Few months ago the European Commission launched the Women in Research and Innovation campaign to encourage more women to choose research careers. For the launch of the campaign the releases , which attracted a lot of criticism.
One of the most interesting reactions to this video was the coming together of a very interesting network of (almost entirely) female scientists. They are very passionate about science and they want to pass on their love for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics to the next generation.
They started discussing the stereotypical portrayal of women displayed in the video and soon after that they decided to put words into action and Science Grrl was born.
They decided they wanted to try to raise the profile of female scientist producing a beautiful 2013 calendar showcasing their work.
The calendar was launched on 18 October 2012 at the Science Museum and is now on sale to raise funds for initiatives that will help girls and young women engage with STEM subjects and realise careers similar to the people portrayed in the calendar.
“We had a lot of interest and positive media coverage“, said Founder and Director of ScienceGrrl Heather Williams, “I am now very happy about the calendar success. We already sold 500 of the 1200 copies!”
shows the real face of female scientists and The Reaction has decided to learn more about the people behind the interesting project. Heather Williams is very enthusiastic about the project and she said that “It doesn’t really feel like work, the people I work with are so amazing. Everyone is doing such a great job that it’s fantastic to spend time with them. For me, this is part of what makes science grrl attractive in itself. We want to show how much fun we have doing science, and that we are real people.”
We will profile some of the protagonist in the calendar to find out more about their stories. The first one will be Heather Williams herself. where she says a bit more about the ScienceGrrl. And soon you will be able to read more about how she got inspired to get into science in the first place…