9. 9
The Suffrage Science scheme celebrates women in science for their scientific achievement
and for their ability to inspire others. It encourages women to enter scientific subjects, and
to stay.
This public engagement scheme was initiated in 2011, by the MRC Clinical Sciences Centre
(CSC) at Imperial College, a biomedical research institute of the UK’s Medical Research
Council. It was launched by the Director of the institute, Amanda Fisher, and by science
broadcaster Vivienne Parry.
The scheme began with a focus on women in the life sciences, the field of study closest
to that of the institute. In 2013, Suffrage Science expanded to recognise women in the
engineering and physical sciences. It now expands again, with the formation of a third
specialty area. This latest addition recognises women in mathematics and computing,
launched at Bletchley Park on Tuesday 11 October 2016, a date recognised globally as Ada
Lovelace Day.
The awards themselves are pieces of jewellery designed by students of the art and design
college Central Saint Martins-UAL, long-standing science-arts collaborators with the CSC.
After two years, each of the 12 winning women will hand on their jewellery to a recipient
of their choice, at an awards ceremony. This scientific “relay” creates an ever-expanding
cohort of talented women with a connection, encouraging all to reach senior leadership
roles.
Why is the scheme called “Suffrage Science”?
Handing on the Suffrage Science jewellery is a vote of confidence by one woman for
another. This resonates with the Suffragette movement for votes for women, from which the
scheme draws both its name and its inspiration. Dr Helen Pankhurst, great-granddaughter
of Suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst, is a loyal supporter of the scheme. Emmeline
founded the Women’s Social and Political Union, with the motto “Deeds not Words”.
The union presented women with specially commissioned medals featuring the colours
of the Suffragette movement: white for purity, purple for dignity and green for hope, to
acknowledge their contribution to cause. The student designers from Central Saint Martins-
UAL drew on research into the history of the Suffragette movement, as well as themes from
maths and computing, to inform their winning designs.
IN THE
BEGINNING
13. 13
MEDALS AND
JEWELLERY
Worn with pride: Suffragette medal
featuring Emmeline Pankhurst,
courtesy of Museum of London.
Since the start of the Suffrage Science scheme, students on the BA Jewellery Design
course at Central Saint Martins-UAL have created the winning designs, with direction from
course tutor, Giles Last and course director, Caroline Broadhead. Once the two winning
designs have been chosen, these are crafted into actual pieces by jewellery-maker, Martin
Baker.
The two existing groups, engineering and physical sciences and life sciences, each have
their own pair of science-inspired items of jewellery (facing page top, facing page bottom).
These “science heirlooms” have been handed on to create several “generations” of
awardees.
For the new section, the students designed pieces inspired by themes such as beauty,
simplicity and the search for ‘truth’ in mathematics, and the worlds of secret codes and
machine language of computer science, as well as drawing on research into the history of
the Suffragette movement.
Many of the students visited the Museum of London, which houses a collection of jewellery
and clothing used by the Suffragettes. Others watched the recent film, Suffragette, to get to
know the prominent personalities of the movement and to better understand their cause.
Some of the students said they were inspired to portray the elegance of the female form,
and the strength and power of the Suffragettes. A common theme in the designs is the
hardship and struggle of the women, with some pieces inspired by the Suffragettes’ medals
and banners, which carried slogans such as “Through thick & thin we n’er give in”. Many
designs feature the green, purple and white colours of the movement, for example with
gemstones set into metal, sand dyed to match, and juxtaposed layers of coloured material.
Others said they had looked to the freedom and creativity of women, both the Suffragettes
and those alive today.
You can read more about the winning designs and runners up on the following pages.
Mrs. Pethick-Lawrence, treasurer and co-
editor of the weekly newspaper Votes for
Women explains the symbolism of the colours
used by the Women's Social and Political
Union, 1908.
“Purple as everyone knows is the
royal colour. It stands for the royal
blood that flows in the veins of
every suffragette, the instinct of
freedom and dignity…white stands
for purity in private and public
life… green is the colour of hope
and the emblem of spring.”
17. 17
The jewellery for the new maths and computing section of the Suffrage Science scheme
emerged through creativity, but also through competition.
It began with a “Be Inspired” morning at Central Saint Martins-UAL at King’s Cross in early
May 2016. Course tutor, Giles Last, described the history of the scheme and its aims, and
set out the students’ mission. In the space of just a few weeks, they would be expected to
research, design and construct prototypes of their jewellery pieces, he explained. Last also
discussed the various types of materials they might consider using in the construction of the
jewellery pieces, and highlighted some constraints for example that the designers should
ensure that the final piece would be wearable.
Advisors for the new section, Marta Kwiatkowska, Professor of Computing Systems at the
University of Oxford and Emma McCoy, Professor of Statistics at Imperial College London,
talked to the students about their passion for the subjects. They described some of the
patterns, shapes and graphic features they encounter in their professional lives, and how
inspiring these can be in the creative process they encounter in the everyday conduct of
computing and of mathematics as a career.
Mid-way through their allotted timeline, each of the 39 students involved was asked to
deliver a two-minute presentation on their thought-process so far. Then came the final
judgement day. The scheme advisors, organisers and CSC institute director, Amanda
Fisher, joined staff at Central Saint Martins-UAL for the enjoyable but difficult process of
selecting two winners and ten runners-up.
In the pages that follow you will hear from those winners, and glimpse something of the
thinking behind the pieces that made it through to the final stages in designing the maths
and computing “science heirloom” jewellery.
THE
COMPETITION
PICKING WINNERS
Top (from left to right):
Scheme advisor Marta Kwiatkowska,
CSC's Deborah Oakley and Susan Watts and
CSM's Giles Last examine the design entries.
Bottom:
Jewellery Maker Martin Baker
and the winning designs.
