EMBO Women in Science

Related links WiSETI - The University of Cambridge Women in Science, Engineering and Technology Initiative AWiSE - The Association for Women in Science and Engineering UK assets: 6,500 plus UK scientists can’t be wrong- the Athena surveys The ETAN report FEBS/EMBO Women in Science Award 2008

EMBO/ FEBS :: Session on women in science at the annual FEBS Congress 2006

EMBO is collaborating with the Women in Science (WISE) committee of FEBS. Both groups co-organize sessions on women in science at the annual FEBS Congress.

FEBS 2006 Congress, Istanbul

26 June 2005, 17:00 – 19:00
EMBO/FEBS workshop on women in science
The UK Athena Project: The way forward

Nancy Lane, Professor of Biology at Cambridge University, chair of the Athena Project and director of the Cambridge WiSETI initiative will talk about the UK Athena Project. The project was established in 1999 with the aim to promote the advancement of the careers of women in science, engineering and technology (SET) in higher education and research to achieve a significant increase in the number of women recruited to top posts. The Athena project has worked with a number of universities in order to promote the establishment and implementation of good practice.

In 2005 Athena published a survey of over 6500 UK scientists (ASSET). The scientists were asked about their career pathways, roles beyond teaching and research and ambitions. The findings suggest that heads of departments and senior scientists need to do more to encourage and support women in their departments so that they can reach their full potential.
In 2006 the project has launched a recognition scheme that aims to assist the recruitment, retention and progression of women in SET.

The presentation will be followed by a discussion session.

FEBS 2005 Congress, Budapest

6 July 2005, 12:30 – 15:00
EMBO/FEBS workshop on women in science
Creating Awareness: Lessons from the MIT study

Nancy Hopkins, Professor of Biology at the MIT, gave a talk on Women Faculty in Science and Engineering at MIT. Prof. Hopkins reported on a study showing that tenured women faculty received smaller resources in terms of salary, research space and budgets and had less access to important committees then their male counterparts.

Prof. Hopkins’ talk was followed by a panel discussion session chaired by Mary Osborn (Professor of Biochemistry at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Goettingen). Prof. Osborn was the chairperson of the group that wrote the ETAN report, a seminal report that for the first time gave an overview of the situation of women in science in Europe.

Panel members:

Prof. Giulio Superti-Furga, Scientific Director of the CEMM in Vienna, Austria

Prof Joan Guinevart, Joan Giunevart, Director of the Institute of Biomedical Research in Barcelona

Dora Groo, Director of the Technology Transfer in Hungary and member of the ENWISE group

Saskia van der Vies, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, chairperson of the FEBS WISE committee

Gerlind Wallon, EMBO, manager EMBO Young Investigator Programme and women in science

The session was attended by approximately 100 participants.

Previous sessions:
FEBS 2004 (Warsaw): Two workshops were organized by the FEBS WISE group at the FEBS congress in Warsaw entitled “Life time career planning” and “What made the difference” on 27 and 28 June 2004, respectively. Speakers at the first session were Prof. Eva Steiness (President and CEO of Zealand Pharmaceuticals), Prof. Alexandre Quintanilha (Director of the IBMC in Porto) and Prof. Stefania Petrescu (Director if the Institute for Biochemistry in Bukarest). The session was chaired by Gerlind Wallon (EMBO).
The speakers talked about their careers, pointing towards the special obstacles faced by women and summarized what was being done in their institutes to ensure equal opportunity.
The approximately 80 delegates in the audience participated in a lively discussion.

Speakers at the second session were Dr. E Arrimondo (recipient of a Marie Curie Excellence Award and group leader in France) and Prof Saskia van der Vies (Department of Biochemistry, Vrije Universitet Amsterdam) and Prof Eva Steiness (President and CEO of Zealand Pharmaceuticals). The speakers talked about important factors that had influenced their careers.
A lively discussion ensued with the audience of about 100 participants.

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