and having a good laugh as they did so. It was
somewhat humbling to realise that just eight months ago, none of this
existed. Eight months later, <a href="http://sciencegrrluk.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/the-amazing-adventures-of-sciencegrrl.html" target="_blank">ScienceGrrl has calendars around the globe</a> (including a few winging their way to my old High School), and
a far-reaching network with a vision. They are changing the lives of
women in STEM, little by little – they’ve certainly already had a
positive effect on mine. It’s easy to feel isolated, I think, when
you’re working or studying in a field in which you are a minority,
and the AGM was vastly comforting in that sense. It made me realise
that we are all of us passionate about the same things – the same
vision:</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
“<i>A world where access to a
fulfilling STEM career is decoupled from gender.”</i></div>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
And the same mission:</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
“<i>To celebrate and promote STEM
careers by building and strengthening a network of people who are
passionate about passing on their love of stem to the next
generation”.</i></div>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span lang=""><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="">It’s</span> safe to say
ScienceGrrl is already on task. The network is already there, and
it’s only getting bigger. Every day I see new ideas and
collaborations popping up on my Twitter feed – the usual suspects
are generally in there somewhere, keep an eye out for our esteemed
director, <a href="https://twitter.com/alrightPET" target="_blank">Heather Williams</a>, the indefatigable <a href="https://twitter.com/TMBSScience" target="_blank">Faisal Khan</a>, head of
science at The Market Bosworth School, or <a href="https://twitter.com/Frans_facts" target="_blank">Fran Scott</a>, science
translator extraordinaire.</div>
<div lang="" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDsgtju3h-DZHARxqAwmJVmSxery_ndtJNrbBYc4QFN5b8BWjCcRsW4Ko8z9D2rtAqrNiPxh9wWBELbcDKodznABEK5IFXBcr3Q-4y-yE4PkUWO_SwX64WGWKRyXXZo6Bn7nVjgvnP_mQ/s1600/photo+%25283%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDsgtju3h-DZHARxqAwmJVmSxery_ndtJNrbBYc4QFN5b8BWjCcRsW4Ko8z9D2rtAqrNiPxh9wWBELbcDKodznABEK5IFXBcr3Q-4y-yE4PkUWO_SwX64WGWKRyXXZo6Bn7nVjgvnP_mQ/s320/photo+%25283%2529.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<i>Plotting
in the pub?</i></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
There are plans for a dedicated online
forum with regional chapters to establish a network of support based
right across the country. There are finalised events already marked
in the (wonderful shiny ScienceGrrl) calendars – if you’re in the
Manchester area check out <a href="http://mancggtp-sciencegrrl.eventbrite.com/" target="_blank">the afternoon of mathematical magic andelectronics, hosted by ScienceGrrl in collaboration with theManchester Girl Geeks to mark International Women’s Day</a>. We’ll be
working with schools, being unswervingly positive in our conversations with policy makers,
and launching new projects such as interactive science workshops and
a work experience network, as well as sending a team of students from
Tower Hamlets to <a href="http://isset.org/mission_discovery_kings.html" target="_blank">Mission Discovery 2013</a> with some of the calendar
proceeds.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
ScienceGrrl is young. But in eight
short months we’ve gone from strength to strength, from a mildly
irritated twitter conversation about <a href="http://www.sciencegrrl.co.uk/#/videogrr/4566816458" target="_blank">That Video (Grr)</a> to a respected
grassroots organisation with a plan. The next year will both be
exciting and a learning curve for all involved. However the
overwhelming feeling I took away from the AGM – and I’m fairly
sure it wasn’t just me – was a sense of cheerful optimism. I for
one believe ScienceGrrl and friends are more than ready for any
challenges the next year will throw at us, and I feel privileged to
be involved.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11519479136983894353noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4151041014365400836.post-58057506644195995252013-02-17T17:45:00.000+00:002013-02-17T18:43:37.050+00:00The amazing adventures of the ScienceGrrl 2013 calendar<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's mid-February. When you have spent the last 4 months of your life flogging 2013 calendars, mid-February is a good time to be able to say 'we have none left'.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A mere 2 hours before the ScienceGrrl launch party in October, I took delivery of 1500 copies of the ScienceGrrl 2013 calendar and arranged them artfully around <a href="https://twitter.com/lulucrumble" target="_blank">Louise Crane</a>'s flat (much to the amusement of her cat, Loki). I remember being both exhilarated and terrified. 1500 is a big number. Fortunately I didn't have long to think about it before having to get changed into a long red dress, jump in a taxi, and spend the evening celebrating the fact that we'd actually got the thing ready on schedule.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">More fortunately, we sold over 900 copies, to personal contacts, through shops at the <a href="http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/" target="_blank">Science Museum</a>, <a href="http://www.mosi.org.uk/" target="_blank">Museum of Science and Industry</a>, <a href="http://www.jodrellbank.net/visit/" target="_blank">Jodrell Bank</a> and <a href="http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/" target="_blank">Imperial College London</a>, but mostly through the online shop. The online orders have been administered, parcelled up and posted out by <a href="https://twitter.com/lulucrumble" target="_blank">Louise Crane</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/soozaphone" target="_blank">Suzi Gage</a> - bless 'em - and travelled all over the world. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You can have a tinker with the interactive map below to find out exactly where they've got to - just click on the red dots for the nearest town. We have <a href="https://twitter.com/lulucrumble" target="_blank">Louise Crane</a> to thank for this, too. Caution: like a good Google doodle, it's highly addictive.</span><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe frameborder="no" height="300" scrolling="no" src="https://www.google.com/fusiontables/embedviz?viz=MAP&q=select+col2+from+1u_tuUl100yKccRqZflpkWaxTQ9YYU5LCDNTE8c0&h=false&lat=14.811547617450168&lng=-3.6074833499850456&z=1&t=1&l=col2&y=2&tmplt=2" width="500"></iframe>
</div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Of course, the UK loves us (not least Dundee and Birmingham, where Universities placed huge orders to distribute to local schools), but the map indicates we have a fair smattering of fans in the US too. Here's a photo one happy customer sent us of the calendar sunning itself on a beach in Florida:</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh36YtaRFf4Wfqr9kINwAJ6RP4dv2t1e0RqQLuHnm2TwW_AhQ1i4IRsSIGxhbIHYp1Pf2LF-kLIn1gKplqmgaMm3VchKbyopZXVe3FesGqrejwT04BZ3rQmfVXSNV7BSNvRrVHzptZZ2eg/s1600/DSCN1795-1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh36YtaRFf4Wfqr9kINwAJ6RP4dv2t1e0RqQLuHnm2TwW_AhQ1i4IRsSIGxhbIHYp1Pf2LF-kLIn1gKplqmgaMm3VchKbyopZXVe3FesGqrejwT04BZ3rQmfVXSNV7BSNvRrVHzptZZ2eg/s320/DSCN1795-1.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Wish you were here?</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">By contrast, another copy headed for chillier climes to join the all-female team <span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; text-align: -webkit-auto;">working for the <a href="http://www.antarctica.ac.uk/" target="_blank">British Antarctic Survey</a> at </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Rothera Research Station on the Antarctic Peninsula</span>: </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHAQM7xHSDRAkGpbBOi8C2XmJkTTggxZJkrW4FIg34tBp7vwM6athMLGeKx2SGaOUdDuzAyQO39xsjn7IGS7ptScOFHkY8L6y0VtIgye5dWxYYD8QJ80f1V0dYZsGcl-oeb9PcerhVH-A/s1600/IMG_0613-1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHAQM7xHSDRAkGpbBOi8C2XmJkTTggxZJkrW4FIg34tBp7vwM6athMLGeKx2SGaOUdDuzAyQO39xsjn7IGS7ptScOFHkY8L6y0VtIgye5dWxYYD8QJ80f1V0dYZsGcl-oeb9PcerhVH-A/s400/IMG_0613-1.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Tamsin Gray, Mairi Simms</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; text-align: -webkit-auto;"> and Rosey Grant - Antarctic </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Meteorologists</span></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Most intriguing, perhaps, is the copy heading to Lwengo in Uganda - it will take pride of place in the <a href="http://www.tasteforscience.org/" target="_blank">TASTE mobile laboratory</a>, which gives children in rural areas the opportunity to get 'hands on' with science.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Those of you who are adept at mental arithmetic will be wondering where the remaining 600 copies from our 1500 print run have gone. I'm pleased to say that they have been mainly donated to schools - thanks to <a href="https://twitter.com/ChiOnwurah" target="_blank">Chi Onwurah MP</a> and colleagues, every in school in Newcastle will be getting one, and others are heading out to schools in London, Belfast and Bolton. We've donated others to science clubs and libraries, and used a few as gifts to introduce ScienceGrrl to would-be collaborators - including MPs across the political spectrum, others involved in science policy... and <a href="https://twitter.com/maggiephilbin" target="_blank">Maggie Philbin</a>... and <a href="https://twitter.com/ProfBrianCox" target="_blank">Prof Brian Cox</a>. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you've got a ScienceGrrl 2013 calendar, we'd love to hear where it is and how it's inspiring the people who see it - <a href="http://www.sciencegrrl.co.uk/" target="_blank">e-mail</a> us via the website or <a href="https://twitter.com/Science_Grrl" target="_blank">tweet</a> at us with the details.</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11519479136983894353noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4151041014365400836.post-5855267048617950812013-02-06T18:30:00.003+00:002013-02-11T18:23:29.581+00:00Cooking up a twitter storm. Or: What not to do about the gender divide in science<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.7;">Today, an</span><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/us-news-blog/2013/feb/05/girls-science-gender-gap-fix" style="background-color: white; color: #8b8b23; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.7; margin: 0px -2px; padding: 2px 2px 0px; text-decoration: initial;"> article appeared</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.7;"> on the Guardian website, not in the science section (it was on the US news blog), but tweeted by </span><a href="https://twitter.com/guardianscience" style="background-color: white; color: #8b8b23; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.7; margin: 0px -2px; padding: 2px 2px 0px; text-decoration: initial;">@guardianscience</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.7;"> and containing the word ‘science’ in the title. About girls and science, its headline claimed to explain ‘why the gender gap exists and what to do about it’.</span><br />