21. 21
“I realised that the
Suffragettes were one
of the first groups
that recognised
the importance of
communication.”
VERONIKA
FÁBIÁN
The main element of Veronika Fábián’s brooch, gold punched tape, reflects the fields
of mathematics and computing, as well as conveying messages from the Suffragette
movement, she says. Punctured tape was originally used by computer scientists to send
text-based messages, and later for storing data. Decoding the series of holes on the brooch
reveals sentences from three Suffragette banners; ‘Deeds not words’, ‘Courage Constancy
Success’, ‘Through thick & thin we n’er give in’ and the phrase ‘Suffrage Science Award
2016’.
The brooch is an elegant piece with a powerful message. Even at first glance it makes a
statement: “the gold stands for achievement and victory while the purple, white and green
stones refer to the Suffragette movement,” says Fábián. She added delicate and meaningful
details, such as gemstones, to make the brooch feel precious to the awardees.
Fábián was greatly inspired by the original medals of the Suffragette movement (see page
13), and felt it was important for her jewellery to be worn in a similar style and to share
the same purpose. “During my research I realised that the Suffragettes were one of the
first groups that recognised the importance of communication,” she says, “their pieces
represented and communicated membership of the group, and they played an important
role in group cohesion.”
Prototype pieces,
working towards "Pattern of Thought"
Jewellery design student
CENTRAL SAINT MARTINS, UAL
By Honor Pollard
23. 23
Jewellery can be much more than decoration. In the early 1900’s, the Suffragettes used it
to recognise a woman’s contribution to their cause. Designer Emine Gulsal drew inspiration
from this to create a bracelet with a hidden gold message.
Engraved on the inside curve, and hidden beneath a layer of silver, is what many
mathematicians consider to be the most beautiful of all mathematical equations: eiπ
+1= 0,
known as Euler's Equation. “Over time, the silver plate will wear away from repetitive
movement to reveal the beauty of the equation, which lies close to the wearers’ skin,”
says Gulsal. “The concept of the equation revealed over time reflects the hardship of the
Suffragettes, and what they had to go through in society to help to secure the right for
women to vote. It also celebrates the achievements of women today.”
Gulsal says the bracelet symbolises the infinite, symmetrical qualities of circles.
Encapsulated inside the outer curve is a single, isolated pearl, which can move in a
continuous circular motion. “I feel that my piece conveys a sense of power and strength
within women.”
“I feel that my piece
conveys a sense of
power and strength
within women.”
By Deborah Oakley
EMINE
GULSAL
Jewellery design student
CENTRAL SAINT MARTINS, UAL
Prototype pieces,
working towards "Mathematical Beauty"
25. 25
Jemma Bowers
Bowers explained to the judges that she wanted to include geometric shapes, and to
incorporate the idea of connections through the use of inter-linked circles to reflect links
between people, between women and the links that create a community. She had ideas
that could be executed as either a brooch or a pendant, the first using linked tubes filled
with coloured sand - perhaps coloured with textile dyes to represent the green, white and
purple colours of the Suffragette movement. Bowers described her interest in the idea of
2D objects transforming to become 3D. In her designs she therefore decided to work with
perspective, and the notion that we all “see” things differently. She had worked on a second
piece based on the Mobius strip, a twisted loop with only one surface. Bowers wanted to
evoke the idea of a puzzle, and created a design that could be set on a necklace such that
it would hang forward, freely.
Hannah Cochrane
Cochrane’s design is based on the Sierpinski curve - a recursive pattern of fractals. The
design also draws on the concept of silicon wafers, and is set in layers. Cochrane said
she wanted to play with the idea of information being hidden in plain sight, or encoded.
Her plan was for this information to be revealed only as the layers are rotated, she told the
competition judges. The rotating layers represent the colours of the Suffragette movement:
white for purity, purple for dignity and green for hope.
Yayun Fang
Fang told the judges that she drew inspiration from the tiara worn by Ada Lovelace in her
most famous portrait, and from the dignity of her pose. Her idea was for 12 brooches that
if placed together form a tiara. She was drawn to the idea that tiaras are often passed
between generations as heirlooms, an idea that resonates with the ‘heirloom’ nature of
the Suffrage Science jewellery. She was also struck by similarities between drawings by
Charles Babbage of his “analytical engine”, an early forerunner to the modern computer,
and jewellery designs by Cartier. The design of her Tiara form is based on this “analytical
engine.” She said she wanted her designs to be simple, but smart like the women that
might receive them.
RUNNERS
UP
CENTRAL SAINT MARTINS
UAL
Samples from student designs:
Clockwise from top: Cochrane, Kramer, Tamlyn,
Lung, Long, Fang and Bowers. Clockwise Centre:
Hartshorn, Goldsmith and Lu.
26. 26
Gabriella Goldsmith
Goldsmith explained that the bangle she designed for her jewellery piece represents
eternity. The form is based on the Mobius strip and incorporates a “V” shape on its
surface, to depict the V for “Vote”. The bangle is etched and coloured and carries
hidden information, representing mathematics, computing and the Suffragette
movement. She told the judges that she also aimed to convey geometric shapes and a
sense of “mess - that things didn’t always work out in a neat way”.
Lydia Hartshorn
Hartshorn was inspired by the original early 20th century brooches attributed to the
Suffragettes, and by the idea of breaking with tradition. She told the judges she was
drawn to their pendant shapes and the similarity with the fractal shapes in mathematics
and in nature. She talked about the early roots of the Suffrage movement in the textile
industries in the North of England, and that this history had been written over by
London’s middle classes, and forgotten. She talked about the Jacquard loom used in
those industries, and the resonance this carried for her with the work of Ada Lovelace
and Charles Babbage on early forms of the computer – links, as she sees them,
between textiles, technology and computing. She said her piece might include an image
of Ada Lovelace etched on metal and the words “purity, dignity and hope”, or perhaps
the name “Ada” spelt out in binary code.
