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International Women's Day calls for people to #PressforProgress towards gender parity

Celebrating International Women’s Day

International Women’s Day (8 March) celebrates women’s achievements worldwide.

There is no shortage of inspirational and high-achieving women working here at Exeter - including award-winning scientists, one of the army’s first helicopter pilots and a chef who has cooked for the Queen.

Some of the outstanding female academics, students and support staff in Exeter and Penryn have their own inspirational messages for people who want to succeed in their chosen field.

Rachel Burn, of the Medical School, says the most important thing for gender parity is for women to believe in themselves. 

Isabelle Baraffe, head of astrophysics, says the top researchers are like elite athletes, and need to work just as hard to reach the top.

Professor Michelle Ryan believes women should be able to "pursue a fulfilling career of their choice and be able to do so unimpeded by expectations and assumptions based on gender".  

 Isabelle Baraffe

Professor Isabelle Baraffe

Isabelle Baraffe is an internationally recognised authority on exoplanets beyond our solar system. Her research has won a string of awards including:

Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award in 2010; Johann WEMPE prize of the Astrophysikalisches Institut Potsdam in 2004; Bronze medal from the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (France) 1999. Before arriving in Exeter in 2010, she worked at the Centre de Recherche Astrophysique de Lyon (CRAL) and Ecole Normale Superieure in Lyon, France, and the University of Gottingen and Max-Planck Institut fur Astrophysik in Germany.

She likens academic research to elite athletics, saying: “I always make the comparison between high-level researchers and high-level athletes. If one wants to reach the highest level, one needs to set the right priorities at the right time and work very hard”, she says.

 Janice Kay

Professor Janice Kay

Janice Kay is the Provost and Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor at the University of Exeter. Prior to her role as Provost she spent 10 years as Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Education. Janice is a Professor of cognitive neuropsychology, first appointed to Exeter through a Wellcome Trust University Lectureship. Her research, funded most recently by ESRC as well as Wellcome and MRC, is concerned with theoretical modelling, assessment and rehabilitation of disorders of perception, speech, language and memory.

In the role of Provost, Janice is deputy to the senior academic leader of the University, the Vice-Chancellor. She provides strategic leadership for the overall corporate plan and oversees the portfolio of University strategies. She is passionate about ensuring Exeter is a vibrant, diverse and inclusive place to work and study, and welcomes International Women’s Day as a chance to celebrate all the brilliant women in this University who are all role models. 

  Shades IWD

Shades

Shraddha Chaudhary, known as Shades, came to Exeter from India in 2014. She is the first ever international student to be students’ Guild President.

Shades studied English, with a few modules in creative writing and film studies. She loves reading, travelling and playing football, which she played at a national level in India. Shades was elected Deputy Vice-President International in 2016 and then as Guild President. She has also been appointed to the Office for Students Student panel. 

She describes her time at Exeter as "a huge developmental curve". She was involved with the Exeter University Ladies Football Club, Welcome Team and held various positions of leadership on Guild societies’ committees including UNICEF, Asian Society and Exeter University Theatre Company.

 Roo Hayward Smith

Roo Haywood Smith

Roo Haywood Smith, Deputy Director of College Operations in the College of Social Sciences and International Studies, spent 15 years in the British army and was one of the army’s first female helicopter pilots. She flew Gazelle helicopters in a reconnaissance and surveillance role in Northern Ireland before converting onto Lynx to support operations on the ground.

Joining the University in 2012, Roo has worked to help Sir Paul Newton establish the Strategy and Security Institute (SSI).  

In the early 1990s, Roo served in Germany for five years with the British Army of the Rhine, including a stint in an ambassadorial role with a German Armoured Infantry Battalion. In 1994, she deployed with the Coldstream Guards to Bosnia in support of the United Nations.

On leaving the army to look after her two small children, Roo became involved in a community shop project in a rural Devon village. She now spends most weekends with her children and their ponies, inevitably traipsing around Devon with the horse trailer. In June, Roo is taking part in a night time Dartmoor crossing (north to south) to raise money for Help for Heroes.

 Ruth Sealy IWD

Professor Ruth Sealy

Ruth Sealy is an Associate Professor in Organisation Studies and Director of the Exeter Centre for Leadership. She was an entrepreneur in the skiing industry and then a management psychologist before starting a PhD. Her academic work in the past decade has been driven by and dedicated to increasing the proportion of women on boards and in senior leadership positions.

