Speaker:
Paul Walton, University of York, UK
The Chem Connect Lecture Series: Connecting to Issues Beyond Science
The Department of Chemistry is excited to host Paul Walton (University of York, UK)
Professor Walton is internationally known for his work on equality issues in science. His many distinctions in this area include serving on the Irish HEA's review group into gender equality in Irish HE institutions, the Athena Swan review group, many international keynote and plenary lectures, the Royal Society's inaugural Athena Prize 2016 (runner up), and being shortlisted for the WISE campaign's Man of the Year Award 2016. Paul is currently a member of the Athena Swan review group, the University of Galway's equality advisory board, and the advisory board of the GENIE project, Chalmers University, Sweden.
Over nearly all scientific organisations, across every country and across time one finds that the progression of women in research/academia is significantly hindered when compared to men. Such a universal truth represents an enormous loss of talent, including in our very own scientific communities.
Recent years have seen some progress in understanding the principal factors behind this phenomenon and there has been some progress in new schemes which are designed to address the lack of women in senior scientific positions. These schemes have also met with some resistance which, in itself, has been revealing of the reasons why there is such a difference in the progression rates of men and women in science. This presentation discusses some of the evidence behind gender equality, and-most importantly-how that can be translated into day to day practice within an academic department.
Hosted by Kathy Franz