Eloise Kramer
Kramer wanted to convey the idea of mathematics being beautiful, and simplicity as
the shortest route to an answer. She was also intrigued by individuality in the direction
that mathematicians might take, and by the artist Mondrian, and how he was inspired
by the Fibonacci sequence, as were the Pointillests. The cubes in her necklace design
are based on the Fibonacci sequence and are a corresponding size. They are also
interchangeable, so that the wearer can choose the size and number and compose
anew day by day, expressing freedom and creativity. The necklace forms an Agnesi
curve, a mathematical shape sometimes called the “witch of Agnesi”. The cubes are
made from various materials including titanium that is coloured using an electrical
current, a process called anodising.
RUNNERS
UP
CENTRAL SAINT MARTINS
UAL
27. 27
Skylar Long
Long's bangle included a coded letter on each of several strands – spelling the word
“Inspire”. She drew her inspiration from speeches at our Life Sciences awards ceremony of
March 2016. She was struck by sentiments such as determination, and breaking rules. Her
project board shows a hand forcing its way through loops, “pushing through boundaries”,
Long said. She wanted the piece to suggest “distortion of that which is symmetrical”,
reminiscent of the smashing of windows by Suffragettes during their campaign. Her piece is
also playful, to indicate there’s value in having fun in science.
Yihong Lu
Lu wanted to conjure up the “beauty of the mathematics” in her jewellery. She said she
was intrigued by the notion of algorithms “growing”, and felt this to be reminiscent of the
branches of a growing tree – a symbol of life. She drew parallels with the tree-like structures
of neurons in our brains, reflecting the wisdom of women and their intelligence, and used
the idea of 12 branches, with coloured gemstones at the tips, in a growing structure of
combined strength and unity as inspiration for her jewellery piece.
Michelle Lung
Lung was drawn to the form of the Mobius strip in her necklace design, which she
described as both simple, yet complicated. She said her jewellery piece represents “the
form of a woman’s body”, when observed from the side, with hints of the helical structure of
DNA. Lung set out to create a design that was “deliberately feminine, but strong too.” She
said the “line” of the piece is very important, creating a form that is eloquent and powerful.
Louis Tamlyn
Tamlyn's piece takes as its theme the shape of a catenary curve, the curve that a hanging
chain or cable assumes under its own weight when supported only at its ends. This
looks a little like a parabola, but it’s different, and is a form that has fascinated artists,
mathematicians and architects for centuries. Tamlyn cited Gaudi’s use of the catenary in his
presentation to the judges of a design he said could be incorporated into either a necklace
or a brooch.
RUNNERS
UP
CENTRAL SAINT MARTINS
UAL
30. 30
At the heart of the new maths and computing section of the Suffrage Science scheme
are 12 inspirational women. These inaugural award winners were selected with
guidance from Marta Kwiatkowska, Professor of Computing Systems at the University
of Oxford and Emma McCoy, Professor of Statistics at Imperial College London. The
group is comprised of five mathematicians, five computer scientists, one woman who
excels in communicating her research with the wider world, and one researcher from the
international community. On the following pages the women talk about their experiences
in a male-dominated field, and how to achieve positive change for the future.
Christl Donnelly
is Professor of Statistical Epidemiology at Imperial College London, and has advised
policy makers on bovine tuberculosis, Ebola and SARS. Donnelly talks about the
pressure on women academics to be role models.
Jane Hutton
is Professor of Medical Statistics at the University of Warwick, where she collaborates
with doctors, lawyers and even philosophers. Hutton says true equality is about equality
of opportunity.
Frances Kirwan
is Professor of Mathematics at the University of Oxford, where she explores abstract
concepts. Kirwan encourages girls to work together to help make problem-solving fun.
Sylvia Richardson
is Director of the MRC Biostatistics Unit, where she analyses genomic data, for
example, to better understand how the body works. She wants women to become
curious about mathematics.
Gwyneth Stallard
is Professor of Pure Mathematics at the Open University, and focuses on complex
dynamics. Stallard says flexible working helps women, but brings its own challenges.
WINNING
WOMEN 2016
INAUGURAL AWARDS
MATHEMATICIANS
31. 31
Ann Blandford
is Professor of Human-Computer Interaction at University College London, and explores
how we all use technology. She suggests that promoting the social side of computer
science could attract more women.
Muffy Calder
is Professor of Formal Methods at the University of Glasgow, where she uses computer
models to study systems with many interconnected parts. Calder wants women to see
computing as a fundamental science.
Leslie Goldberg
is Professor of Computer Science at the University of Oxford, and explores the boundary
between problems which can be solved and those which cannot. There are many unsolved
problems waiting to be cracked, says Goldberg.
Wendy Hall
is Professor of Computer Science at the University of Southampton, studying the latest
forms of multimedia. Hall says gender imbalance must become everyone’s issue, not just
women’s issue.
Carron Shankland
is Professor of Computing Science at the University of Stirling, where she models biological
systems. Shankland says it’s vital to communicate how important computer science is to
everything we do in the modern world.
Celia Hoyles
is Professor of Mathematics Education at University College London. Her research explores
the use of technology to teach mathematics, and she believes it will help girls to flourish.
Shafi Goldwasser
is Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, MIT, and Professor of
Computer Science and Applied Mathematics, Weizmann Institute of Science. Goldwasser
says women in computer science can stand out, though that’s not always a bad thing.
SCHEME ADVISORS
Marta Kwiatkowska is Professor of Computing Systems at the University of Oxford. She
talks about the beauty and symmetry of computer code. She says that when she moved to
the UK she was surprised by the gender imbalance here.
