Unconscious Bias and Gender Equality in Science, Engineering and Technology
Organised by the Women in Science, Engineering and Technology Initiative,
University of Cambridge

WiSETI announces a FREE one-day conference to be held on 6 September 2005 at
St John?s College, Cambridge.

Despite the documented benefits of equality within industry and the expected
benefits within academia, the number of women in science, engineering and
technology (SET) remains low, with the numbers falling away at each level
whether the number of entrants is high as in biology or low as in physics and
computing. This conference will discuss factors that may retard the progress
of women, in particular, gender schemas and unconscious bias, and ways to
enable women to reach their full potential. The emphasis will be on practical
measures to improve the recruitment, retention and advancement of women. These
will be of interest to those involved in managing scientists and engineers,
including Heads of Institutions and Principal Investigators within higher
education, as well as Human Resources Specialists, Equality and Diversity
Specialists and women in SET.

The keynote speakers include Professor Virginia Valian of City University New
York, who is an authority on gender schemas and unconscious bias, Dr Sean
McWhinnie of the Royal Society of Chemistry, Caroline Fox, Programme Manager
of the Athena Project and Professor Julia Goodfellow, Chief Executive of the
BBSRC.

Virginia Valian, who is a professor of Psychology and Linguistics at the City
University of New York, is a cognitive scientist and the author of ?Why so
slow? The Advancement of women? (MIT Press, 1999), which discusses the
evidence that our unconsciously held beliefs about gender affect the
advancement of women in academia and the professions.

Dr Sean McWhinnie and Caroline Fox are authors of the Joint Report of the
Royal Society and the Athena Project: ?Good Practice in University Chemistry
Departments? (Royal Society of Chemistry and the Athena Project, 2004), which
is available from the Athena project website at
www.athenaproject.org.uk/reports.htm.

The Athena project launched the SWAN Charter at the Institute of Physics on 22
June. The SWAN Charter (www.athenaswan.org.uk/) recognises excellence in
employment practices aimed assiting the recruitment, retention and progression
of women in science, engineering and technology.

For those of you who think there is no problem: in the UK women make up 22% of
physics students, 15% of university researchers in physics, 10% of university
lecturers and 3% of professors in physics (HESA, 2002/03).

There is no charge for this conference.
For more information and registration details see
http://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/offices/personnel/equality/wiseti/events/.