<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.7; margin-bottom: 16px; margin-top: 8px;">
I’ve written about <a href="http://www.scilogs.com/sifting_the_evidence/are-women-in-science-ambitious-enough/" style="color: #8b8b23; margin: 0px -2px; padding: 2px 2px 0px; text-decoration: initial;">women in science</a> before, as there is a large and worrying body of research which suggests that women are less likely to pursue science careers than men, and that there is a ‘leaky pipeline’ whereby women are disproportionally lost from science (or indeed STEM careers in general) at all stages throughout their career. Not only that, but attempts to address this problem have sometimes faltered, been massively misguided, or <a href="http://www.sciencegrrl.co.uk/#/videogrr/4566816458" style="color: #8b8b23; margin: 0px -2px; padding: 2px 2px 0px; text-decoration: initial;">downright offensive</a>.</div>
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So, an article addressing these problems is exactly the type of thing I want to read. However, I didn’t have to get far in to this one to realise these were not the droids I was looking for*. The author cited a couple of studies as evidence that girls perform worse at STEM subjects than boys, though her argument was slightly hard to follow as one study showed girls doing better than boys, apart from in US, UK and Canada, whereas the other suggested girls do worse at maths in countries with poorer gender equality. Anyway, that aside, she used the premise that environmental differences between the way girls and boys are brought up affects their STEM ability and motivation, to peddle some dangerous or baffling ‘tips from the experts’.</div>
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Ignoring the complete lack of links (there are 'sources' at the bottom of the article, but it's not clear what comes from where, and these are books, rather than peer reviewed research) to evidence for these 'tips from the experts', the huge problem I have with this article is that, rather than discuss how we could remove the gender divide, bringing up our children as equals and removing these imaginary differences between little girls and little boys, the article gleefully points out ways in which girls are different to boys (real or imaginary), and leaps upon these as a way to reinvent teaching science to girls, because they don't 'get it' when it's done more generically. It’s completely backwards; the problem isn't girls' ability to learn science, it's the motivation and encouragement to pursue and enjoy science that needs to be fostered and nurtured. And that’s before we get to the pseudoscience.</div>
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Talk of girls using the left, or<a href="http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/brain-myths/201207/two-myths-and-three-facts-about-the-differences-in-men-and-womens-brains" style="color: #8b8b23; margin: 0px -2px; padding: 2px 2px 0px; text-decoration: initial;"> language side of the brain</a>, being more responsive to colour, and needing to read instructions aloud are ridiculous, but at times the article is sexist (learn science through cooking? Women learn best when science is applied to domestic scenarios?) or actively gives bad advice (learn by rote if you don’t understand? Play with Lego, but only to follow the instructions?!). I sincerely hope there are no parents of young girls reading this who think these are good ideas.</div>
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<a href="http://www.sciencegrrl.co.uk/" style="color: #8b8b23; margin: 0px -2px; padding: 2px 2px 0px; text-decoration: initial;">ScienceGrrl</a> was originally set up after the ‘Science, it’s a girl thing’ video debacle, but articles like this remind me once again of its relevance and importance. There <em>are</em> women in science (and despite what this article seems to imply at the end, there are plenty of excellent female role models in science), and we need to encourage the next generation to follow in our footsteps. Applying 1940s science-of-the-kitchen logic to engaging them is not the answer, not when there are<a href="http://www.at-bristol.org.uk/" style="color: #8b8b23; margin: 0px -2px; padding: 2px 2px 0px; text-decoration: initial;">science museums</a> full of hands on activities and wonder, people like<a href="http://www.franscott.moonfruit.com/" style="color: #8b8b23; margin: 0px -2px; padding: 2px 2px 0px; text-decoration: initial;"> Fran Scott</a> and <a href="http://www.maggiephilbin.com/" style="color: #8b8b23; margin: 0px -2px; padding: 2px 2px 0px; text-decoration: initial;">Maggie Philbin</a> on TV showing the awesome-ness of science, and organisations like ScienceGrrl keen to get a diverse range of inspirational women in to schools to engage first hand with the female (and male) STEM leaders of tomorrow. Science isn’t something different for boys and girls. It’s for everyone, and it rocks.</div>
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Or, if you want the<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Too_long;_didn't_read" style="color: #8b8b23; margin: 0px -2px; padding: 2px 2px 0px; text-decoration: initial;"> tl;dr</a> version, here’s what Anna Zecharia, SienceGrrl’s head of Comms, said in the comments:</div>
<blockquote style="background-color: white; border-left-color: rgb(238, 238, 238); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 5px; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18.46875px; margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 15px;">
<div style="font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.7; margin-bottom: 16px; margin-top: 8px;">
ScienceGrrl (<a href="http://www.sciencegrrl.co.uk/" style="color: #8b8b23; margin: 0px -2px; padding: 2px 2px 0px; text-decoration: initial;" target="_top">http://www.sciencegrrl.co.uk</a>) was formed in response to laziness of this kind. And, whoa, isn't it multi-layered laziness?! First, many of the claims are unsubstantiated by evidence. Second, it reinforces the narrow view that all girls must be collapsed into a limited stereotype. Third, it delights in the ‘gender divide’ and the advice it gives reads as patronising because it is: girls can be shown the world, but only if it isn’t too overwhelming for them, poor lambs. Articles like this show us that true equality may not be here yet, but the ScienceGrrl motto is to be positive and to move forward with action. We believe the best way to challenge such attitudes is to celebrate the diversity of women: to give girls a wide range of role models to choose from, so that when they find the one they identify with they can be themselves, not one of many suffocating in a box. Science is for everyone. -- Anna - Communications, ScienceGrrl @Science_Grrl</div>
</blockquote>
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Basically: that.</div>
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Now, I’m off to talk myself (aloud) through this jigsaw puzzle. Where are my safety goggles?</div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small; line-height: 1.7;">This post is written by Suzi Gage, who will appear in the ScienceGrrl calendar during the month of <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/sciencegrrl/8219386920/in/set-72157631818647482/lightbox/" target="_blank">April</a> and has helped post out a fair few of them. The post also appears on her own excellent blog, </span><a href="http://www.scilogs.com/sifting_the_evidence/cooking-up-a-twitter-storm-or-what-not-to-do-about-the-gender-divide-in-science/" style="font-size: x-small; line-height: 1.7;" target="_blank">Sifting The Evidence</a><span style="font-size: xx-small; line-height: 1.7;">. *Suzi's favourite Star Wars droid is </span><a href="http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/EV-9D9" style="font-size: x-small; line-height: 1.7;" target="_blank">EV-9D9</a><span style="font-size: xx-small; line-height: 1.7;">.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small; line-height: 1.7;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: xx-small; line-height: 1.7;">For further comment on this article, here are some excellent remarks by <a href="http://occamstypewriter.org/athenedonald/2013/02/10/lets-get-stereotypes-out-of-science-education/#comment-83587" target="_blank">Athene Donald</a>, <a href="http://www.therocksremain.org/2013/02/girls-science-social-context-how-to.html" target="_blank">Becky Wragg-Sykes</a>, <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/blog/2013/feb/08/pseudoscience-stereotyping-gender-inequality-science" target="_blank">Chris Chambers and Kate Clancy</a>.</span></div>
lulucrumblehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07449102379996325573noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4151041014365400836.post-34597407428518619402013-02-04T20:34:00.001+00:002013-02-07T17:30:57.711+00:00Feminine Science Role Models... and other bad ideas<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">News of research indicating that feminine scientists may actually put girls off science raised a few eyebrows at <a href="https://twitter.com/SohoSkeptics" target="_blank">Soho Skeptics</a> last month... so we asked the fantabulous <a href="https://twitter.com/MLBrook" target="_blank">Michelle Brook</a> to do some digging and find out what that paper really said:</span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial, serif; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">What
does a scientist look like? In an ideal world, if we asked a random
group of children to draw a scientist, we would see a huge variety of
responses. We would see some male, some female, some dressed in lab
coats, and others ‘in the field’.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a;"><span style="font-family: Arial, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Scientists,
like any other group, are not all the same.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a;"><span style="font-family: Arial, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">And
as a community we ought be showing this diversity. To encourage
children to embrace the idea that they can follow scientific careers,
we need to be showing that people like them already do science.