Emma McCoy is Professor of Statistics at Imperial College London. She says the fast-
moving nature of academia poses a particular challenge for women who have career
breaks. She welcomes more debate about how best to help women maintain successful
careers.
COMMUNICATIONS
INTERNATIONAL
RESEARCHER
COMPUTER
SCIENTISTS
33. 33
Christl Donnelly uses statistics to explore how diseases spread. Her research has helped
policy makers to develop ways to control diseases, such as SARS, bovine tuberculosis and
Ebola. But despite this high profile work, Donnelly has not always been recognised as a
figure of authority.
“I did once introduce myself to someone from industry who thought I was a waitress. I said
‘I wanted to introduce myself’. He looked at me and said, because he was pouring coffee,
‘Oh am I not supposed to be pouring my own?’ and handed me the jug. I don’t think that
would have happened to a man if he had approached a male counterpart,” says Donnelly.
She acknowledges that it’s an anecdote that’s not representative of all the experiences
she’s had with collaborators. However, she recognises that there are challenges facing
women in mathematics, a field of research that continues to be dominated by men.
One such challenge is the pressure placed on female academics to be role models,
and to make time to talk to young women, says Donnelly, who is Professor of Statistical
Epidemiology at the School of Public Health at Imperial College London. This pressure
adds to an already heavy workload of research, teaching and committee work. “It’s
important that women don’t feel that they’re obligated to do that, because there’s already
‘a tax’ on being on committees,” she says.
According to Donnelly, the growing expectation that committees have an equal balance
of men and women has a downside. If a department has only a few women they may be
asked to be on almost every committee, whilst their male counterparts are free to get on
with their research.
Donnelly also notes that there is a gradient of women across the subject. “Women are less
likely to be pure mathematicians, a bit more likely to be applied mathematicians and, as you
get into biostatistics, there are more women and in epidemiology even more,” she says.
But this may not be bad news. “I don’t think that’s because pure mathematics departments
are really sexist, and epidemiologists aren’t.” Instead, Donnelly says the gradient probably
tracks womens’ own interests. And she believes women should be encouraged to do what
interests them. The measure of success should not be the simple number of women who
take PhDs in mathematics, stresses Donnelly, but how many doors are open to them.
By Honor Pollard
CHRISTL
DONNELLY
IMPERIAL COLLEGE
LONDON
“I did once introduce
myself to someone
from industry who
thought I was a
waitress.”
35. 35
JANE
HUTTON
Jane Hutton, a statistician at the University of Warwick, has worked with lawyers, doctors,
historians and even philosophers. “What I like about statistics is that you can do some of
the formality and beauty of mathematics but you can also actually go out and think and
solve problems”. Hutton says statistics suits people with an “insatiable curiosity”.
In addition to being a professor, Hutton is the Undergraduate Senior Tutor at Warwick.
Hutton wants to see young mathematicians being supported; “I don’t only mean the best
mathematicians but encouraging those of your students who are struggling to recognise
what they can do, to aim to do that well, and to realise there are lots of different ways
of succeeding.” She would also like to see people respected for the choices they make.
“If people chose to stay at home with children and provide community cohesion that’s
incredibly valuable.”
Academics are constantly being assessed; papers, lectures, and grant applications are
all evaluated. An important skill, says Hutton, is being able to distinguish between valid
criticism and prejudiced opinion. “One of the dangers is getting yourself into the trap
of thinking ‘I didn’t get in because I’m a woman.’” She says that although this might
sometimes be true, women should seriously consider the possibility that their work was not
good enough or that they were not right for the position.
“There has become a bit of a danger of saying ‘let’s try to be as good as the men and
let’s try and copy them’, but actually I’d rather we didn’t.” Hutton explains the difficulty of
comparing men and women. She worries that if we pretend there aren’t differences, then
we will close the debate on gender issues. “Men and women are different and we should
celebrate that.”
Hutton believes that by being a successful woman in mathematics she is already making
the statement that it’s possible. Hutton went on to explain the message she wants to
communicate as a Suffrage Science award holder. “What I’d be keen to do is carry on
talking at schools and elsewhere saying ‘This is what I do, I think it’s very interesting and
you might enjoy it as well.’” To her, equality does not mean having equal numbers of men
and women in all positions but rather everyone having the opportunity of a good education,
and a fair chance of work.
By Honor Pollard
UNIVERSITY
OF WARWICK
“What I like about
statistics is that
you can do some
of the formality
and beauty of
mathematics but you
can also actually go
out and think and
solve problems.”
37. 37
“With maths, once you’ve proved something really is true then you know it’s true. There’s
no going back and saying ‘well this wasn’t quite right’. So you’re standing on the shoulders
of giants,” says Frances Kirwan, who is Professor of Mathematics at the University of
Oxford.
Kirwan is a pure mathematician. This means she explores abstract concepts, such as
graphs in infinite dimensions. She uses a combination of algebra and geometry to try to
better understand equations, and the shapes and spaces that their solutions might take up.
She says, “It’s a very rich, beautiful and highly developed area of mathematics that’s been
studied for centuries.”
Alongside her own research, Kirwan also examines the work of undergraduates. Part of
this, she says, is trying to find the root of the ‘finals gap’. The gap describes the disparity
in exam performance between men and women, and Kirwan says it’s a huge problem for
female students. “It may be that making a fuss about it actually makes things worse, rather
than better. It’s really difficult to know what to do to improve things. I would guess that it’s
got a lot to do with lack of self confidence and the way that society regards maths and
science, particularly maths and physics, as a male thing to do.”
Fewer girls than boys take part in the nationwide maths challenge, the UK Mathematics
Trust’s Individual Maths Challenges, according to Kirwan. She says this is because it’s just
not cool to do well at maths and science, especially if you’re a girl. Kirwan chaired the Trust
for six years, and it now runs an annual summer school for girls that aims to increase the
numbers who compete.
