The Centenary Institute Is dedicated to supporting female researchers in the workplace, and improving female career prospects and access to opportunities. This includes the implementation of female focused mentoring opportunities – particularly for early and mid-career researchers, celebrating international days of recognition and other events.
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IWD 2020, inclusivity and #eachforequal
Our IGEP team ran a month-long celebration of womxn in STEMM from the International Day of Womxn and Girls in Science until International Womxn’s Day. Our usual guest speaker seminars were an all-womxn line up for the month; we hosted senior students from local schools for an afternoon of talks, microscopy, lab tours, and mingling with our researchers; we hosted two Q&A sessions about IGEP and available options for carers; we ran a Wikistorm afternoon where we worked to bridge the gender gap on Wikipedia; and we finished the month with an internal morning tea to celebrate our successes and discuss future IGEP initiatives with one another.
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IWD 2019, More powerful together
Our highlight event for 2019 was our annual International Women’s Day Showcase that was held on March 8th, 2019. Our theme was ‘More powerful together’ and we were honoured to host Dr Melina Georgousakis (Founder of Franklin Women) as the keynote speaker for the day. The day featured talks from IGEP Chair Dr Lois Cavanagh as well as Centenary scientists Prof Mark Gorrell, Dr Shweta Tikoo and Michelle Xiang who gave an illustrated presentation on science and the history of feminism. We aim to expand this event as it provides an excellent Institute-wide platform for discussion of IGEP issues and progress.
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Franklin Women Wikipedia edit-a-thon
Two members of our IGEP team attended a Wikipedia edit-a-thon hosted by Franklin Women in July, 2019. This event aimed to increase the number of women who create and edit Wikipedia pages with a focus on women in STEMM. Photos and details about the event and how to take part in the Wiki-femme revolution can be found on the Franklin Women website. We have also hosted Centenary Wikipedia edit-a-thon to encourage staff to edit and create these pages to help promote visibility and maintain equity across the genders on one of the world’s largest (and most popular) general reference resources.
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IWD 2018, Leave no woman behind
Our Inaugural International Women’s Day event took place on March 8th, 2018 and our theme was ‘Leave no woman behind’. This was an internal event that we elected to hold in order to celebrate the accomplishments of women within our Institute, while also providing a platform for us to discuss institutional barriers that still exist.
Dr Nick Pearce, Chief Operating Officer, Centenary Institute
“Workplaces need to be flexible to retain talented female scientists. My goal is to support all staff, male and female. It is a concern at medical research institutes, that there is a significant misrepresentation of men at the higher level. I believe it is important for all senior leaders to ensure that opportunities exist for men and women, fixing the imbalances of the past.”