Category Archives: Diversity

07Jul/23

SEPnet/ WRIPA Joint workshop

Diversity, SEPnet, Uncategorized

Creating an inclusive physics curriculum – Thursday 6 July 2023 University of Nottingham

SEPnet and WRIPA hosted a successful meeting to explore how university physics departments can embed EDI across the curriculum and departmental culture to support an inclusive student learning experience and equitable graduate outcomes. Prof Helen Gleeson OBE, opened the workshop outlining personal professional initiatives and the IOP’s projects. Professor Philip Moriarty closed the workshop with a dynamic thought proving update on the benefits and challenges of ChatGPT. The event was attended by over 55 representatives from over 30 UK institutions. 

For more information about the talks follow this link. 

 

Recordings to the talks can be found below

Programme

Chair’s Introduction with Prof Sir William Wakeham and a 2022 event update with Prof Jacob Dunningham

Part 2

Encouraging diversity and facilitating inclusion in physics – a personal and professional perspective, Prof Helen Gleeson OBE, Cavendish Professor of Physics in the School of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Leeds

How to aim towards an inclusive curriculum, Piers Wilkinson, Policy and Campaigns Lead, Inclusive Education Team, Diversity and Ability

Part 3

SEPNet neurodiverse summer placement programme – lessons learnt and impact, Claire Hepwood, Director of Employer Liaison South East Physics Network

How scared should we be about ChatGPT, Prof Philip Moriarty, School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Nottingham

27Apr/23

SEPnet Diversity Workshop – Embedding diversity into the curriculum

conference, Diversity, SEPnet, Uncategorized

Academics, EDI champions and PGRs gathered at SEPnet’s recent annual diversity workshop hosted by Royal Holloway University of London, to share experiences and discuss challenges in embedding diversity into the curriculum. Tinashe Verhaeghe, Equality Charter at Advance HE, explained the five race equality principles that underpin the charter. Researcher Annie Lennox shared results of their study on diversity within Space Science naming conventions maintained by the IAU. Olivia Keenan and Perl John described what is meant by decolonising the curriculum and how we are approaching decolonising across SEPnet. 

Helen Gleeson OBE, Cavendish Professor of Physics, University of Leeds, Institute of Physics advisor to Council for Inclusion and Diversity, provided a personal and professional perspective on encouraging diversity and facilitating inclusion in Physics, her role in providing advice and challenging Council and the IOP more widely on inclusion and diversity issues and details of the new Inclusion Model. Professor Laura Sjoberg, Head of Politics, International Relations and Philosophy at Royal Holloway, University of London provided an insight into Substantive, and Representational Diversity, the importance of offering alternative problem-solving techniques and attention to questions of epistemology that underlie traditional techniques, irrespective of their gender, ethnicity or social economic background.

To find out full details of the event click here.

06Dec/22

Neurodiversity Training Workshop

Diversity, Employer Engagement, internship, Training, , ,

December 6th University of Surrey.

Employability Advisors and academics from across the SEPnet consortium meet to discuss and  identify barriers and enablers in accessing the SEPnet summer placement scheme for all students, irrespective of background and neurological personalities. This training was facilitated by AbiltyNet and will provide the basis for further employer, student and advisor training. 

13Mar/19

Enfield Council International Women’s Day Conference

Diversity

Friday 8th March was International Women’s Day, a day where we celebrate the achievements of women and highlight the barriers which still exist to achieving gender equality. Our Director of Outreach and Public Engagement, Dr Olivia Keenan, was invited to speak at the International Women’s Day Conference organised by Enfield council on the subject of Women in Physics. Olivia used the opportunity to highlight the problems we have in physics around gender equality and to highlight some programmes and schemes working to counter this.