Kirwan encourages girls who are interested in mathematics to make links with others who
are the same age. “Mathematicians can be seen as people on their own but in fact that’s
not the way it works, certainly in research, and also as undergraduates and at school. If you
work together, solving problems together, that can be lots more fun.”
Reflecting on her own experience, Kirwan says that she has benefited from working
alongside other women. When she first came to Oxford as a graduate student in the early
1980s, there were already a number of female mathematicians with permanent positions.
Today, the women’s colleges at the university are required to hire female academics.
FRANCES
KIRWAN
By Honor Pollard
UNIVERSITY
OF OXFORD
“With maths, once
you’ve proved
something really is
true then you know
it’s true. There’s
no going back and
saying ‘well this
wasn’t quite right’.”
39. 39
SYLVIA
RICHARDSON
Sylvia Richardson, director of the MRC Biostatistics Unit, explains why she relishes being a
mathematician: “You have to enjoy thinking about a problem, in mathematics you do that in
a rather abstract manner, and that’s quite beautiful.” As a statistician, Richardson analyses
data from the medical sciences to answer scientific questions. Her work uses genomic
data to understand how the body works, with the goal of helping to target treatments that
are specific to an individual.
Richardson emphasises that if we can make women curious about mathematics, then
they will be drawn to the subject. “To attract women I think you need to show how
stimulating it is, and how rewarding it could be,” she says. Crowdsourcing could be the
answer. “At the moment, with this ‘Big Data’ deluge, there are a lot of fun problems and
difficult challenges”. Just as astronomers publish images for ‘citizen scientists’ to interpret,
Richardson thinks mathematicians could ask the public to look for patterns in data.
Teachers have a critical role to play in making mathematics attractive, she says. If you are
taught in an inspiring way at school, then you can get hooked on the subject. Richardson
feels education can also change how science and maths are viewed by society. “I
come from a French education background, where women scientists are extremely well
recognised,” she explains. This aspect of French culture has given her the confidence to
build her career in the UK.
However, not all women in maths and computing share this confidence. Richardson
believes that often society can discourage women from being single-minded and career-
focused. Pressure to engage with all parts of life equally, she says, makes a happy work-life
balance more difficult to achieve. “You have to not be influenced by other people’s view,
and find what life balance is the most fulfilling for you personally," she says.
As a Suffrage Science award-holder, Richardson would like to use her mentoring skills to
help young people at the start of their careers. On a wider scale, Richardson says her unit
will lead by example, “In our unit here, we’re a very open group of scientists, women are
extremely well represented and we do a lot of communication and outreach.” This, she
believes, will help to encourage more women to enter mathematics and related fields.
By Honor Pollard
DIRECTOR
MRC BIOSTATISTICS UNIT
“I come from a
French education
background, where
women scientists
are extremely well
recognised.”
41. 41
GWYNETH
STALLARD
Imaginary numbers, fantastical fractal images, and boundless iterations of mathematical
functions; this is the world that Gywneth Stallard inhabits. As Professor of Pure
Mathematics at the Open University, her research focuses on a branch of mathematics
called complex dynamics, at the heart of which lie complex numbers. “Even though these
numbers feel very abstract they’re used by engineers to solve practical problems,” she
says.
Conveying the message that maths is relevant for jobs both in and out of academia is
something she believes to be important if more women are to enter the field, and stay.
“Nationally over 40% of undergraduates doing maths are women. Then we have a big
drop off at PhD level to about 25%,” she reveals. In an effort to curtail this decline, Stallard
helps to organise ‘Women in Maths’ days, where female speakers from industry share how
having a PhD in mathematics has helped them with their careers.
Stallard chaired the Women in Maths Committee of the London Mathematical Society
(LMS) for 10 years, and recalls a turning point in attitudes when the International Review of
Mathematics highlighted concerns over the low numbers of women in maths in the UK. “I
spoke to several male mathematicians afterwards, and they never wanted to read a report
like that again.”
The LMS helped departments to make a positive change, she recounts: “We set up a Good
Practice Scheme, which helps maths departments to support women in their department.”
This kind of environment was particularly important when Stallard started a family, as it
enabled her to return to work part time. However this brought its own challenges.
“Working part time, you struggle to keep your research career going,” she notes, adding
that research is often the first thing to suffer as “women are more likely to say yes to tasks
and then not have enough time for research.” However, being a woman in maths has its
advantages too: “I think because there aren’t many of us, once I got recognised as being
good, I had more opportunities than some of my male colleagues.”
Stallard says she has seen progress for women in maths during the course of her own
career, and continues her efforts to highlight the multitude of career options that maths can
open up for women, and points out that “maths is just used for everything!”
By Lux Fatimathas
THE OPEN
UNIVERSITY
“I think because
there aren’t many
of us, once I got
recognised as being
good, I had more
opportunities than
some of my male
colleagues.”
43. 43
ANN
BLANDFORD
“Bridging the formality of computer science and the informality of real life is a fascinating
challenge,” says Ann Blandford, Professor of Human Computer Interaction at University
College London. Blandford studies how people use technology, and how technology can
be better designed to support its use. As Director of the UCL Institute of Digital Health, she
focuses her endeavours on healthcare.
“I’m motivated by an idealism at the end of the day, but I also love the intellectual
challenges,” Blandford reveals. “I think there is a lot of bad technology design out there,
and hopefully we can do something to make it safer, more reliable, and more useful.”
Working at the interface between humans and computers, Blandford brings the precision
of thought that comes from her background in maths and artificial intelligence to problems
that involve the ambiguities of human psychology. She finds this branch of computer
science to be more balanced on the gender front than where she started out: “I have been
in meetings where the audience has been addressed as ‘lady and gentlemen’.”
