Thurs 17th May 2012 at Lucy Cavendish College, Cambridge.

As a chemistry undergraduate I was always subliminally aware of Rosalind Franklin, that she made an important contribution to the biological applications of x-ray diffraction but that there was some controversy though I wasn’t quite what it was all about. Doing my PhD at the Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge I walked past her model of tobacco mosaic virus regularly without actually realising what it was and who made it. So when the opportunity arose to invite her sister Jenifer Glynn to speak about her forthcoming book “My Sister Rosalind Franklin” it was a great opportunity to clarify those myths.

Jenifer put paid to those myths and described Rosalind’s character with clarity and obvious affection. Her talk was illustrated with a wealth of family photos showing Rosalind first as a small child with an infectious sense of humour and fun. Then as an adult on holiday in the mountains, clearly a very free spirit, enjoying climbing and long walks, attempting quite dangerous climbing trips, motoring through Europe. The picture she drew was of a fun-loving woman and a very dedicated and conscientious scientist: a picture quite at odds with the dour-sounding “dark lady of DNA.”

http://profiles.nlm.nih.gov/ps/access/KRBBJH.jpg

Rosalind’s contribution to science was not just in investigating the structure of DNA, that in itself lasted only two years. Prior to her work on DNA she made important contributions to the understanding of the structure of coal and its porosity during her time in Paris. After the work on DNA at Kings College London, which was marred by the unpleasantness of her work environment, she had success with the structure of the tobacco mosaic virus and embarked on the structure of the polio virus.

Rosalind’s career was really just getting established, with invitations to speak in the USA and increased funding for her research group, when she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer and died at the age of 37. It seems that the significance of the discovery of the structure of DNA was largely unappreciated by the general public until after the Nobel Prize was awarded to Crick, Watson and Wilkins in 1959. Rosalind’s part had been largely ignored until the furore over James Watson’s book which was published in 1968. Jenifer touched upon her thoughts on the response since then culminating in the large number of buildings, prizes and even a University named after her. She elaborates on this also in the Notes and Records of the Royal Society http://rsnr.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/62/2/253.full#ref-6:

Rosalind’s fame has continued to grow. St Paul’s (her school) has now honoured her by giving her name to their technology centre; Newnham (her college) now houses graduates in the Rosalind Franklin Building—but in 1958 neither St Paul’s nor Newnham thought of giving her an obituary notice in their magazines. Buildings and laboratories now carry her name in Cambridge, London, Holland and Belgium, and a whole university has adopted it in Chicago. There have been prizes, fellowships, books, radio broadcasts, television programmes, plays, projects for films—I am constantly coming across more.

Jenifer pointed out that Rosalind wanted to be recognised as a scientist and was not striking “a conscious blow for the rights of women”. That set me thinking about what I took away from the story of Rosalind’s life. It is clear that in the 1950’s there was evidence of inequality: the senior common room at Kings College London was exclusively male; the first female Fellows of the Royal Society were only elected in 1945. My discussions with Dr Joan Mason, founder of AWISE, about her experiences of that era revealed a great degree of inherent and unchallenged bias. However Jenifer gave the impression that Rosalind didn’t see it that way, she was focussed on doing good science with the unwritten view that that should be enough. I guess the point is that just doing good science isn’t enough and the story of Rosalind Franklin and DNA makes that point very clear.

Jenifer’s book “My Sister Rosalind Franklin” was published by Oxford University Press in March 2012.

The novel is lablit, literature set in a scientific lab. Jenny coined that term! Ever since my PhD I’ve been toying with the idea of writing a novel loosely based on my and colleagues’ experiences but just haven’t got the literary talent or drive to have a proper go. Luckily, Jenny does.

The other reason to look forward to it is that the novel is set in my native Holland. I was looking forward to some sharp observations about the Dutch and my expectations were more than met: really good and far from contrite. Jenny describes the experience of living abroad, both trying to fit in with the adopted culture, ex-pat company and socialising with new colleagues.

What may ring more of a bell with other readers here than with me is the experience of moving from academia to a start-up company and the difference between fundamental and science and commercial science is explored. I have never worked in such an environment (Jenny has) and I found the insights fascinating.

For the unexpected treasures: There is some exploration of ethical research conduct as part of the story, which makes you think and a big theme is how your family background influences career choices and especially fathers’ attitudes. The main character has two passions in life, poetry and science. A large part of the book is about balancing the two and whether it is possible to be a successful scientist when some of your time and attention is devoted to anything outside it. Poetry pervades the book: it is beautifully written (which immensely increases the pleasure in reading for me). There’s a decent love story as well- what more could you ask for?