She has worked closely with government and business, and was recently asked to give evidence to a parliamentary select committee on this issue. Outside of work she is married, with two children. To relax she likes to go running with her daughter or kitesurfing with the whole family. 

 

 Cath Tal IWD

Catherine Talbot

Catherine Talbot is a PhD student whose research into the use of social media by young people has already captured the public imagination, with national press coverage, and an art exhibition inspired by her research. She has been interviewed in the BBC, the Telegraph, the Sunday Times and Sky about the role of social media on young people's behaviour and body image.  

Catherine, who graduated from the University of Bath in 2016 with a BSc (Hons) degree in Psychology, was a runner up for the Helen Haste award for creativity and innovative writing. Her PhD broadly concerns the themes of dementia, social media and identity. Her other research interests include online behaviour and body image. She is the South West postgraduate representative for PsyPAG, and has multiple publications surrounding dementia and social media, as well as the "thinspiration, fitspiration and bonespiration" platforms and their relationship to eating disorders.

 Michelle Ryan IWD

Professor Michelle Ryan

Michelle Ryan is Professor of Social and Organisational Psychology and Dean of Postgraduate Research at the University of Exeter and Professor of Diversity at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands. Together with Alex Haslam, she uncovered the phenomenon of the "glass cliff", whereby women (and members of other minority groups) are more likely to be placed in leadership positions which are risky or precarious.

This research was shortlisted for the Times Higher Education Supplement Research Project of the Year in 2005 and was named by the New York Times as one of the ideas that shaped 2008. In 2015, she spoke at the TEDxExeter talk about her research, which was watched nearly 70,000 times in the six months after her speech.

She says: "Every academic has their grants rejected, receives hideous reviews on their papers, experiences crises of confidence, and feels like an impostor at times. You need to push through these tough times and remember what inspires you about the work.

"I’m convinced by the moral case for gender diversity - it’s only right that women (and men of course) should be able to pursue a fulfilling career of their choice and to be able to do so unimpeded by expectations and assumptions based on gender. Given the fact that women still face extra barriers within society, this needs to be counteracted by concrete interventions within the workplace."

 Lorna Harries IIWD

Professor Lorna Harries

Lorna Harries is a molecular geneticist who gained her PhD at University College London, after which she worked at the universities of Dundee and Sussex. She arrived in Exeter in 2001. Lorna is interested in all things related to gene expression, and in particular how it can influence ageing and age-related diseases such as type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and dementia. She also has an active interest in making science accessible to the general public.

She has written over 90 peer-reviewed articles and was awarded the Diabetes UK RD Lawrence Prize Lectureship in 2011.

She is co-ordinator of the annual UEMS "Men in White" school outreach with Dr John Chilton, where year 9 students from Devon to Somerset get hands-on experience of working in a laboratory. Lorna is a STEMnet ambassador and also an Exeter Catalyst Champion for Public Engagement. In her spare time, Lorna enjoys reading, live music, crafts and spending time with her family.

 Emma Bessent

Emma Bessent

Emma Bessent is a third-year English student currently balancing her degree with editing the student newspaper Exeposé, the co-presidency of the English society and co-chairing the English SSLC. She is also part of the Residence Life Team and Exeter Student Ambassador Scheme. Having contended with several chronic illnesses since childhood, her undergraduate degree hasn’t been the smoothest of experiences, but passion for literature, arts and culture has given her the drive to overcome any obstacles and pursue a full, varied student experience.

She hopes to continue in her studies of Early Modern theatre at Masters and eventually PhD level, with the aim of working to expand diversity and inclusivity in the arts education and heritage sectors. 

 Jacqui Marshall

Jacqui Marshall

Jacqui Marshall is the University's Deputy Registrar & Director of People Services and Global Partnerships, responsible for delivering all Human Resources, Organisational Development, Health, Safety and Wellbeing Services. Jacqui also leads on the Transformation programme and leads the University Global Partnerships team. She is currently the Chair of the Russell Group HR Directors’ network.

Previously, Jacqui was a Senior Civil Servant in the Ministry of Defence (MoD), where her most recent role was leading the Cultural Change Programme at MOD Headquarters. Within her civil service career, she held a range of HR and business appointments including a secondment to DEFRA where she held the Board level appointment of HR Director for Rural Payments Agency.

