Industry experts joined Imperial staff at a panel discussion focusing on gender diversity and its potential to drive innovation.

The discussion was the first knowledge sharing event hosted by a university for the WISE campaign, which promotes women in science, engineering and technology. Chairing the discussion was the Provost’s Envoy for Gender Equality at Imperial, Professor Dorothy Griffiths, who guided the panellists through an exploration of how gender affects innovation and entrepreneurship.

The panel included Imperial entrepreneurs and recent PhD students Dr Kerry O’Donnelly and Dr Angela de Manzanos, alongside Professor Charlotte Williams from Imperial’s Department of Chemistry. They were joined by Dr Kate Ronayne, Head of Innovation at the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), and Toby Mildon, Head of Diversity and Inclusion for BBC Digital.

The discussion

The event opened with an exploration of whether there were fundamental differences between the way men and women approached innovation, the impact of gender stereotypes, and the importance of including a diverse range of people and personalities within any institution.

Professor Williams (left) noted that innovation is innate to anyone pursuing a scientific career regardless of gender, whilst Dr Ronayne commented on the comparatively low number of new ideas which were patented solely by women.

The three Imperial panel members have successfully founded their own businesses. Dr O’Donnelly and Dr de Manzanos co-founded FungiAlert while Professor Williams is the founder of Econic Technologies - an achievement for which she won the 2015 WISE award in the Tech Start-up category.  They spoke about some of the challenges they have faced as women in the tech start-up space, but explained how opportunities to enter competitions, alongside support from peers, colleagues and family had helped them. They also emphasised the importance of creating a culture of equal opportunity in which diversity could be encouraged and differences communicated.

Although it was suggested that there isn’t necessarily a difference in the ways people innovate whether they are male or female, there are possible differences in methods of communication and presentation. There was a consensus among the panellists that diversity, and not only in relation to gender, is an essential part of a successful business. The more people in an organisation who look at the world differently, the more robust it is.

Enterprising women

At Imperial, female students can apply to the Althea-Imperial Programme to access support in developing an enterprising idea, with the winner taking home a £10,000 top prize. Kerry O’Donnelly and Angela de Manzanos (left) were runners up in the 2015 Althea Prize for their invention FungiAlert, a low-cost, easy to use device that allows farmers to detect the presence of fungal spores before they infect crops.

The then-PhD students also won the 2015 Imperial Showcase competition, part of the Venture Catalyst Challenge hosted by Imperial Create Lab, and the 2015 ‘CDT Den’ contest, a Dragons’ Den-style event for doctoral students.   

During the panel discussion, both Dr O’Donnelly and Dr de Manzanos spoke about how much they had learned through participating in the competitions. Imperial is now exploring how it can improve the support offered to innovative and entrepreneurial staff as well as students.