Jenny will be part of the ‘Is there more than one way to success in STEM? panel for the WiSE UP careers day on 22nd June- don’t miss the chance to meet her and purchase a signed copy of this or her other book ‘Experimental Heart’.

Tennie Videler, co-Chair

There is good news if your science background is in biochemistry (in the widest possible sense).  Cambridge AWiSE has been awarded one of three Biochemical Society Gender Equality in Science Grants 2012 allowing us to offer three fully sponsored places to attend the event.

Fancy applying?  See here for all the details – deadline 28th May.

Cambridge AWiSE and Lucy Cavendish College are delighted to welcome writer and historian Jenifer Glynn to speak about her new book, “My Sister Rosalind Franklin”.  Rosalind Franklin, a British biophysicist and x-ray crystallographer made an important contribution to the discovery of the structure of DNA and led pioneering work into viral structure.  In this family memoir, Jenifer paints a picture of Rosalind’s life, education and influences.

Free to attend but please register in advance here.

Please download a poster (pdf) here.

A joint event with Lucy Cavendish College.  All welcome.

Cambridge AWiSE are delighted to welcome Harriet Fear to our 5th MRC-AWiSE event.  Harriet will discuss the role company networks play in global business and how networking on all levels contributes to success.  One Nucleus (formerly ERBI) is the largest membership organisation in Europe, with over 450 members including pharmaceutical, biotech, medical device and diagnostic companies. Its mission is to maximise the global competitiveness of its members.  This talk will be of interest to those pursuing a career in academia or industry and looking to make the most of networking and networks to augment research, development and commercialisation.

After a fascinating and varied career in the Foreign Office, Harriet joined One Nucleus as CEO in 2009.  Since then, the company has redefined its membership, formed strong strategic alliances with US organisations and merged with the London Biotech Network….read more in Harriet’s profile.

This meeting is kindly sponsored by the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology The event is free to attend (includes networking lunch) but you must register in advance here.  All welcome, women and men.
You can download a poster (pdf) here.

Please click here for details on how to find the MRC-LMB and transport information.
Please note: there is very limited parking on site and it is best to cycle or use public transport.  The nearest Park and Ride site to the LMB is the Babraham Road site.  Use the ticket machine to buy a ticket specifically for the Addenbrooke’s hospital site. Cars are parked for free.  (Disabled attendees, please email Catherine at info@camawise.org.uk to arrange parking)

During her varied Foreign Office career she was Deputy Ambassador three times, Private Secretary to the Minister for Europe, led an evacuation of Brits out of the Congo and worked in Khymer Rouge territory with Scotland Yard on a hostage crisis. She now enjoys a calmer life in the UK!

She was attracted to the role at One Nucleus because she wanted to spend time helping companies maximise their competitiveness and to lead a team which already had an excellent reputation. Since her arrival at One Nucleus, the company has redefined its membership (now life science and healthcare, not only biotech), formed strong and strategic relations with like minded US counterparts for the benefit of members and merged ERBI with London Biotechnology Network to enhance the offer to members and create a stronger critical mass on the international stage.

One Nucleus is the largest membership organisation in Europe. A not-for-profit private company, it has over 450 members including pharmaceutical, biotech, medical device and diagnostic companies and associated technical and commercial service providers.

The One Nucleus mission is to maximise the global competitiveness of its members. For their science and technology-based members, this means being global leaders in the research, development and commercialisation of healthcare innovations that radically improve the quality of people’s lives around the world. For their business and professional services members, it means delivering exceptional services that significantly enhance the business performance of their clients.

Women are under-represented in employment in science, technology, engineering, maths and medicine (STEMM), both inside and outside academia. Even in the biosciences, where women make up over half of the undergraduates, women still account for only 15% of professors. In all STEMM subjects, qualified women are not retained in similar proportions to men with the result that women are severely under-represented in senior positions. For example, among science, engineering and technology (SET) academic faculty in the US in 2003, women comprised 18 to 45 % of assistant professors (26% lecturers and 18% senior researchers/lecturers in the UK in 07/08) and 6 to 29 % of associate and full professors (9% in the UK in 07/08). Not just in academia, but in general SET occupations, fewer women with undergraduate SET qualifications enter SET professional or associate professional occupations. Possible reasons for this are multi-faceted, not easy to solve, but worth exploring:

Unconscious bias
Although few women experience overt discrimination, there is ample evidence that women (and members of ethnic minorities) are disadvantaged by unconscious bias. In one experiment academic CV’s that differed only in whether the name on the CV was a traditional male name or a traditional female name were sent to academics. They found that both men and women were more likely to recommend a male job applicant than a female even though their records were identical. Specific examples of unconscious bias often appear inconsequential, it is their cumulative effect that is important.

