Twelve women will receive awards today, International Women’s Day 2017, to recognise their scientific achievements and ability to inspire others.
Each has been nominated to “inherit” a piece of jewellery, designed and created by students at Central St Martins-UAL college of art and design. The MRC London Institute of Medical Sciences (MRC LMS) initiated the awards scheme, known as Suffrage Science, in 2011.
Today’s ceremony, hosted by science communicator Kat Arney, will take place at the Royal Society in London. It will include a discussion, “Science Without Borders”, which will explore boundaries in science, be those by gender, by nationality or by scientific discipline, with three panellists: Professor Sheila Rowan, Chief Scientific Adviser for Scotland, Dr Tamsin Edwards, climate scientist and current award holder and Dr Nathalie Pettorelli, founder of Soapbox Science.
Today’s winners will receive jewellery pieces that were given to the generation of women before them, in 2015. The winners will keep the piece for the next two years, then choose their own nominee to whom they will pass it on. The aim is to create a network of connected women that helps to inspire others to enter science, and to stay.
The evening will also include a short film about the launch late last year of a new section of the Suffrage Science scheme, to recognise women in Maths and Computing. The new group joins existing groups for women in Life Sciences and women in Engineering and Physical Sciences, whose handover ceremony is today. The launch of the Maths and Computing group took place at Bletchley Park in October 2016 on Ada Lovelace Day, and was captured by filmmaker Kirsten von Glasow.
At today’s ceremony, Professor Marta Kwiatkowska from the University of Oxford and Professor Emma McCoy of Imperial College London will also receive awards in recognition of their help and guidance in the formation of the Maths and Computing group. The evening will conclude with a short talk from Ellen Harrison of Historic England about their initiative to raise the profile of the hidden stories and histories of female scientific endeavour through their Enriching the List project.
The 2017 award recipients are:
Prof Lyndsay Fletcher
Dr Sarah Staniland
Dr Rylie Green
Prof Kerstin Meints
Prof Sheila Rowan
Prof Cathy Holt
Dr Sabine Gabrysch
Dr Marta Vicente-Crespo
Prof Marileen Dogterom
Prof Sheila MacNeil
Dr Zohreh Azimifar
Prof Sharon Ashbrook
The 2015 award holders were:
Prof Lucie Green
Dr Lorna Dougan
Dr Anne Vanhoestenberghe
Prof Susan Condor
Prof Anne Neville
Prof Ruth Wilcox
Dr Anna Goodman
Dr Silvia Munoz-Descalzo
Dr Patricia Bassereau
Prof Alicia El Haj
Dr Tamsin Edwards
Prof Polly Arnold
This article was originally published here.