<a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/j.2164-585X.1970.tb00254.x/abstract" target="_blank">Evidence</a></span></span></span><span style="color: #1a1a1a;"><span style="font-family: Arial, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/j.2164-585X.1970.tb00254.x/abstract" target="_blank"> shows that perceived similarity is an important factor in creating effective role models</a>, and therefore we need to be providing role
models that aren’t just old, white, men.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a;"><span style="font-family: Arial, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Yet
there is a <span id="goog_259162209"></span><a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1949-8594.2002.tb18217.x/full" target="_blank">wealth of evidence </a></span></span></span><span style="color: #1a1a1a;"><span style="font-family: Arial, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1949-8594.2002.tb18217.x/full" target="_blank">showing that children of all ages, even those from minoritybackgrounds, have the over-whelming perception of a scientist as awhite bespectacled man, working alone in a lab</a><span id="goog_259162210"></span>. </span></span></span>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a;"><span style="font-family: Arial, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">With
scientists – male and female – visiting schools, and taking part
in engagement schemes like the brilliant ‘<a href="http://imascientist.org.uk/" target="_blank">I am a Scientist, Get me out of here!</a>’</span></span></span><span style="color: #1a1a1a;"><span style="font-family: Arial, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">,
we hope to start counteracting this image, and show that scientists
are human beings; that they have their own sets of interests,
personalities, have taken different career paths, and indeed can be
emulated. </span></span></span>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a;"><span style="font-family: Arial, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Therefore,
when a news release for a paper entitled ‘<a href="http://www.ns.umich.edu/new/releases/20355-my-fair-physicist-feminine-math-science-role-models-do-not-motivate-girls" target="_blank">My Fair Physicist? Feminine Math and Science Role Models Demotivate Young Girls</a>’
</span></span></span><span style="color: #1a1a1a;"><span style="font-family: Arial, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">popped into my Twitter feed a few weeks ago, I was rather alarmed.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a;"><span style="font-family: Arial, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">What
are the implications of this, if feminine role models really do
demotivate girls from embracing science? By encouraging a wide range
of people, including ‘feminine’ women to talk to children, are we
actively doing harm? Social science research can be invaluable at
informing our understanding of human interactions, so I took the
scientific approach, read the paper, and looked at the results.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a;"><span style="font-family: Arial, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">I’m
not going to repeat what is a <a href="http://womeninastronomy.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/feminine-role-models.html" target="_blank">comprehensive take down of the paper</a>. However the tl;dr (too long; didn’t read) version is
that neither myself nor a number of others are convinced by the
conclusions of the study.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a;"><span style="font-family: Arial, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">The
paper focused upon a very extreme stereotype of what a ‘feminine
female scientist’ would look like; someone who wears pink, likes
fashion magazines and wears make up. I wouldn’t like to define what
a ‘feminine female scientist’ would look or act like, nor guess
at how such a person would be portrayed in a written interview (as
was the method used to introduce the role models to participants of
this study).</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a;"><span style="font-family: Arial, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Whilst
I am sure there are some female scientists who do wear pink clothes,
like fashion magazines, and wear make up (indeed, my former physics
teacher was one), it is statistically unlikely that there would be
that many. Instead we would expect a bell-curve of 'femininity'
(however that was defined), and indeed a female scientist certainly
need not conform to this image in order to self-define as ‘feminine’.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a;"><span style="font-family: Arial, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Just
by looking around us, and thinking about who we know, we can see that
scientists come in all shapes, sizes and skin colours. Some are male,
some female, and some would prefer not to define as either. Some are
feminine, and others are not. </span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; text-align: justify; widows: 0;">
<span style="color: #1a1a1a;"><span style="font-family: Arial, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Similarly,
school aged girls are not a single group. Some of these will be more
confident than others, some will have more positive ideas and
experiences of science, and yes, undoubtedly some of these will be
more feminine than others.</span></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; text-align: justify; widows: 0;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #1a1a1a;"><span style="font-family: Arial, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">If
we want to provide girls, and indeed other groups under-represented
in science, with role models, we need to ensure that these multiple
types of ‘scientist’ are made visible. The more we do this, the
more we breakdown the preconceptions of who and what a ‘scientist’
is, and the more we increase the probability that any one child can
find someone they can relate to, and hope to emulate.</span></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #1a1a1a;"><span style="font-family: Arial, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Perhaps
there will be studies in the future which better show the effects of
role model types on perceptions of science. Perhaps we will get
better insight into the age at which stereotypical images of
scientists begin to form, how these preconceptions are reinforced,
and how to better break them. </span></span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #1a1a1a;"><span style="font-family: Arial, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">In
the meantime, I think we can do a lot worse than displaying the
diversity of scientists in our midst.</span></span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11519479136983894353noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4151041014365400836.post-54009839119517201102013-01-07T06:39:00.001+00:002013-01-07T06:42:45.891+00:00...and a Happy New Year!<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">2012 was quite a year for ScienceGrrl. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">We formed in June, and in just over 4 months produced our beautiful 2013 calendar. Following the launch party in October, over 850 copies of the calendar have flown out to take their places in homes, schools and offices across the world. We still have some copies left if you haven't got yours yet - </span><a href="https://sciencegrrl.wufoo.com/forms/sciencegrrl-online-shop/" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" target="_blank">pick one up for half (the original) price in our January sale</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">The Christmas break has given us all chance to rest up, take a step back, and grin like Cheshire cats at the thought of these images of female scientists and women inspired by science (plus a few guys!) from a wide range of backgrounds and disciplines heading out to enlighten, inform and challenge stereotypes about science and scientists. More grin-inducing still, though, are the opportunities we've had as a result of making the calendar to talk about who we are and what matters to us, and connect with a whole host of others who are also keen to raise the profile of female scientists.</span></div>
<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">We've featured in </span><a href="http://m.guardian.co.uk/culture/2012/oct/21/why-we-are-watching-sciencegrrl?cat=culture&type=article" style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" target="_blank">national newspapers</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">; been interviewed for radio, </span><a href="http://poddelusion.co.uk/blog/2012/10/19/episode-158-19th-october-2012/" style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" target="_blank">podcasts</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"> and </span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJB_byTsz9k&feature=player_embedded" style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" target="_blank">websites</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">; got hands-on live science onto the Radio4 Today programme; gathered over 2000 followers on </span><a href="https://twitter.com/Science_Grrl" style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" target="_blank">Twitter</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"> and connected with more on </span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/SciGrrl" style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" target="_blank">facebook</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">; spoken to a wide variety of professional bodies, like-minded organisations, political parties, and individuals (including a few high-profile ones like Prof Brian Cox) who wanted to find out more and explore possibilities for collaboration. We have talked, nattered, discussed, chatted, and nodded in agreement like never before. It's been great. ScienceGrrl is growing from a calendar production team, to an executive committee supported by a wider network of (predominantly) female scientists who share our passion for passing our love of science, technology, engineering, and maths to the next generation.</span></div>