Only around 20% of A-level physics students are currently female, in spite of the fact that all genders perform equally well at GCSE level (IOP ‘Why not Physics?’ report, 2018). Similarly, around 20% of Physics undergraduates and postdoctoral students are female. However, in academia it gets worse as women progress to more senior positions, with only 11% of Physics professors in the UK being women (IOP ‘Academic Staff in UK Physics Departments’, 2017). These figures get even worse when we look at the ethnicity of physics academic staff. Overall, for all genders, 94.2% of UK national academic staff in physics are white, 2.4% are Asian, 1.5% are Chinese and 0.1% are black (IOP ‘Academic Staff in UK Higher Education Institutions, 2012). All women face significant barriers in physics academia, with non-white women being currently barely represented at all.

The picture is similar when we look at industry. WISE’s 2018 Workforce Statistics show that currently only 22% of the core STEM workforce are women. For engineering, a career route particularly relevant for those with physics degrees, this proportion falls to 12%.

The good news is that multiple organisations are working on programmes to help turn the tide, and increase the gender diversity in physics. In 2013 the IOP published the report Closing Doors which explores gender and subject choices at school across six subjects. It found that nearly half of schools were making the gender imbalance worse, however in schools that were sending more girls to do A-level physics the gender imbalance was also smaller in other subjects. This was followed by the Opening Doors report in 2015. It highlighted the issues schools deal with when it comes to gender balance and makes recommendations on how schools can address gender balance. These recommendations include appointing gender champions on senior leadership teams, ensuring that sexist language is unacceptable and presenting all subjects equally to students in terms of relative difficulty.

University College London is leading the ASPIRES/ ASPIRES 2 project, which is a longitudinal study of young people’s science and career aspirations from ages 10-19. They have coined the term science capital, which is a measure of how likely someone is to see science as for them. Science capital can be influenced by multiple factors including whether there is a scientist in the family, if science is discussed in the home and whether someone has visited science spaces outside of formal education. They also find that girls pursuing the physical sciences post-16 are ‘exceptional’ in many ways, including having high science capital and tailoring their performances of femininity when in a science environment.

SEPnet piloted the Shattering Stereotypes project in the academic year 2016/17 with the aim of determining the best role physics Outreach Officers can play in tackling and improving the gender stereotyping problem in schools. Workshops were held with year 8 students around understanding and countering the stereotypical perceptions of gender, with year 12s involved in leadership roles. This was evaluated and is now running in schools during the 2018/19 academic year. Shattering stereotypes incorporates the People Like Me quiz developed by WISE which highlights scientific careers routes to girls based on the traits and skills which they identify with.

The strong message from all of the research and projects happening around gender and physics show that there are many issues compounding to mean fewer girls go on to take physics. Science capital is a key theme, with the need to work towards increasing science capital being paramount. Another common negative factor is the use of gender stereotyping and gendered language in our society. We need to work on ways to counter these problems to help lower the barriers to more girls and women identifying with, and participating in, the physical sciences.

05Jul/18

SEPnet celebrates #LGBTSTEMDay

Diversity

SEPnet is proud to celebrate #LGBTSTEMDay as it continues to showcase and celebrate diversity in physics. 

Together with LGBT STEM SEPnet is launching a set of Case Studies showcasing researchers, professional services staff, students past and present from across the SEPnet partners.

These profiles show the range of experiences for LGBT+ folk in physics. Have an explore and see if your experiences are similar to theirs.

You can download them all as a pdf files here.

SEPnet will continue to support their LGBT+ researchers as part of their new embedded approach to diversity across all the SEPnet programmes.

The Outreach & Public Engagement team, together with the University of Sussex, will be running a science stall at Preston Park during Brighton Pride, building on the success in 2016. There will be plenty of opportunity to try out some hands-on physics and talk to some of our amazing LGBT+ folk from across SEPnet about their research.

Dr Dominic Galliano, Director of Outreach & Public Engagement for SEPnet will also be helping organise 2019’s LGBT STEMinar, which is taking place in London. He says: “It is important to work in both directions, not only to showcase the experiences of the LGBT+ community in STEM, but to take STEM to LGBT+ spaces across the region”.