Jacqui is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, a Fellow of the Institute of Directors and a trained mediator and business coach. She is currently a Non-Executive Director of the Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust.

 Lorna Fleming

Professor Lora Fleming

Professor Fleming is a Chair of Oceans, Epidemiology and Human Health at the University of Exeter Medical School. She is a board certified occupational and environmental health physician and epidemiologist with over two decades of experience and expertise in environment and occupational exposures and human health. After over 20 years of working at the University of Miami, she is an Emerita Professor (both the Miller School of Medicine and the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences).

Professor Fleming works on an international scale, researching and training in the new metadiscipline of Oceans and Human Health.

She is the recipient of the 2013 Edouard Delcroix Prize and the 2015 Bruun Medal of the International Oceanographic Commission (IOC) for her research and other activities in Oceans and Human Health. Professor Fleming is a Member the US National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) to the NIEHS Gulf Oil Study, and the UK Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) Science Board. Professor Fleming is also an ASPIRE Principle Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

She said: "I have been very fortunate in my career in that I have been able to work with very diverse people, both researchers and others, who bring not only different disciplines, but also very different life experiences... this is why we need to encourage, nurture and support diversity of gender, race, experience, roles, sexual orientation, and beliefs in all our research and training to truly explore the world."

 Daisy Hill IWD

Daisy Hill

Daisy Hill is a 19-year old first-year Spanish and Arabic student, and a musician whose work has already been played on BBC and local independent radio.

Originally from Cambridgeshire, Daisy writes her own "folky-pop" music, writing and playing for voice, piano and guitar. Her first EP, "Through Misted Eyes". was released on 5 January this year, and is available on all major streaming sites and digital music shops. Daisy looks forward to releasing another single later this year. She has performed at venues such as the Cambridge Corn Exchange, and will perform at the Firehouse in Exeter on 25 March.

 Rachel Burn IWD

Rachel Burn

Rachel Burn is Director of College Operations for the University of Exeter Medical School and has overall leadership responsibility for operational and administrative support in the College. She ensures the College's professional services directly support the College and University and aid the delivery of outstanding and world-leading education and research.

Rachel has a BA in East European History from the School of Slavonic and East European Studies, the University of London, and a Masters in Education and an MBA with Merit from The Open University.

She said: "I was inspired by my history teacher, Mrs Syrett, at secondary school, who encouraged my love of history and allowed the class to build siege castles out of tables and chairs in the classroom. In addition, my grandmother studied for one of the first Open University degrees in the 1960s, having been denied education because of the war, and my mother was a teacher and inspired me with a love of education and a passion for its ability to change lives.

"My advice would be to never be afraid to try something new or take on a difficult project or even fail. It’s okay to fail occasionally and also to admit you have made a mistake. It is worth remembering that whilst we strive for perfection, no one is actually perfect! My advice is also to be confident in your abilities. I have supported a lot of women in my career who did not believe they were good enough. They were always amazing people, they just didn’t believe it. So the most important thing for gender parity is for women to believe in themselves and put themselves forward."

 Sally Turner IWD

Sally Turner

Sally Turner has worked at the University for 12 years, starting as a Finance Assistant and then working up to being a Head of Finance. She has worked in both Colleges and Services. After achieving her professional qualifications whilst working full-time at the university, she feels that she was “very lucky when the University agreed to fund my progression and invest in my future”.

Sally is on her third year as a PS Representative at Council, where she has learned a lot about how the University operates at all levels.

She said: "Without this knowledge I don’t think I would be doing the job I am doing today. It has been a tremendous opportunity that I have thoroughly enjoyed."

Outside of work Sally plays hockey for a local club in Exeter, where she plays in goal for the 4th team. She is also Treasurer for the club.

 Szyprillo

Janet Szypillo

Janet Szypillo is a chef whose career started at Exeter University in 1982, where she was employed as a trainee chef at Reed Hall and took her City and Guild exams in catering through Exeter College. Over her long career at the University, Janet has had the privilege to cook for many people including the Queen, and at Sir Steve Smith & Jeannie's wedding at Reed Hall.

Janet has also competed in national cooking competitions whilst at the University, enabling herself to pit her wits against other British universities and with great success - winning two bronze and two silver medals. This year, Janet will compete at the TUCO Chefs Challenge at the University of Warwick, against her own Second Chef.