<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">The question ringing in all our minds now is, what next? Through all these conversations, and our consultation process (which you can still contribute to </span><a href="http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/5S855B8" style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" target="_blank">here</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">), we've identified that there are things we can do to encourage more girls to consider science and support women already in scientific careers. We'll be helping bring more young people into contact with real scientists, developing online and regional networks to encourage women already 'in the business', and continuing to raise the profile of female scientists in the media and mainstream culture. The calendar, bag, USB stick and badge sales mean we also have some money to get these things off the ground - so a big thankyou to everyone who came to us to do their Christmas shopping.</span></div>
<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">We'll be doing most of this in partnership with the awesome people we've met in the last few months. One reason for this is that we want to strengthen what is already being done and add to it, and see no point in 'competing' with the great projects and initiatives others have started. The other reason is that most of the people who have got involved with ScienceGrrl so far are science students or professional scientists, which does give us valuable personal insight and authenticity, but also means we don't have lots and lots of time to spare. We have come this far due to the efforts of hard-working volunteers and we are always looking for more. So, if you are able to donate some of your time and energy to help us do cool stuff that makes a difference in 2013, please </span><a href="http://www.sciencegrrl.co.uk/#/contact/4566816457" style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" target="_blank">send us a message via our website</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">. If there's something you've started (or are desperate to start) that fits in with our aims, tell us about that too.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So, cheers m'dears. Here's to 2013 - let's go change the world.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<img height="320" src="https://fbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/222185_10151131030231930_507291561_n.jpg" width="192" /></div>
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11519479136983894353noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4151041014365400836.post-12273120576827182152012-12-10T12:18:00.000+00:002012-12-10T12:27:58.602+00:00Our Strategy Day<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The alarm went off at 8.00am which, although unusual for a
Saturday, was not begrudged; it was the ScienceGrrl strategy consultation day.
Today we would find out what people thought of us, what we should be doing and
would start thinking seriously about our future. I knew we needed to ask people
what they wanted from ScienceGrrl, but that morning, the thought of asking
people face-to-face still felt scary. As I made my way through an eerily quiet
central London, the usual worries surfaced. Would anyone turn up? Would the
equipment work? Would we be coherent? Would we get useful input? </div>
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<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img class="scaled-image" height="320" src="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/A8eTrVTCEAEp1Wu.jpg:large" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="238" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mmmmm, ScienceGrrl Cakes.<i><br /></i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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As the other ScienceGrrl committee members arrived with
pastries, coffee and juice (choice of ‘bits’ and ‘no bits’) my nerves were
settled- with such a lovely bunch of people, what could possibly go wrong? We
talked calendar sales, outreach activities, bank accounts, regional chapters
and of course the strategy consultation. We had a battle with the printer
(which we lost), a mad dash in the rain to collect calendars, cakes, USB sticks
and badges from Louise’s apartment, and we were ready. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As people started to arrive the atmosphere was mounting,
people were introducing themselves and tucking into our fab ScienceGrrl-branded
cakes, more chairs were needed and everyone squeezed in. We had school
students, undergraduates, post grads, teachers, and a decent haul of
ScienceGrrls. We were ready to go.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The discussion began with the history of ScienceGrrl, we
talked about why we needed a strategy and the results of the online
questionnaire. We then took it in turns to introduce ourselves and explain why
we cared about ScienceGrrl. The variety of motivations was really moving, and
it was refreshing to hear people talking so eloquently, sensibly and
passionately about gender issues in science careers. By this point we were
already well behind schedule. To make up time I took the executive decision to
cut the next two items on the agenda (they can’t have been important), and we delved
straight the juicy group discussions. </div>
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<br /></div>
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In the first topic we explored the ScienceGrrl vision. People
were asked to discuss how they would finish the sentence “ScienceGrrl sees a
world where...” and to identify what the barriers were to achieving this
vision. While some people struggled to remain wholly on-topic (let’s blame it
on the excitement) we got some great feedback. Some choice quotes include:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“ScienceGrrl sees a
world where access to science education is not restricted by gender, race,
class, sexuality or culture”</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“ScienceGrrl sees a world unrestricted by
stereotype”</i></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“ScienceGrrl sees a
world where female scientists are represented in the media”</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Among the barriers, we identified: Culture in schools
(particularly co-ed), childcare policies, lack of role models, culture of long
hours, and a lack of good quality careers advice.</div>
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<br /></div>
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We then had a super-quick break for coffee, and moved
swiftly onto the next discussion topic: ‘what can ScienceGrrl Do?’ As we gulped
down our hot beverages, the conversation kept rolling on at pace. The ideas for
ScienceGrrl seemed almost endless, they included: a mentoring programme, work
experience, networking events, members forum, careers advice, awareness/
challenging stereotypes, delivering workshops, bringing people together ... and
the list goes on (and on, and on). </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As we began to wrap up, the momentum of the conversation
seemed to be reaching its peak. It was a shame to have to stop, but I heard
people continuing to talk, and swaping contact details as we were packing up. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And then to the pub! In true ScienceGrrl fashion we ended up
finishing the day chatting over a well deserved glass of red wine. Cheers!! We
discussed the next steps for the strategy, what we should include, and who else
we should talk to. Look out for the first draft of the strategy in the New Year;
we want to hear what you think before we vote on it at the AGM in February. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img height="300" src="http://d3j5vwomefv46c.cloudfront.net/photos/full/692193722.jpg?key=32642448&Expires=1355142014&Key-Pair-Id=APKAIYVGSUJFNRFZBBTA&Signature=n1n3yVZvas5HOsOrBEB4oe302k3MOwRQ27mPnP5JJKcsFqZOzNS05WnOnJUgDB4gUfNozsw0m3ygdbH6kxkgEKUzM6c3Univ3EeD9QnPwN9oD1Bu9Xgi4C3HbHzNfrq3GkWMZ%7EDfpJq4MlYazHQ-2DYhYr8ggu5HY8unkYWUYIw_" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="400" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Serious Strategizing...</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Although the consultation day is over, the
conversation hasn’t finished. You can join us on <a href="https://twitter.com/Science_Grrl" target="_blank">twitter</a>, send us an email, or fill
out our <a href="http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/5S855B8" target="_blank">survey</a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=4151041014365400836" name="QuickMark"></a>. We won’t stop wanting to talk about this
stuff for a very long time. </div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10105526130940252583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4151041014365400836.post-50921936115811327792012-12-10T11:46:00.003+00:002012-12-18T08:02:31.768+00:00A message from the Post Room<b>UPDATE: orders made with added first class delivery before 1500 on Wednesday 19th December will be sent out for delivery before 25th.</b><br />
<br />
In the words of Europa, it's the final countdown. With 15 days to Christmas, <a href="https://sciencegrrl.wufoo.com/forms/sciencegrrl-online-shop/" target="_blank">orders for ScienceGrrl</a> calendars, bags, badges and USB sticks are coming in thick and fast. Orders received by 2359 on Thursday 15th December should be with you before 25th. We're now also offering first class delivery in case you'd like to get your festive wrapping done in advance, or you need to send your order on to someone else.<br />
