Celebrating Women at Imperial Week

The week is about celebrating Imperial’s female staff and students, and raising awareness of the support available for women at the university.

Today is International Women’s Day, and the theme this year is ‘invest in women and accelerate progress’. Every year Imperial celebrates Women at Imperial Week on the same week as International Women’s Day.

The Business School’s Associate Provost, Leila Guerra, wrote an article for Forbes outlining the role business schools can play to address gender inequality in business. She also spoke to QS Top MBA about how business schools are promoting gender diversity.

We’ve also profiled eight researchers from the Imperial’s Women’s Health Network, who are working to broaden how we think about women’s health, beyond just maternal, reproductive and gynaecological health.

Women at Imperial Week Events

Yesterday, Uzoamaka Nwamarah, Climate Change Adviser at the Commonwealth Secretariat and Imperial alumni, came to Imperial to speak about the issues women face when navigating careers. Uzo drew from her own experiences to give practical advice on balancing schooling requirements and work and life balance, changing careers, overcoming imposter syndrome, and boosting confidence. 

Throughout the week there were opportunities to hear senior female academics talk about their careers. Dr Marcia Philbin, Chief Executive of the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Medicine spoke about her career as part of Imperial As One’s ‘Belonging’ series. The Graduate School also ran a workshop for female PhD students. 

On Thursday, there was a Springboard Women’s Development Programme taster session, and a talk from Professor Helena Teede, from Monash University in Melbourne, who is an internationally renowned researcher in women’s health. 

Other events during the week dealt with imposter syndrome, the menopause and perimenopause, negotiating skills. There were opportunities to improve health and fitness from Move Imperial there was also a ’health and wellbeing cafe’. The Computing department also held a networking breakfast event, and the Joan Woodward memorial breakfast explored empowerment of women through education and technology. 

Join the celebrations on social media

Imperial’s social media has been following Women at Imperial Week. Check out their threads on reproductive health and sisterhood. 

Imperial People

We profiled two female members of Council, Imperial’s governing body, for Imperial People.  

Dr Liz Elvidge is Head of the Postdoc and Fellows Development Centre and was appointed to the Council last year. Liz introduced the Springboard Women’s Development Programme to Imperial. 
 
Rasha Dabagh is a Senior Manager in Imperial’s Internal Audit and Compliance team, is a newly appointed staff representative on the Council. Rasha talks about her experiences at Imperial and what she hopes to bring to her role on the Council.