She said: "My passion for food and enthusiasm to further my knowledge and experience does not relent, and hopefully I am an inspiration to colleagues to make a difference every single day."

 Jane Chafer

Jane Chafer

Jane Chafer is the Director of Communications & Corporate Affairs at the University of Exeter. In addition to being a member of the Vice-Chancellor’s Executive Group, Jane also sit on the boards of Falmouth Exeter Plus and INTO. In 2017, Jane took over as Chair of the Universities’ Marketing Forum.

Jane started her career in 1985 with a marketing sponsorship for ECC Limited, based in St Austell, and completed a BSc in Business Studies at Bradford University, with a six-month spell in Milan. This was followed by a move to Mars Confectionery and subsequently BT, where Jane held various senior marketing and communication roles with responsibility for integrated customer-facing campaigns and communications. In 2009, Jane completed an MBA at Ashridge and became a Chartered Marketer and Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing.

Jane describes her role here at Exeter as "interesting and diverse"; having responsibility for the successful delivery of the institution’s communications, marketing, student recruitment and student admissions. Leading a team of more than 200 colleagues, Jane has initiated a number of projects to put Exeter firmly on the map as a world-class university.

Jane divides her time between Exeter and Cornwall, where she enjoys long beach walks with her family and dog. She is an enthusiastic skier and sailor so spends time on the slopes and on the waves whenever she can. Jane loves to travel and embrace new and different experiences and cultures, with a recent trip to Australia ticking all the boxes. Another interest for Jane is Plymouth Argyle, and she regularly attend matches to cheer on the Green Army!

Margaret House Hayes IWD USE

Margaret House-Hayes

Margaret House-Hayes became Head of Corporate Events in 2016, responsible not only for the successful delivery of graduation ceremonies but high-profile VIP visits and events involving the Vice-Chancellor and senior team. Margaret co-ordinated the successful visit of Prime Minister David Cameron to Streatham Campus in April 2016, as well as visits of Cabinet Ministers and Royals to campus.

Margaret manages the University’s Events team and is renowned as one of the most organised people on campus and for her calm and unflappable demeanour.

Margaret actually started her career as a trained NNEB Nursery Nurse at the Bristol Maternity Hospital, including working in the Special Care Baby Unit, and later as a nanny/maternity nurse in private homes in London and overseas. After studying business administration, Margaret worked for seven years as PA to MD and Imax natural history film producer, Christopher Parsons. She moved to award-winning Aardman Animations, initially assisting Director Nick Park, creator of Wallace and Gromit, with the huge bag of fan mail for his animated characters, and later as PA to Aardman’s Director of Commercials. Margaret is a keen theatre and cinema goer, and enjoys classical music and listening to Radio 4.

 Rachel Fenton IWD

Dr Rachel Fenton

Rachel Fenton's research interests lie in the areas of gender and the law, violence against women and assisted reproduction. Rachel has a particular interest in education about sexual offences, and her work has had hugely positive impacts in this field. From gaining ESRC Festival of Social Science funding to work with her students and a local secondary school on tackling sexual violence, Rachel became the Project Lead for the Public Health England.

She worked on bystander intervention for the prevention of sexual and domestic violence at universities, and the creation of the first evidence-based bystander programme (The Intervention Initative) has had massive impact on the higher education sector in the UK. It is being featured in the Government's Violence Against Women Action Plan, recommended by Universities UK and HEFCE and discussed in Parliament.  

Rachel has given many interviews about her research on The Intervention Initiative, including on BBC Radio 4 Woman's Hour and BBC Radio 5 live. Rachel has appeared on The Sunday Politics and written articles in The Guardian and Times Higher Education. Whilst at UWE, Rachel won the Vice-Chancellor's award for Outstanding Researcher of the Year with Impact, 2016.

She said: "As women we are more likely to devalue ourselves, lack confidence in our abilities and suffer from ‘imposter syndrome’, and less likely to promote our achievements and put ourselves forward for promotion. Probably the most important thing I have learned is to surround yourself with allies, people who value you and your work, and support you.

"Stop trying to please others and learn to say no! I remember a head of department many years ago telling me ‘if you want something done, ask a busy woman’. Stop being that woman! Do the work that you want to do, that you believe in, believe in yourself and have confidence in your own ability. Shout about your achievements! And finally, it’s okay to be ambitious!"