<br />
From next week we will also offer to send out your order by special delivery, which we can guarantee.<br />
<br />
As you can probably tell, it's a busy time at Crumble Towers with all this packing up and posting. And it wouldn't be done without the work of one amazing little helper: Loki the kitten.<br />
<br />
I hit upon the idea of using cat labour when I figured that felines don't need to be paid the minimum working wage. I could make my pet kitten Loki work all hours of the day and night and not have to pay him a penny! Genius, I thought. Here's Loki ready for the day ahead:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9M2rdbmjj1sWLxiKKlp918Ww3MzESVVfSutz1xkkELaiiPk6oFx-VQ9e7TQwb5Qpr527nLyzHTVjUIqQ8LWwMLK9XO7Nb7nmifDQeneyvT1ubQXb0igLTWzpPawFBNR0j_6Hhb8ADduT_/s1600/photo+%25286%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9M2rdbmjj1sWLxiKKlp918Ww3MzESVVfSutz1xkkELaiiPk6oFx-VQ9e7TQwb5Qpr527nLyzHTVjUIqQ8LWwMLK9XO7Nb7nmifDQeneyvT1ubQXb0igLTWzpPawFBNR0j_6Hhb8ADduT_/s320/photo+%25286%2529.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
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So first thing Loki does is to print off labels for the orders that have arrived since the last mailout. This takes quite a while, since operating a computer is pretty hard when you're a cat.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVmYv1lly0aZTnymCmEW38CjZzvspAE_ebdavDSLn0IMAWRfxjLZc-bZZ2fIJEBh42TZUXLpSzl8IaZ76ojsytRLiDCDU0QML821HYjFpbAbqXQC8FohIClGri0h-zQQ_n53GydvgaNmyu/s1600/photo+(4).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVmYv1lly0aZTnymCmEW38CjZzvspAE_ebdavDSLn0IMAWRfxjLZc-bZZ2fIJEBh42TZUXLpSzl8IaZ76ojsytRLiDCDU0QML821HYjFpbAbqXQC8FohIClGri0h-zQQ_n53GydvgaNmyu/s320/photo+(4).JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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Next, Loki will stuff the appropriate number of calendars and other goodies into our envelopes, taking extra care not to chew on them. Apparently just sniffing them is enough...</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLCAbVwWzMOjJA367_WL_fDiTSSWp1n58owbwjptWHYrQ65MJ9dGrM1EBPOP7etTAI8txDMkah9mY5-7IVeBPwXZsWw4430cjU4gsIre5Klz93_NC-3eGgfyiEngZh2oyYM1GYF_hTG5wA/s1600/photo+(2).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLCAbVwWzMOjJA367_WL_fDiTSSWp1n58owbwjptWHYrQ65MJ9dGrM1EBPOP7etTAI8txDMkah9mY5-7IVeBPwXZsWw4430cjU4gsIre5Klz93_NC-3eGgfyiEngZh2oyYM1GYF_hTG5wA/s320/photo+(2).JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
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To pass the time while envelope stuffing, Loki watches old TV programmes. His current favourite is Thundercats. Once all the envelopes are stuffed, and the labels stuck on, it's time to go down to the post office. Unfortunately, Loki isn't allowed outside because he's only 16 weeks old, so I have to do this bit.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuXb5qPF2ujqABL_3iojaHFwd89totzcirhcAcgES9nxiwoimXt9hjJen4IGyMKmJOW011CE4-oCLBCrpk9ESQcn1W3PMysqXqn-epbG_uhMYHH0XKtxRwfcyyL_AYHfQBtv7_bELxqqEL/s1600/photo+(5).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuXb5qPF2ujqABL_3iojaHFwd89totzcirhcAcgES9nxiwoimXt9hjJen4IGyMKmJOW011CE4-oCLBCrpk9ESQcn1W3PMysqXqn-epbG_uhMYHH0XKtxRwfcyyL_AYHfQBtv7_bELxqqEL/s320/photo+(5).JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="text-align: start;">At night Loki guards the calendars from would-be intruders, so that they're ready for the next mailout. Sometimes he falls asleep on top of them and I can hear him mumbling "I'll get you next time, Thor." Thor is the name of our next door neighbour's golden retriever.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEaT6iCQ990Gc5kPZixn8iu0ObeH7vcVoLXnZxw_AAjWZ1GMgM3NHBUVC4Prr5AjZ6hdbeb1IJO7T_wUln0pmwRXjZrlOQsDtIKM2pnvJyhJyQIrK-kkehIWS6hpRz0t__yKYGnLfRkXcD/s1600/photo+(3).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEaT6iCQ990Gc5kPZixn8iu0ObeH7vcVoLXnZxw_AAjWZ1GMgM3NHBUVC4Prr5AjZ6hdbeb1IJO7T_wUln0pmwRXjZrlOQsDtIKM2pnvJyhJyQIrK-kkehIWS6hpRz0t__yKYGnLfRkXcD/s320/photo+(3).JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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So remember: you still have plenty of time to <a href="https://sciencegrrl.wufoo.com/forms/sciencegrrl-online-shop/" target="_blank">order your ScienceGrrl goodie</a>s before Christmas. We have a first class delivery option that means even if you leave it to next week, you'll get your order before 25th.<br />
<br />
Festive greetings, everyone. Now, where's my mug of mulled wine gone?lulucrumblehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07449102379996325573noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4151041014365400836.post-40118498256264794522012-12-03T20:55:00.002+00:002012-12-03T20:55:31.190+00:00Hopefully, with the help of groups like ScienceGrrl, this can change<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Here's the second of our guest blogs from a female A-level science student, Becky Maggs. Thanks very much to her for her honesty - we're honoured that she's found ScienceGrrl an encouragement and inspiration.</div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
"There's a lot of pressure for everyone at A-levels. This isn't helped when you're the only girl in a class full of boys. I'm eighteen, and taking maths, chemistry and physics, and I'm writing about what it's like. </div>
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<br /></div>
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The reason I take these mainly male-dominated subjects is because I really enjoy them. And I mean really, like go to lectures outside school and tutor other students, like it. I think this is the one thing that kept me going where all my other female peers gave-up. I used to be in a 20-strong class, with 2 other girls. It's now gone down to half that size, with only one girl left. Me. I wouldn't say anyone was sexist as such, but I'm definitely treated differently than my male-counterparts.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
I get congratulated a lot by women I meet, expressing their surprise, and a well-meaning 'good luck', which is less than reassuring. What's even worse is when you hear this from people who've gone the same path as you, and who now work in unrelated areas. Like the school librarian for example. When taking out some school books, she said 'it's so nice to see a girl in science'. I made the compulsory noises and smiled. She then went on to tell me about how she did the same subjects. Some background on my librarian, she's a moody woman who goes around telling people of her past opportunities. This is not how I want to end up! What does she aim to do, provide a role model for me? </div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
I've also got to be a bit more careful about what say or do. I made a dirty joke the other day, and after a minute of silence, the whole class burst out laughing and the teacher said 'Trust the only girl in the class to bring the tone down'. Then the next lesson, when doing a class experiment, a peer gave me something to clean, and someone else, rather loudly remarked 'Have you actually just told the only girl in the class to do the cleaning up?'. Cue everyone turning round to gauge my reaction. This makes things difficult for me, as if I act too calmly about it, it will become routine, but if I over-react, I become the stressy girl. I just blushed and carried on. These are just examples of how things affect me, normally the physics class runs normally. </div>
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The main thing that gets me about these STEM subjects is that I know many girls who would do better than me in the subjects, and could easily be top of the class, and yet have chosen to do English and Humanities, where they haven't actually graded as well. The girls who do take these subjects often drop out early on, despite the fact that they are getting good grades. </div>
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Hopefully, with the help of groups like ScienceGrrl, this can change".</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11519479136983894353noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4151041014365400836.post-94720999615157632012-12-01T20:09:00.004+00:002012-12-02T22:15:11.043+00:00Mission Discovery & ScienceGrrl<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; text-align: justify;">We're very excited about the projects that we will be able to invest in using the proceeds from the sale of the ScienceGrrl calendar 2013. We currently have a consultation open to help guide what we should be doing, but have already committed to one particular project - we'll be funding a team of 6 (4 girls, 2 boys) from a school in Tower Hamlets to attend the Mission Discovery summer school at King's College next summer. One of the teachers at the school we are working with has described this as a 'once in a life-time opportunity'.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">I asked Mission Discovery to provide a blog outlining the wonderful experience that awaits these young people, and they kindly sent me this:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">"ScienceGrrl is to support a team of four girls and two boys at next year’s Mission Discovery
at one of the world’s top 30 universities, King’s College in
London. Mission Discovery will enable young people to work with and
be accompanied by former NASA astronaut and Space Shuttle Commander
Ken Ham, former Director of NASA’s Kennedy Space Centre Jay
Honeycutt, Lead NASA Astronaut Trainer Michelle Ham and a range of
NASA and biomedical scientists. The Mission Discovery programme is
organised by the International Space School Educational Trust.
