Establishing an Independent Career in Chemistry

The Department of Chemistry together with the University of Warwick and the Royal Society of Chemistry co-hosted the 2nd Irène Joliot-Curie Conference over 2-days at Imperial College London on 11-12 September.

The conference objective was to help aspiring young postdoctoral chemists, particularly women, in establishing an independent career in chemistry and the programme provided them with a fantastic range of women speakers who were all excellent role models in their own field and who shared their experiences in an open and entertaining series of talks. Speakers included Professor Lesley Yellowlees (President of the RSC), Esther McVey (Member of Parliament for Wirral West and Minister for Disabled People), Juliet Davenport (CEO, Good Energy), Dr June McCombie (University of Nottingham), Dr Bridgette Duncombe (Director of Undergraduate Studies, Department of Chemistry, Imperial College London), Dr Susan Perkin (University of Oxford), Dr Rachel Walls, Postdoc Adviser, Postdoc Development Centre

During the conference there was also plenty of networking opportunities including a dinner hosted by the RSC at Burlington House, Piccadilly on the evening of 11th September.

Feedback

“Thank you so much for your encouraging words offered at the Irene Joliot-Curie conference this week. I cannot express enough how much I appreciate the pastoral care that I received from you. Seeing the refreshing atmosphere in the department at Imperial has restored my faith in research.”

"enthusiastic speakers, very inspirational"

"I enjoyed listening to the journeys the speakers had made towards achieving their careers; their different experiences and the challenges they faced along the way as women in science. It was great to include a speaker from industry as well as academics"

"a very inspirational and enjoyable experience'

"awesome event"

 Edinburgh University will be hosting the conference next year.

Further Information

Irène Joliot-Curie, together with her husband Frédéric, won the Nobel prize for chemistry in 1935 for synthesising radioactive elements. As the daughter of Marie and Piere Curie, wife of a famous scientist, and mother of two more scientists, Irène is often overlooked. However, in addition to sustained scientific success and passing her skills on to the next generation, she took a keen interest in the social and intellectual advancement of women being a member of Comité National de l'Union des Femmes Françaises and was actively concerned for world peace in a challenging world scene. She is thus a superb role model for us all. Some more information about Irène Joliot-Curie may be found here

The Department of Chemistry has recently been awarded an Athena SWAN Gold Award, more details can be found here