Research by Dr Valeria Garbin has been featured in a special collection by the Royal Society of Chemistry.

The Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) have published a themed collection, Celebrating Excellence in Research: 100 Women of Chemistry, which includes a paper from the department’s Dr Valeria Garbin. It is a selection of high quality papers published by 100 female leaders of their respective fields.

Dr Garbin’s work has been featured as an example of excellence in colloid and interface science. The paper details her group’s investigation into the mechanisms leading to directional particle expulsion during shape oscillations of particle-coated bubbles, as part of her wider research on controlled release of nanoparticles for applications in catalysis and drug delivery, funded by ERC Starting Grant “ExtreFlow”.

Responding to the news, Dr Garbin said: “I am humbled to have been featured in this collection. This is a very important initiative by the RSC. A visibility boost can be beneficial for improving the representation of women on editorial boards, scientific committees and as invited speakers at conferences.”

The RSC launched their themed collection following a report they published earlier this year, Diversity Landscape of the Chemical Sciences, which compiled and presented some of the available data for the current state of diversity in the Chemical Sciences.

One of its key findings is that scientific papers authored by women receive significantly fewer citations than those written by male authors. In addition, they observed a negative correlation between the impact factor of a journal and the number of submissions by women, suggesting that female authors are discouraged from putting their work forward to top journals. 

Their new themed collection, 100 Women of Chemistry, is part of their ongoing efforts to address this imbalance, by focusing the spotlight on talented female scientists. They emphasise that “the goal of these efforts is not to employ positive discrimination, but instead to better enable ourselves and our community to recognise the many talented women already working in the Chemical Sciences and hence encourage further progress towards equity”.

Find out more about the Garbin Group on their website, and follow them on Twitter @garbin_lab.