(</span><span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="http://www.isset.org/"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">www.isset.org</span></a></u></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">During
the week-long programme, the young people will work in teams to come
up with an idea to be carried out in space. The best idea will be
selected, built by ISSET and launched to the International Space
Station (ISS). The winning experiment from last year’s programme is
an investigation on the effectiveness of antibiotics in space, which
will be carried out on the ISS in April and May 2013.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtmSvkvI30HzdoEepld7E8YzkOsrfDfcD_6Tq8hLLKWldpaPVHbtlUNpBspoYfxj_Bu9hoY1sHyjshv2xdDIHPHx59nnsIMaAk5EPwk9oWYq2Vltev5M77hIW_IK3xTZNT4R7NWXBUw7M/s1600/md1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtmSvkvI30HzdoEepld7E8YzkOsrfDfcD_6Tq8hLLKWldpaPVHbtlUNpBspoYfxj_Bu9hoY1sHyjshv2xdDIHPHx59nnsIMaAk5EPwk9oWYq2Vltev5M77hIW_IK3xTZNT4R7NWXBUw7M/s320/md1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Fantastic
role models: A Presentation from Lead NASA Astronaut Trainer,
Michelle Ham</i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">It is
great for us to support Mission Discovery as it allows young people
to develop a range of skills such as NASA leadership and team
building, how to be creative, encourages them to fulfil their dreams
and ambitions and teaches them how space exploration benefits the
earth. The programme also highlights the environment of space, the
experience of being in space, what makes a great experiment and much
more. The whole programme is orientated to inculcate the NASA “you
can do it” spirit.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Girls
have done remarkably well in the Mission Discovery programmes. The
winning team in last year’s programme included boys and girls from
Morpeth School in Tower Hamlets, Gumley House Convent School in
Middlesex and Hampton School, also in Middlesex. Whilst the top prize
at the first Mission Discovery at Imperial College in London went to
the all girl team pictured below.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimr7BhPWp_ASSo6-z00F_jeXr0ZaxEsbOK3KFCozFbPFPsblVR0C2IVBEbbC6VFHp-c9jZVCTsck_R3hj7LmftiptMi4-uYc-u5oY75F3ckmeg-dogGIUxe2k4wEwm24NivvaDYfRocN8/s1600/md2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimr7BhPWp_ASSo6-z00F_jeXr0ZaxEsbOK3KFCozFbPFPsblVR0C2IVBEbbC6VFHp-c9jZVCTsck_R3hj7LmftiptMi4-uYc-u5oY75F3ckmeg-dogGIUxe2k4wEwm24NivvaDYfRocN8/s320/md2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; text-align: justify;">The
programme has amazingly received 100% positive feedback. Here are
some of the comments we’ve received:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><u>Students:</u></span></div>
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“<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">It
was great to learn from all those experienced people, and it was a
nice surprise that our experiment won…thanks for an amazing
experience!!” Emily Yeomans</span></div>
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“<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Working
with all the experts was so inspirational and such a unique
experience - nothing else even comes close” </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Serena
Yuen, age 17</span></div>
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“<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">The
week was simply incredible, I learnt a lot whilst enjoying it at the
same time. Thank you to everyone involved.” </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Sara
Rasul, age 14</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><u><br /></u></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><u>Leaders:</u></span></div>
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“<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Mission
Discovery was, by far, the most comprehensive, interesting, and
educational endeavour I have been involved with.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Mike
McCulley - Former NASA Astronaut and President of United Space
Alliance.</span></div>
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“<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">I
really wish there had been a programme like this for me to attend
when I was in high school.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Michelle
Ham - NASA Lead Astronaut Trainer</span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11519479136983894353noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4151041014365400836.post-79303261824055298592012-11-26T00:41:00.003+00:002012-11-26T01:04:33.381+00:00All hail Suzi, Queen of Science BloggingHere at ScienceGrrl HQ, aka Crumble Towers, we would like to thank the <a href="http://goodthinkingsociety.org/" target="_blank">Good Thinking Society</a> and <a href="http://soho.skepticsinthepub.org/" target="_blank">Soho Skeptics</a> for awarding Suzi Gage on behalf of ScienceGrrl the joint-first place prize for people who can write good and do other good stuff too. ScienceGrrl is delighted that this award goes to our month of <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/sciencegrrl/8219386920/in/photostream/lightbox/" target="_blank">April</a>. Like Simon Cowell to Olly Murs, Alexandra Burke and that cute one who Cheryl Cole clearly fancied but was basically too old for it to not be weird, we feel we have nurtured Suzi to the point at which she was able to <a href="http://www.scilogs.com/sifting_the_evidence/" target="_blank">connect meaningfully</a> to her readership, make Ben Goldacre's favourite data analysis tool seem mildly interesting and use apostrophes correctly.<br />
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We we would like to thank our mums, dads, agents, the people who printed our awesome calendar, which you can buy <a href="https://sciencegrrl.wufoo.com/forms/sciencegrrl-online-shop/" target="_blank">here</a> at the lowlow price of just £12, the staff at Caledonian Road Post Office and producer Louise's pet cat Loki, who has a few words to say here:</div>
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cff\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]</div>
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To celebrate <strike>Suzi's</strike> our success, we are removing the cost of postage and packaging from our calendars for 12 hours only*. <a href="https://sciencegrrl.wufoo.com/forms/sciencegrrl-online-shop/" target="_blank">Shop</a> while it's hot!</div>
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/sciencegrrl/8219386920/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="April - the lone scientist by ScienceGrrl 2013, on Flickr"><img alt="April - the lone scientist" height="500" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8490/8219386920_a1a37e3efd.jpg" width="346" /></a></div>
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In all seriousness, huge congratulations to Suzi Gage, who is a PhD student at the University of Bristol and who has just been awarded joint first place in the first <a href="http://goodthinkingsociety.org/projects/science-blog-prize/" target="_blank">UK Science Blog Prize</a> for her blog '<a href="http://www.scilogs.com/sifting_the_evidence/" target="_blank">Sifting the Evidence</a>'. Suzi is our <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/sciencegrrl/8219386920/in/photostream/lightbox/" target="_blank">Miss April</a> and we are very proud of her. David Colquhoun was her co-winner. He is not in the ScienceGrrl calendar.</div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">*From 1200 to 2359 on Monday 26 November.</span></div>
lulucrumblehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07449102379996325573noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4151041014365400836.post-56841071596808173372012-11-16T20:11:00.001+00:002012-11-16T20:11:46.706+00:00"ScienceGrrl is just what I need"<br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt;">Over the last few weeks ScienceGrrl has been
fortunate to get a few e-mails from young women who have found out about us and
are encouraged in their love of science by what we are doing and how we are
doing it. This, in turn, encourages us a great deal - we are getting something
very right!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt;">One of the young women responsible for putting
a massive smile on my face is Laura Oxley, who has kindly agreed that we can
reproduce her e-mail here. I think it's inspirational in it's own right, not
just because it makes me feel a tiny bit smug.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10pt;">"I found an article about ScienceGrrl in The Observer and WOW! There's
other people who reacted as strongly as I did to the European Commission’s
"inclusion" programme...emphasis on the quotation marks around the
word inclusion!</span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 10pt;">I am an A2 student studying Physics, Chemistry and Biology. Science is number
one in my life as my younger sister frequently ridicules me for; It's been the
core to everything that fascinates me and motivates me since I was little
and I'm keen to pursue a career in scientific research.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 10pt;">Although there are many girls in my biology class, I am one of only two in a
highly testosterone-fuelled bunch of boys in physics, and one of 5 in
chemistry. It can be a real struggle to make yourself heard and to make people
see how dedicated you are to your passion when you're just a needle in a
haystack.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 10pt;">I'm not from an academic background, my Dad is a joiner and my Mum is a
secretary, my love for science is something I've developed by myself, along
with my work ethics, strong opinions and self esteem. It doesn't take much
more information about me to gauge my reaction to the EC film. Not only did I
feel like it was the EC stamping all over me and dampening my view of what it
is to be a young woman in science, I also found that although many people felt
