CORE ACTIVITIES
SPEAKER EVENTS
We hold termly speaker events either based at the Department of Physics or Cambridge Colleges. These are open to all and feature high-profile women from science, business and entrepreneurship. We make an effort to feature women working in the physics department, as well as speakers from further afield in the UK.
Our speakers to date have included Dame Barbara Stocking (Current Master of Murray Edwards College and former CEO of Oxfam), Dr Magdalena Skipper (Editor-in-chief, Nature), Angela Saini (Author of Inferior), Dr Sarah Bohndiek (Reader at the Cavendish), Anne-Marie Imafidon, Dr Sian Dutton (Fellow at the Cavendish), Cary Marsh (Entrepreneur) and Dr Eileen Nugent (Lecturer at the Cavendish).
SOCIAL EVENTS
We have regular monthly tea-time sessions and lunch events hosted in the Maxwell Centre. This is a good opportunity to meet other members in the department and use it as a space to relax!
We also arrange formals once or twice a year to bring everyone together around a nice meal.
CAREERS EVENTS
We held our first ever Careers & Cake session in 2019 with sponsorship from TTP. The companies who attended were Microsoft, Nature Publishing Group, Cambridge Display Technology, PragmatIC, Flexenable, Base4, Origami Energy and Riverlane. We hope to host more such sessions in the future. If your company is interested in talking to our members, please contact us.
MENTAL HEALTH AND WELLBEING GUIDE
The CiW Committee has put together a guide detailing mental health and wellbeing resources in Cambridge.
To download a copy, click here.
DEPARTMENTAL INVOLVEMENT
We regularly liaise and discuss with senior academics in the Department to advocate for inclusive measures affecting the graduate and undergraduate student community. CiW is integral to the Athena SWAN efforts and also has representation on the Cavendish Community Forum. We are currently in the process of proposing an Awards Scheme to recognise diverse contributions and a Graduate Student Retreat.
UNDERGRADUATE SUPERVISION SESSIONS
We organise one supervision per week during term time for physics undergraduate students to discuss problem sheets with peers and experienced supervisors in order to mitigate the low retention of female/non-binary students in subsequent years. We also organise a study skills session prior to exams.
MENTORING SCHEME
We have been running a mentoring scheme within the department to build a support network that spans across groups and encourages the women and non-binary people across the department to get to know each other.
PhD students and postdocs can chose to be a mentor, a mentee, or both and we aim to pair up people who are at various stages of their careers to share ideas and advice.
OUTREACH ACTIVITIES
CiW members participate in department outreach activities such as the Cambridge Science Festival or the Physics at Work programme. We also travel to high schools to encourage students to study physics.
If you would like CiW to visit your school please get in touch.
BOOKLET FOR SCHOOLS
We have published a small booklet entitled "What is so exciting about physics?" This is aimed at encouraging teenage girls to study physics. The booklet is being distributed to as many secondary schools in the UK as resources allow.
To download a copy, click here.
PODCASTS AND INTERVIEWS
We have profiled inspiring women who are doing outstanding things, primarily in the fields of science, but also entrepreneurship and business.
We present both written interviews and a podcast series that was produced by Stuart Higgins, a research associate at Imperial College, London.
More information can be found here.