If you are LGBT+ and working in the physical sciences, SEPnet strongly encourages you to join the IOP / RSC / RAS LGBT+ network to stay up to date with the latest news, opportunities from across the country.

04Jun/18

SEPnet looking for Case Studies for LGBTSTEM Day

Diversity

Here at SEPnet we continue to celebrate and embrace diversity across physics. We also want to continue to support initiatives the aim to raise awareness, such as the upcoming LGBTSTEM Day on Thursday 5 July. This day will help raise awareness of LGBT+ people in STEM subjects.

SEPnet has partnered with LGBTSTEM to showcase LGBT+ people working across all our physics departments through a series of case studies that will be featured on both the SEPnet and LGBTSTEM website. We are looking for LGBT+ people who want to share their stories through a very short questionnaire. If you are interested in adding your story, please complete the questionnaire and return to d.galliano@qmul.ac.uk, together with a photograph of yourself looking your very best, either in the lab or out and about!

Deadline for questionnaires is 17:00 on Friday 29 June. The case studies will launch on LGBTSTEM Day. On the day, feel free to join the celebrations across the UK & Ireland and join the conversation on Twitter with #LGBTSTEMDay.

08Mar/18

SEPnet celebrates Women’s International Day!

Diversity

SEPnet continues to celebrate the achievements of female physicists and encourage young women to pursue careers with physics through its outreach and employability programmes.

While only 20% of physics students are female, 30% of students attending SEPnet and GRADnet events are female and 40% of summer placements are secured by female physics students. Role models and case studies are important sources of inspiration and you can read about some of our successful alumni and placement students on our website.

All SEPnet partners are signed up to Project Juno and Athena SWAN to support gender equality and women’s career progression with 3 partners achieving Champion status to date. SEPnet partners share good practice through SEPnet’s diversity workshops and E&D Champions LinkedIn group. SEPnet and IOP’s successful joint careers panel for female physicists has led to the creation of the SEPnet Careers Forum for Female Physicists, a supportive group, where students and female physicists in business and academia can share issues related to women’s progression in the workplace.

Through its Outreach & Public Engagement programme, SEPnet continues to explore innovative projects that tackle Gender Stereotyping in Schools. The results of our pilot project, Shattering Stereotypes, are available on our website, including twelve recommendations for other physics departments who are looking to run similar projects. SEPnet will be using this learning to run the project in the 2018 / 19 academic year. If your school is interested please do get in touch with the outreach and public engagement team.

16Feb/18

SEPnet launches Shattering Stereotypes Evaluation Report

Diversity, Outreach

During the 2016/17 academic year, SEPnet Outreach & Public Engagement has been piloting a project determining the best role Physics Outreach Officers can play in tackling and improving the gender stereotyping problem in schools.

This was the first SEPnet-wide project which involved building a direct partnership with a set of schools to deliver a programme of activity over an academic year. The pilot was a first step, so the priority for the evaluation was on logistics over impact of the project, though both were considered. The evaluation was carried out by Elizabeth Jeavans and Sarah Jenkins. The full report can be found here.

Overall the project delivered a programme which led to positive experiences across all stakeholders:

  • Year 8 Students – following their involvement in Shattering Stereotypes, they now view future opportunities as not being constrained by stereotypical perceptions of gender.
  • Year 12 Students – developed transferable leadership and communication skills through their participation in the communications challenge.
  • Teachers – valued external visits and having resources from universities.
  • Schools – In some schools, the pilot project raised awareness of gender stereotyping across their entire schools
  • Outreach Officers – welcomed the opportunity provided by the project to work as part of a team and to be involved in building up a relationship with schools, as opposed to one-off activities.

This gives the project a fantastic base to evolve and grow from in future years. However the project did highlight some areas where further development is needed. Most of these were themed around the following areas:

  • Message. Throughout the project there was some confusion about whether primary purpose of Shattering Stereotypes was to address/ reduce gender stereotyping or to equalise the gender balance in physics through greater understanding of physics career opportunities.