the same, there were still a considerable number of girls my age who could not
care less! A Radio 1 Newsbeat report had a clip of a girl saying that she'd
dropped Physics as a subject because it was male-dominated and there wasn't
really anything in it to interest girls. I was left feeling personally
insulted. I'm a girl, I like clothes and shoes and chocolate and all those ‘girl’
things...I just also happen to like ecology, evolution, biomechanics,
neuroscience, getting my hands dirty and sitting down with a calculator to
tackle some killer maths as well. I'm applying to do Neuroscience, Biology
and Physiological Science degrees.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 10pt;">Thankyou for voicing my thoughts so well. ScienceGrrl is just what I need!"</span></div>
<o:p></o:p></span><br />
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11519479136983894353noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4151041014365400836.post-70431480354065480712012-11-10T20:55:00.003+00:002012-11-10T20:55:35.407+00:00Moving forward together<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Here at ScienceGrrl things have got off to a great start - in under 4 months, we've produced a beautiful 2013 calendar, which is now available here at our</span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> </span><a avglsprocessed="1" href="https://sciencegrrl.wufoo.com/forms/sciencegrrl-online-shop/" style="color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;" target="_blank">shop</a><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">, the Science Museum in London and - very soon - at the MOSI shop in Manchester.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">As we've undertaken this project, we've gathered together a lively network of people passionate about encouraging more girls and young women to engage with science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) and supporting women in STEM careers. Nearly every day I receive e-mails from people who like what ScienceGrrl are doing and what we stand for, and want to get involved.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">We want to make sure that this great start is translated into long term and sustained impact, and as such are beginning to develop an strategy which outlines what we will get up to in 2013 and beyond.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">We want to hear what you think. What is our role, what makes ScienceGrrl different, and how we can we make the most difference? Please join in our short consultation survey and take a moment to answer a few questions <a href="http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/5S855B8" target="_blank">here</a>.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Your input will help inform our decision-making and is really valuable. If you're involved in a similar project, we'd particularly like to hear how we can partner with you and strengthen the good work that is already being done.<u></u></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">We're also holding consultation events in Manchester on the 17th of November and in London on Saturday the 24th of November to discuss our future direction. If you'd like to attend either of those, please e-mail us via our website,<a href="http://www.sciencegrrl.co.uk/#/contact/4566816457"> here</a>.</span></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11519479136983894353noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4151041014365400836.post-52882295830712706812012-11-08T21:34:00.000+00:002012-11-08T21:41:39.178+00:00Opening the gate to the road less taken<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I may be slightly biassed, being married to a teacher, but I think they get a pretty rough time of it. Most teachers work hard during term-time (and a fair bit of their 'holidays' too), often doing a demanding job under less than optimal conditions. And when anything goes wrong in society, you can bet there will be someone pointing the finger at the teachers who didn't correct 'it' whilst the individual responsible was at school.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Even the recent IoP report on the number of girls doing Physics (<a href="http://www.iop.org/education/teacher/support/girls_physics/page_41593.html">It's Different for Girls</a>) was reported in a way that blamed teachers for imposing their gender stereotypes on young women and holding them back. Whilst a <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/blog/2012/oct/05/girls-physics-a-level">certain interview on the Radio4 Today</a> programme leant some weight to this hypothesis, I think it only tells half the story.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I would hazard a guess that most of us who use science in our work were, at some point, inspired by a teacher who showed us that science was interesting, exciting, useful, and perhaps most importantly, for us. We should remember these individuals and celebrate them - be grateful for them and make sure they know it. Heaven knows, they don't get thanked enough.</span><br />
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A few weeks ago I came across the story of a particularly inspirational science teacher, courtesy of <span style="background-color: white;">Dr. Carol I. H. Ashby, a materials scientist at Sandia National Laboratories in </span><u style="background-color: white;"></u><u style="background-color: white;"></u><span style="background-color: white;">Albuquerque</span><u style="background-color: white;"></u><span style="background-color: white;">, </span><u style="background-color: white;"></u><span style="background-color: white;">NM</span><u style="background-color: white;"></u><u style="background-color: white;"></u><span style="background-color: white;">. I asked her to write a guest blog to introduce us to him - Mr Pentzer.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US">"Why do we choose a particular path in life? What causes us to take on the challenge of a road less taken? Sometimes one person can have a defining impact on the future course of our lives. Frank Arthur Pentzer was one of those people for me. With a single answer to a question, Mr. Pentzer launched me toward a career in chemistry at a time when women seldom went into careers that were not “traditional” women’s work.<u></u><u></u></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US">In 1971, when I was a senior in high school in <u></u><u></u>Lewiston<u></u>, <u></u>Idaho<u></u><u></u>, Mr. Pentzer was the head of the science department. It was a big school with several hundred students in each grade and a separate science building that opened my senior year. Mr. Pentzer taught me physics and second-year chemistry, but he also taught the required “slow biology” class for the kids who didn’t do very well in school. He designed a hands-on course with lots of microscope work and lab projects that taught the concepts without using textbooks that were too difficult for some of the kids. That was typical of Mr. Pentzer, a man who loved teaching all the kids, both top and bottom of the class academically.<u></u><u></u></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US">He didn’t need to teach; he used to tell us that he really made his living raising barley on the family homestead near <u></u>Winchester<u></u> (about 20 miles south of <u></u><u></u>Lewiston<u></u><u></u>). <u></u><u></u>Winchester<u></u><u></u> was small, probably fewer than 200 people when he was growing up, but Mr. Pentzer had been able to study physics there in high school in the 1940’s. His teacher was a woman who was also a pilot working as a crop duster. She was asked to teach physics because the school board thought a pilot must know enough physics to be able to teach high-school kids. Maybe that had something to do with his attitude toward women and science. Maybe it was because he was descended from homesteaders who carved a farm out of the American wilderness. American pioneer women were strong, determined, and resourceful or they did not survive. Women and men labored side by side clearing and farming the land, tending livestock, and working as true partners to grow their families and prosper. His grandmother would have been one of them. Whatever the cause, he was a man who encouraged everybody to strive for their best.<u></u><u></u></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US">I loved physics and especially chemistry, but a woman going into science (other than as a teacher) was a rare occurrence. I didn’t know any female scientists. I wasn’t sure that a career in science was something that I ought to consider, so one day I asked Mr. Pentzer if he thought it was ok for a woman like me to go into science. His simple reply was “of course.” With permission from one of the people I respected most, I decided to become a chemist. If he had discouraged me, I would have selected another direction for my life.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US">A few years after I got my Ph.D. in chemistry and had been thoroughly enjoying my career in research, I wrote him to tell him what a defining effect his encouragement had worked in my life and to thank him. He replied very quickly, thanking me for remembering him and telling me how much he had enjoyed teaching me and how happy he was that I had found a scientific career to be the source of such satisfaction. <u></u><u></u></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US">I am so glad that I took time to say thank you to the man who opened the door to my future. I hope that someday someone will look back and remember me as one of the people who encouraged them to reach for their dreams. I hope that I will be Mr. Pentzer to someone else, passing on his gift of encouragement to embrace the possibilities."</span></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11519479136983894353noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4151041014365400836.post-81029484984135392122012-11-05T19:52:00.000+00:002012-11-05T20:03:57.196+00:00Where in the world is ScienceGrrl?hey, producer Louise here. i've been going through our orders to date and looking at where we'll be sending the calendar - so far we're in four continents! could we get into all seven? you decide...<br />