She says she never felt discriminated against. “There have been some opportunities I
probably had when I was slightly younger that I would not have done if I’d been a man,”
she adds. Gender has never defined Blandford professionally, and she carries this mind-set
through to her own efforts to mentor early career researchers, be they men or women. “I’ve
tried very hard throughout my career to not make women feel different,” she says. “It can
almost be counterproductive at times to emphasise differences. I’m much more interested
in normalising it.”
She believes redressing the gender imbalance requires subtle changes, such as highlighting
the importance of “valuing skills that are more typically female as much as skills that are
more typically male.” She suggests that promoting the social values of computer science in
addition to its other exciting elements could attract more women.
Blandford has carved out a successful career in computer science, a mother and
grandmother. She believes it’s possible to make it as a computer scientist, and not sacrifice
other aspects of life, or of being a woman. She says she is a leading computer scientist
who also happens to be a woman, and this embodies her vision of the future: “For me it’s
about making it normal for a woman to be in computer science.”
By Lux Fatimathas
UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE LONDON
“I think there is a
lot of bad technology
design out there, and
hopefully we can do
something to make it
safer, more reliable,
and more useful.”
45. 45
MUFFY
CALDER
“There’s so much you can think about in the bathtub and go and write a program in your
own time, at two in the morning if you want. It’s very creative and the power is in your
hands.” Muffy Calder always wanted to be a scientist and explains why computer science
suits her character. Now the head of the College of Science & Engineering at University of
Glasgow, she uses computational modelling to answer questions about systems with lots
of interconnected parameters, questions such as ‘does the entertainment system network
in a self-driving car interact with the driving protocols?’
Calder originally studied mathematics as an undergraduate. “I was lucky,” she says, “I got
into it before I was at school.” Calder admits that with the current curriculum she would not
want to be a computer scientist. She thinks one significant drawback for computer science
is the way that it is portrayed at school. For 3 years to 2015, she was Chief Scientific
Adviser to the Scottish Government, and believes that working with government to change
the curriculum is one way to help to attract more women into the subject.
When computing is taught as a fundamental science, then women will want to do it in the
same way they want to study other disciplines, she says. “What I want to make certain of is
that girls and boys actually understand what the subject is. In a way it doesn’t matter that
women don’t want to do it, but do they understand what it is that they are turning down?”
Calder feels positive about her experience in computing. “Generally people treat me very
well, because I’m different and I have a funny name so they remember me. I do think that’s
been to my advantage.” She is glad to have had the support of other female computer
scientists and believes she helped to “create a new normal” by hiring fellow Suffrage
Science awardee, Carron Shankland, when Shankland was a young researcher.
As a role model for young women, Calder says it is important to do the best science she
can. “That’s the biggest and best way to encourage women into the field - to make sure
I am doing good science, and to make sure people know what I’m doing as well.” At one
point Calder thought about giving up on working with government to concentrate on her
research. She was motivated to continue after receiving an OBE for her efforts. “I need to
keep giving back, to help to create the sorts of environments in which I feel I flourished,”
she says.
By Honor Pollard
UNIVERSITY
OF GLASGOW
“There’s so much
you can think about
in the bathtub and
go and then write
a program in your
own time, at two
in the morning if
you want. It’s very
creative and the
power is in your
hands.”
47. 47
LESLIE
GOLDBERG
“There are thousands of mathematical problems that arise in real life all the time,” says
Leslie Goldberg, Professor of Computer Science at the University of Oxford. “The amazing
thing is that we know that they are all equally difficult. So either you can solve them all, or
you can’t solve any of them. What we don’t know is which is it.” This is one of the biggest
open questions in computer science today, and forms the crux of Goldberg’s research into
understanding the boundary between problems that can be solved, and those that can’t.
Goldberg didn’t set out to study the nature of mathematical problems, instead she
aspired to become a lawyer. That is until a revelation at university: “I didn’t know there
were mathematical problems that I could understand to which nobody knew the answer.”
This new found knowledge made a career in maths both appealing and attainable, and is
something she believes “young girls need to know”.
She notes that “the numbers are staggering” when it comes to the lack of women studying
maths. She suggests that motivational talks emphasising the many unsolved problems
waiting to be cracked could inspire more girls to take it up. Goldberg gives public lectures
on maths herself, and hopes to deliver more.
For those who do pursue maths and continue to postgraduate studies, the absolute nature
of the subject raises new challenges. “You study problems where you have no idea whether
you are going to solve them or not. If you can’t solve anything you will fall off the map,”
she says. Goldberg explains that fear of failure is particularly prevalent early on, and that
self-confidence may be more of an issue for women at this stage of their careers. “Certainly
I thought about quitting in the middle of my PhD because I thought wasn’t good enough,”
she reveals.
Further up the career ladder, gender imbalance results in female academics being asked to
serve on more committees than their male counterparts. “Women waste a lot more of their
time on things that don’t further their careers,” explains Goldberg. Particularly for women
starting their careers, she stresses the importance of protecting their time, so that they
can focus on their research. Tackling the issue of persuading more women into maths and
computing may be a work in progress, but this time it’s a problem that can be solved, she
believes.
By Lux Fatimathas
UNIVERSITY
OF OXFORD
“Women waste a
lot more of their
time on things that
don’t further their
careers.”
49. 49
WENDY
HALL
Wendy Hall, Professor of Computer Science at the University of Southampton, never
dreamt that she would end up being a leading computer scientist. When recognising the
achievement of women she says: “We need to make sure we get the language right, which
is we’re top scientists, not top women scientists.”
At the start of her career, Hall did not know she was ahead. “I got into doing it at a time
when multimedia was science fiction and the web was science fiction. It was all about
being ahead of the game I suppose.”