    This was the tension the project team struggled with from the development of the project. The idea was to address / reduce gender stereotyping, but the strength of SEPnet’s experiences in School’s Outreach shifted this towards equalising the gender balance in physics, especially in the earlier workshops.
  • Logistics and Partnership. Throughout the project there were some logistical challengers in booking the Shattering Stereotypes activities. There was also a lack of connectivity across the activities and support between said activities.

    This was due to its nature as a pilot project. It was the first time SEPnet has both worked in the realm of Gender Stereotyping and in the format of delivering activity throughout the year. This together with the large workloads and busy environments in schools led to some workshops being missed at some schools and a lot of last minute work being carried out by Officers and Teachers.

A summary of experiences and outcomes, along with opportunities from development can be found here.

The report also issued a list of twelve recommendations, all of which we taking into account as we develop the project for the 2018/19 Academic Year.

The project team would like to give a massive thanks to all the teachers who partnered with us on the pilot project. Their input and time has been invaluable and has a great impact in how we continue to develop and deliver this project, and many others across SEPnet Outreach.

The project team would also like to thank:

  • Elizabeth and Sarah for their contribution and insights throughout the process.
  • All the physics role models from activity two, who took time from their busy schedules to attend events.
  • The Year 12 students who took part, most of whom are currently in the process of applying for University. The team wishes them good luck in your future careers.
  • All the Year 8 students who participated in the pilot project. Their enthusiasm for the subject matter was apparent from day one of the project. They constantly surprised us, challenged us and pushed us to do better. The team hopes they all remain staunch champions and continue to challenge gender stereotyping wherever they see it.

The schools who participated in the pilot project where:

SEPnet will be running the project through the 2018/2019 academic year.

If your school is interested in joining the project as a partner, please e-mail the Director of Outreach & Public Engagement outreach@sepnet.ac.uk. At the moment SEPnet is looking for state-funded, mixed-gender schools for this project.

Further details on the project will be available in Mid-March 2018.

08Mar/17

SEPnet Outreach highlights the importance of Shattering Stereotypes on International Women’s Day.

Diversity, Outreach, ,

This International Women’s Day, SEPnet Outreach is launching their Shattering Stereotypes Careers Evenings and Physics Graduate Case Studies resources. Across our Shattering Stereotypes Schools we will be holding networking sessions between Year 8 students, their parents and a variety of physics graduates of all genders who have gone to have amazing careers in business, industry and other sectors showing the breadth of opportunities available to them.

Students will be encouraged to look beyond gender and pick graduates they would like to network with based on their and the graduates Type of Scientist (previously developed for SEPnet / WISE’s People Like Me resource).

The evenings will also have a short talk highlighting the issues of Gender Stereotyping and Unconscious Bias. Gender Stereotyping in an issue which affects people of all genders at school. It has an influence on subject choices at GCSEs, which leads to fewer girls taking A-Level physics and therefore also at university. Additionally it affects boys taking up other subjects seen as more traditional girl subjects such as English and psychology. (See Closing Doors / Opening Doors reports by IOP).

If you would like to use these graduates as Case Studies in your own classroom or outreach activities, you can download the set here. The physics graduates in this set span gender, ethnicity, sexuality, career type and type of scientist. They have been developed to showcase the sheer variety of opportunities physics can open up. This could help embed STEM careers in science lessons, break the science = scientist link and help build science capital with students and their parents. (See Aspires Report)

If you studied physics at university and would like to take part in the project, please sign up here. If you can’t make one of our events, we are looking to expand the set of Case Studies and especially include graduates who identify as female and are also from an ethnic minority, so that we can explore issues around intersectionality in future workshops.

The Shattering Stereotypes pilot project is investigating how the SEPnet Outreach can help raise awareness of Gender Stereotyping in schools. The pilot project is taking place across five schools:

An evaluation report will be made available towards the end of 2017.

If you would like more information on the project, please do get in touch.