<br />
i made a map to show you, because i'm a spreadsheet nerd - it's made using a Google Fusion table. i think it's pretty neat. hope you do too.<br />
Louise<br />
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<iframe width="550" height="330" scrolling="no" frameborder="no" src="https://www.google.com/fusiontables/embedviz?viz=MAP&q=select+col2+from+1nAjGYrh30arSzs2-fYmFKOKxZ02gh2WmTb0iWMg&h=false&lat=52.317511621430626&lng=-1.2583779999999933&z=1&t=1&l=col2&y=-1&tmplt=-1"></iframe>lulucrumblehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07449102379996325573noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4151041014365400836.post-33591769771971015252012-11-03T19:28:00.000+00:002012-11-03T19:28:41.427+00:00What's Mo Name?ScienceGrrl is supporting Team <a href="http://uk.movember.com/mospace/4196409" target="_blank">Mos For Science!</a> in their bid to turn their upper lips into luxurious forests of manly growth, the likes of which seen only on Ron Burgundy and our lovely photographer, <a href="http://www.gregfunnell.com/bio" target="_blank">Greg Funnell</a>. The team includes our <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/sciencegrrl/8127960510/" target="_blank">Mr March</a>, Adam Rutherford, whose <a href="http://static.movember.com/uploads/2011/profiles/61d/c7f/61dc7f96a52ae61b191afe5904ac6954-5093eb1ddd8fc.jpg" target="_blank">day two</a> stubble is impressive, most impressive.<br />
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Please donate to the team and help raise money for prostate cancer research, awareness, education and "survivorship".<br />
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To get you in the mood, have a go at the quiz below, created by our producer Louise for the Science Question Time Christmas quiz last year. Can you guess the scientist from his moustache? Email your answers to <a href="mailto:louise@sciencegrrl.co.uk">louise@sciencegrrl.co.uk</a>. The person (or people) with the highest number of correct answers will win a ScienceGrrl bag. And if we're particularly tickled by your answers, we might award you a special ScienceGrrl badge.<br />
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<br />lulucrumblehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07449102379996325573noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4151041014365400836.post-80559816539097622592012-10-20T16:54:00.002+01:002012-10-20T21:49:18.983+01:00SCIENCE GRRL IS GO!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="ScienceGrrl calendars at the launch party" height="314px;" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/dGol72bNHjWyYu8ToLzjPvfF1cbXZ2BcYq1bJuGXaznc0PMdRLixbpj-lKS1iSk3CqQulDniX3UbAc-5yKdu6p2VEvPN-CtSYkqXw41YWUxwMFP3mGE" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="ScienceGrrl calendars at the launch party" width="525px;" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: x-small;">Photograph by Suzi Gage</span></td></tr>
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<b id="internal-source-marker_0.6506481869146228" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Barely three months after the idea was conceived, the calendar is a physical entity. And to launch it, a group of glammed up calendar stars, press types and various others convened on Thursday 18th October at the Smith Centre, part of the Science Museum.</span></b><br />
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<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">My day started when I met ScienceGrrl director Heather Williams and Ellie Cosgrave at calendar producer Louise Crane’s house (aka “Crumble Towers” after her Twitter handle, @lulucrumble). Ellie and I are both production assistants, and have helped Louise out with numerous little tasks from organising photo shoot venues to ordering envelopes. </span></b><br />
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I arrived around 4pm, and the flat was a hive of activity. There were boxes of calendars that had just arrived, bags, business cards... and biscuits. These FABULOUS cookies were designed by @quirkycookies (real name Wendy Staples!) who was also at Crumble Towers along with her husband and daughter. To top it off, Louise’s family were there too, all squashed into her one-bedroom flat. Her poor seven-week-old kitten Loki didn’t know what to make of it all - though I suspect he probably thought we were all there to see him.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We set about glamming ourselves up whilst stuffing the goody bags with treats, and before long we were in taxis heading to the Smith Centre.</span></b><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="Science biscuits made by Quirky Cookies for the ScienceGrrl Calendar launch party" height="294px;" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/VvLoqU6IRxQYQ0lv12elsNHBxT7G3pUFUx7gUcKKAD4aTOVSS3RNRYY0c6ja0DpwjGQaf3bHLZGJZxiN5fguD_EMGwPFOIxFAUWdkyGyPG_fkfe7YP8" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Science biscuits made by Quirky Cookies for the ScienceGrrl Calendar launch party" width="492px;" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b style="font-size: x-small; font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Calibri; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Photo by Suzi Gage; biscuits by Wendy Staples at </span></b><a href="http://quirkycookiescakes.wordpress.com/" style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: Calbiri, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;" target="_blank">http://quirkycookiescakes.wordpress.com/</a></td></tr>
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<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We arrived to an excellent room, full of all sorts of scientific curios, and the bar was already set up. We had barely finished laying out the calendars when the crowds started amassing. It was great fun standing by the calendars, and watching people come over and look at the pictures. As they flicked through the months, I often heard, ‘ooh this is a great picture, OH I like this one, oooh, this one’s even better’. Julie Gould did exceptional work manning the stall, thanks Julie! </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><Ed: special thanks also to you Suzi! or should I say, Disco Bambi!></span></b><br />
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Lizzie Quill was our “go to” at the Science Museum. She laid on a great evening, with plenty of space to mingle, and with drinks and conversation flowing. Thanks should also go to Science Grrl’s party organiser Jon Wood who I don’t think I saw stand still the whole night!</span></b><br />
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But the stars of the show (apart from the calendars themselves) were Heather and Louise. Both had put in SO MUCH work, and to see them turn around a professional, beautiful calendar in such a short time was astounding, I feel really lucky to have been a part of it! Their speeches were excellent, their enthusiasm came across, which explains why they were able to put in such a superhuman effort. There were flowers and gifts for them, as well as gifts for myself and Ellie. I got MRSA - the cuddly microbe that is... Ellie, an engineer, received an amoeba that Louise insists looks like the Eiffel Tower...</span></b><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmXJS55O0D97bAGlOifEI-eeGeUgzg47nwrG1O9jGulDL4gm0woVtc47UmFxb60tI9yTbotCuW-EVB1HI_jZMuvyy1l1aq_CZrCRg97u3DBR6L-BV1PVS3iR4MyF9uDBZrRgtYZNAo9Kc/s1600/Science+Grrl+Launch092.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Heather Williams, Louise Crane and Lucy Harper at the ScienceGrrl Calendar launch party" border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmXJS55O0D97bAGlOifEI-eeGeUgzg47nwrG1O9jGulDL4gm0woVtc47UmFxb60tI9yTbotCuW-EVB1HI_jZMuvyy1l1aq_CZrCRg97u3DBR6L-BV1PVS3iR4MyF9uDBZrRgtYZNAo9Kc/s320/Science+Grrl+Launch092.jpg" title="Heather Williams, Louise Crane and Lucy Harper at the ScienceGrrl Calendar launch party" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b style="font-size: x-small; font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Calibri; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Photograph by Della Thomas </span></b><a href="http://dellaesquephotography.com/" style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;" target="_blank">http://dellaesquephotography.<wbr></wbr>com/</a></td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">A special mention should also go to the fabulous Mrs Crane, otherwise known as Louise’s Mum. She was surely the oldest person at the party (at age 66) and indeed wearing an original 1980s dress that is likely older than many of the people at the party! Louise made me write this, because she says that without her Mum, she </span></span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">wouldn't</span></span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"> be here in the first place to have made the calendar.</span></span></span><br />
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">After the speeches my memory gets a little hazy - I remember a lot of giggling, chatting with some lovely people, and (a personal highlight) singing in Welsh with Gareth Jones! Sadly when the time came for the karaoke after-party, I bailed and retreated home. But by all accounts the night continued in to the wee small hours.</span></b><br />
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Now that the launch is over, I’m back to Crumble Towers today to begin posting out the ordered calendars. So if you’ve pre-ordered, start to watch your postbox! If you haven’t bought your calendar yet (and you really should) please go here: </span><a href="https://sciencegrrl.wufoo.com/forms/sciencegrrl-online-shop/"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">https://sciencegrrl.wufoo.com/forms/sciencegrrl-online-shop/.</span></a></b></b>soozaphonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08482807373080520092noreply@blogger.com0