Hall wrote her first paper about the lack of women in computing nearly thirty years ago. “I
can’t believe it’s taken so long and it’s so slow. Nothing’s changed, if anything its got a bit
worse if you consider all the effort that’s been put into trying to get women into science. I
see new subjects emerge like data science and they rapidly become very male-dominated,
but they shouldn’t be, they don’t need to be.”
“Before computers became mainstream, quite a lot of women ran computing departments
in companies and universities. It dropped off when they started introducing personal
computers into schools, and they were sold as toys for the boys and we’ve never really
recovered from that.”
Hall explains how she thinks the decline of female computer scientists came about.
Hall believes the low number of women speaking at computer science conferences is
astonishing. “How does it happen in this day and age?” she says. “It will only change if
it becomes everyone’s issue and not just a women’s issue.” Referencing an all-male list
of speakers for an upcoming data science conference Hall asks “Why can’t one of them
complain about it?”
The gender imbalance in mathematics starts early, with fewer girls taking maths and
physics at A Level. Hall blames peer pressure: “So many girls pull back from making that
choice at fifteen or sixteen and then they’re lost”. Hall says something radical needs to be
done to change the situation at sixth form level. She suggests removing the option to drop
science will stop girls from avoiding it due to peer pressure, and help to keep the doors
open to a career in science for women.
By Honor Pollard
UNIVERSITY
OF SOUTHAMPTON
“We need to make
sure we get the
language right,
which is we’re top
scientists, not top
women scientists.”
51. 51
“People have this idea that a programmer is essentially a spotty teenager, sitting in
a darkened room, playing games all night,” remarks Carron Shankland, Professor of
Computing Science at the University of Stirling. Shankland aims to dispel this incongruous
image, in the hope of encouraging more young women to enter the field of computer
science. Communication will be vital, she says: “As a discipline we have not communicated
how important computer science is to everything we do in the modern world”.
Shankland’s own research has clear real-world applications. She creates computational
models of biological systems to tackle questions such as ‘how does disease spread?’, and
‘how do cancer cells interact?’. “I like to work with biologists and epidemiologists. It’s really
interesting to learn about their systems, and find a common language that you can use to
express the problem you’re tackling together.”
Looking back to her early days in computer science, she recalls the scene in her
undergraduate class: “I looked around and only about 10 or 15 percent of us were women.
So I did feel a bit of an odd person out.” Despite this largely male environment, she found
an inspiring female role model in Professor Muffy Calder: “She still is an inspiration to me
because of the positive attitude she brings.”
Shankland went on to work for Calder after graduating. As she progressed through her
career, she found herself with the challenge of an excess of opportunities, including calls
to sit on numerous panels seeking equal representation in a field with far fewer women
than men. “Saying ‘no’ is really hard. The temptation to do too many things can be
overwhelming.” Striking the right balance is an on-going battle that she juggles alongside
her own efforts to tackle gender diversity in computer science.
At the heart of these efforts are the Athena SWAN Awards, recognising commitments
to gender equality in science. Shankland is working to develop countrywide networks of
Athena SWAN computer scientists so that they can share resources, knowledge, and ideas
that will help to redress the gender imbalance.
Leading by example, she is hopeful that raising the profiles of women in computer science
will inspire future generations of girls to get involved: “Hopefully the Suffrage Science
awards will allow teachers to use us as exemplars to hold up in classrooms and say ‘Look,
here is a woman who is in computing and you could be like her too’.”
CARRON
SHANKLAND
By Lux Fatimathas
UNIVERSITY
OF STIRLING
“Hopefully the
Suffrage Science
awards will allow
teachers to use us as
exemplars to hold
up in classrooms and
say ‘Look, here is a
woman who is in
computing and you
could be like
her too’.”
53. 53
CELIA
HOYLES
“I’ll never forget this meeting because it was just all men, engineers…so much so that
when I went to the Ladies I couldn’t believe it, there were all these men in the Ladies’
toilets,” says Celia Hoyles, a mathematician at the University College London Knowledge
Lab. The lab’s mission is: “to understand and to develop digital technologies to support and
transform education, and beyond”. Effective communication is at the heart of everything
that it, and Hoyles, does.
Since that early conference, she says she has seen the field progress, for example with a
higher proportion of women in undergraduate maths courses, but that there is a long way
to go. “My major concern about mathematics is its image. I think a lot of very good people
over many years have tried to change this.” She believes new digital technology could be
key to encouraging people of all ages into mathematics. She is Professor of Mathematics
Education, and her research examines the use of computers and software in teaching
mathematics. Hoyles thinks this new approach will help girls to flourish.
She looks to the success of Seymour Papert, who helped to invent a programming
language called Logo for children in the 1960s. “He was a genius, a wonderful
communicator. He’s one of those people who has changed the lives of lots of people. He’s
my inspiration.”
Today, Hoyles talks with school children about mathematics. As a Suffrage Science award
holder, she says she will now talk to school leaders to make them aware of the problems
that girls face, and the importance of addressing them. According to Hoyles, girls are more
likely to say they are ‘no good’ at maths. “It’s not for everybody, but nor is art for everybody
or English for everybody. It is such an important moment when the teachers, schools and
institutions see these people as potential mathematicians”.
For her, it’s not only about targeting school children. A lack of confidence can also hold
back female mathematicians as they develop their careers. “Particularly in academia,
you have to push young women forward and say ‘you are good enough’. It’s to do with
personal relationships and making sure they understand that they are capable.” She
suggests that there is a need for mentors to help to support more senior women in
mathematics. “Our job will be to make it known that you can succeed.”
By Honor Pollard
UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE LONDON
“Particularly in
academia, you
have to push young
women forward
and say ‘you are
good enough’. It’s to
do with personal
relationships and
making sure they
understand that they
are capable.”
55. 55
SHAFI
GOLDWASSER
Shafi Goldwasser is credited with having produced some of the most influential papers in
computer science. In 2013, she won the Turing Award, the Nobel Prize of computing.