Family responsibilities
Whether through choice or otherwise, women still shoulder the majority of family responsibilities. The long hours, low-pay culture in academia and other sectors creates additional barriers for women with child care responsibilities. Policies or informal practices can have a disproportionately deleterious impact on women. For example, a seminar series at 4.30pm will tend to exclude those with child care responsibility. In general, good practice benefits all, but bad practice adversely affects women’s careers more than men’s. Because of responsibilities to partners and children, women are generally relatively less willing or able to move for employment. In academia, there is a tendency to prize mobility very highly, with a perceived bias to external candidates, which again can impact on women’s progression.

Status Quo
The fact that STEMM is currently very male dominated means there can be a lack of role models that women can identify with and aspire to. It also presents a barrier to change because of the fact that people in general recruit ‘in their own image’: they will have some bias towards people it is easy for them to imagine working with. While STEMM remains male-dominated, this will favour men.

In short, there are many complex, intangible reasons for the current low representation of women in STEMM, but it is clear that lack of ability is not one of them. Our mission is to inspire and connect women in STEMM.

Most of the Cambridge AWiSE AGM was devoted to a workshop on peer mentoring. We defined peer mentoring as providing mentoring in a group of peers. In such a group everyone mentors each other.

We brainstormed rules for our peer mentoring session and came up with the following:
• Professionalism and respect to each other and regarding others
• Listening to what each has to say as well as talk, giving each roughly equal airtime
• One conversation at a time
• Conversations should be cooperative, constructive and solution focused
• Conversations should be challenging rather than pedestrian

• Conversations should be defined, focused or within an agreed scope

The next part of our whistle stop tour was to come up with possible topics to discuss and decide which ones were viable to form groups around that evening:
• Increasing confidence
• Asking for promotion/ salary increase
• Returning to work
• Job hunting
• Setting up your own business / working in young businesses

We had to break off the fabulous networking and conversations mid-flow to give feedback to the whole group with some nuggets of real wisdom being shared:
• Conversation is great!
• The phrase ‘empowered employability’, a great phrase and the title of a series of evening lectures at Cambridge University.
• Consider starting a ‘Sod all’ box: when you find yourself worrying about something you can do ‘sod all’ about, put it in the ‘Sod all’ box and concentrate on things you can do something about
• Give positive feedback. It makes it more likely you will receive such feedback yourself as a culture where giving positive feedback is the norm will slowly grow
• Maybe confidence is defined by what we do, not by how we feel…
• Don’t limit yourself, question the limits you believe are holding you back. (For example, it is completely valid to apply for a full time job and negotiate part-time hours once it has been offered to you.)
• Set measurable goals so that you can judge whether you have reached them (ideally goals should be SMART: specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time limited)
• Use appraisals as an opportunity for development rather than a box ticking exercise. If you don’t get appraised, consider appraising yourself
• Make yourself and your accomplishments visible: if you don’t tell people about them, no one else will
• Consider letting luck play a role in your life, by creating your own luck….
• It was useful to hear people’s experiences of similar situations
• It was useful to get wider perspectives, listen and reflect.

What was the most useful thing you learned that evening?

One last thought….perhaps have a go at incorporating a dose of “planned happenstance” into your strategy.

Tennie Videler.

Kate Atkin spoke on how to achieve confidence in the workplace.  Thoughts transform your outlook and actions so not being in control of your thoughts can lower your confidence. Negative thoughts in the workplace often include how you try to perceive the recognition of your ability by your colleagues and this can affect your outlook holding you back. You can take control of those negative thoughts by recognising the blocking thought and making a small change to think of something positive to remove the block.

The impressions you create for yourself by your own thoughts and words when moving out of a comfort zone make a difference to your outlook. You can move these ‘rocks in the road’ one at a time with small changes each step of the way. There are 3 cues to be aware of in your interactions for the impressions you give out in order to achieve your goals: verbal, vocal, visual. Keeping your goals in mind as you balance thoughts versus actions are essential to balance effort with results.
Since January 25 was Burns Night, Kate finished with an appropriate Burns quote: ‘ Oh would some power the gift to give is to see ourselves as others see us’.
Jenny B.