It all began with a story about an imaginary couple. When Goldwasser was still a PhD
student at the University of California, a professor told the tale in a number theory class.
The couple are about to split up, and both want to keep their dog. They decide to toss a
coin, and want to do this over the telephone to avoid meeting up. But neither trusts the
other to play fairly. Can you use encryption to help flip a fair coin over the telephone?
Goldwasser was fascinated by the idea that number theory, which until the mid-20th
century was considered the purest branch of mathematics, devoid of application, could be
used to simulate a physical coin toss through a relay of encrypted messages, and make it
impossible to cheat.
This sparked her interest in sending secret messages over a network in a way that hides all
partial information about those messages. She teamed up with colleague Silvio Micali, and
together they devised solutions for secure encryption and communication protocols that
enable multiple people to jointly compute on private information, without the aid of a trusted
third party.
Goldwasser’s work helped to lay the theoretical foundations of modern cryptography.
Goldwasser and Micali’s contribution was recognised in the Turing Award citation. This
stated that the pair had “turned cryptography from an art into a science.” The prize is
named after Alan Turing, the pioneering computer scientist who cracked the German
Enigma codes during WWII.
Beyond cryptography, Goldwasser has produced landmark papers, initiating entire
subfields of computer science, such as verification of computation by probabilistic
and interactive proofs. Friendships have been key. “It was important to me when I
was a graduate student that I was part of a group of friends. Those interactions led to
collaborations, to acceptance, to being part of the field which became my life vocation.”
Goldwasser was one of only a few female students and says little has changed. “As
a woman you’re different, so you stand out. It’s not necessarily bad to stand out in an
academic field, but you’re judged differently. I think the assumption to begin with is that the
men are better, and you have to work harder and differently to prove yourself.”
By Deborah Oakley
MIT AND WEIZMANN
INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE
“As a woman you’re
different, so you
stand out. It’s not
necessarily bad to
stand out in an
academic field,
but you’re judged
differently. I think
the assumption to
begin with is that
the men are better,
and you have to
work harder and
differently to prove
yourself.”
56. 56
Marta Kwiatkowska, a computer scientist at the University of Oxford,
is an advisor to the Suffrage Science maths and computing scheme.
Kwiatkowska helped to inspire the student jewellery designers of Central
Saint Martins when she spoke to them about the beauty and symmetry
that can be found in mathematics and in computer code. She drew their
attention to the spirals and intricate patterns often found in nature. One
such pattern is the Fibonacci sequence, the series of numbers in which
a number is found by adding the two numbers that precede it. This
can be seen, for example, in the patterned arrangement of seeds in the
head of a sunflower.
On seeing her science portrayed in the jewellery, Kwiatkowska says: “I
thought they did very well. I was a little bit nostalgic to see some of the
things that a computer scientist of my age used to actually work with,
like punched cards and punched tape.”
“I’m very positive about any initiative to bring in support for women in
science at all levels of their career. I was very happy to support it,” says
Kwiatkowska. When she first moved to the UK, to pursue her research,
Kwiatkowska was surprised by the gender imbalance. “In Poland, at the
undergraduate level, there was a balance between men and women.
When I came to this country, I was suddenly in a minority.”
Since then, she has seen more women move into senior positions -
though she says that the field continues to be dominated by men. She
attributes her success to the support of her family, and her stubborn
attitude. “Stubborn and driven, that’s what I am,” she says.
MARTA
KWIATKOWSKA
Marta Kwiatkowska
Scheme Advisor
By Honor Pollard
UNIVERSITY
OF OXFORD
57. 57
Emma McCoy
Scheme Advisor
EMMA
MCCOY
“It’s actually quite a small community, the female maths community, so it
was nice to do a bit of research into what’s happening with other female
academics,” says Emma McCoy of Imperial College London and an advisor
to the new maths and computing section of the Suffrage Science scheme.
“I like the idea of producing this generation of female academics where
they pass down to the next generation, that is a lovely idea, and anything
that promotes women into science and engineering I think should be
supported.”
McCoy is a statistician, and the first female professor in her department. As
well as teaching, McCoy has a number of responsibilities including deputy
head of department. “Academia is a very hard career choice as a woman
because research moves so quickly. If you have career breaks, it’s very hard
to get back into research,” says McCoy, who sees the new section of the
scheme as an opportunity to think about improvements that could be made
so that female mathematicians, and scientists in general, can maintain a
successful career.
“Maths doesn’t have a great reputation, yet there is such beauty in some
of the maths we do. People say ‘maths is a bit boring’, and that attitude is
driven a lot by some of the curriculum in the GCSEs and A Levels. People
who work in maths need to show that there is maths beyond the A Level.”
By Honor Pollard
IMPERIAL COLLEGE
LONDON
58. 58
Thanks are due to the many people who have helped to develop the new Maths &
Computing section of the Suffrage Science scheme. The tutors and students of Central
Saint Martins-UAL deserve particular mention, as do advisors Marta Kwiatkowska and
Emma McCoy. Thank you also to Martin Baker who has crafted all of the scheme’s
jewellery pieces; to Layton Thompson for his creative photographic skills in preparing this
brochure; to writers Deborah Oakley, Honor Pollard and Lux Fatimathas and designer
Laura Tamborini for their diligence in bringing it all together; to the directors of Bletchley
Park for allowing us to host our launch event at your splendid site; to Joanna Hodgson
at IBM for your kind offer of help with the new scheme website, suffargescience.org;
to Alice Gast, president of Imperial College London; to long-standing supporters the
Medical Research Council, L’Oreal and the Royal Society; and of course to Amanda
Fisher, Director of the MRC Clinical Sciences Centre, for her initial vision, and tenacity in
seeing this to fruition.
Susan Watts
Head of Communications and Public Engagement
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