 Sarah Jones IWD

Dr Sarah Jones

Sarah Jones is an associate research fellow on the Wellcome Trust funded Rethinking Sexology project, where she studies the relationship between sexual science and popular culture in both the US and UK. In addition to her research, she is also interested in exploring innovative ways to engage students with histories of gender, sexuality and feminism – a set of interests that led to the founding of the Hypatia Project in 2017, which allowed student volunteers to co-curate a digital showcase of highlights from Exeter’s Hypatia collection of texts by or about women.

 Marion Gibson IWD

Professor Marion Gibson

Marion Gibson is Associate Dean for Education in the College of Humanities, and an Exeter graduate (English, 1988-91). She began her career part-time at the University of Plymouth; her first full-time job was leading the English degree programme that Exeter developed in Cornwall, now at the Penryn Campus.

She is proudest of the thousands of students that I’ve helped to develop their knowledge and self-confidence over the years and of her books on witchcraft in history and literature. What’s next? Multi-disciplinary learning at both the Penryn and Streatham campuses, as Director of Flexible Combined Honours. One day she vows to write a novel better than her favourite, Middlemarch – or possibly not.

 

 

 Sharon Marshall

Dr Sharon Marshall

Sharon Marshall is a Senior Lecturer in Classics and Ancient History. Much of her teaching and research focuses on marginalised voices in the ancient world, how we might recover them, and how they intersect with marginalised voices in the modern world.

She is also Outreach Officer for the Classical Association of England and Wales and, passionately believing that Classics should not be the preserve of the privileged, is at the forefront of a mission to bring some form of Classics and Ancient History to every state school in the UK. When she’s not at work, you’re most likely to find her wild swimming, often in inclement weather, and much to the bewilderment of passers-by.

 Prof. Krasimira Tsaneva-Atanasova

Professor Krasimira Tsaneva-Atanasova

After studying in Bulgaria (MSc Mathematics) and New Zealand (PhD Applied Mathematics), Prof Krasimira Tsaneva-Atanasova trained further as a postdoctoral fellow at the National Institutes of Health in the US and École Normale Supérieure in Paris before obtaining an academic position in the UK. She spent six years at the University of Bristol before joining the University of Exeter in 2013, where she currently holds a personal chair in Mathematics for Healthcare.

In May 2017, Prof Tsaneva-Atanasova has been named one of the top 10 most inspirational female scientists working today by metro.co.uk. It is the beauty of mathematics and its applications which she enjoys and attempts to share in every occasion with her students, colleagues and, whenever there is an opportunity, with the public.

 Pascale IWD

Professor Pascale Aebischer

Pascale Aebischer is Head of English and Film and Professor of Shakespeare and Early Modern Performance Studies. She specialises in the history of the performance of early modern drama (including Shakespeare), with an emphasis on 1580s-1700 and 1980s-present. Her research on how the drama of Shakespeare’s day is reinvented for present-day audiences often pays attention to the figures who don’t get to hog the limelight: characters who are sidelined for their race or gender, playwrights and theatre buildings who are struggling to emerge from the shadow cast by Shakespeare and the company he worked for, technicians who make the magic of theatre happen.

Pascale makes her studies of Shakespeare modern, looking at how technology has changed the delivery of Shakespeare - from performing in candlelight, through to social media and "live" theatre, such as National Theatre Live, as well as in the connection between the reconstruction of early modern playhouses and urban regeneration.

Outside of the classroom, Pascale was the General Editor of Shakespeare Bulletin (2012-2017), the leading journal in early modern performance studies, where she broadened the range of topics covered in the journal, with more work on race, queer studies, women performers and non-Shakespearean drama now getting attention.

 Stavrakoppoulou

Professor Francesca Stavrakopoulou

Francesca Stavrakopoulou is Professor of Hebrew Bible and Ancient Religion in the Theology and Religion department. After studying Theology at the University of Oxford, completing her doctorate and Fellow roles at their Faculty, Francesca joint Exeter in 2005. She was appointed to a personal chair in 2011. However, Francesca’s scholarship and teaching is notable outside her lectures, making a name in the media. She presented the BBC2 TV documentary series Bible's Buried Secrets, a three-part series about the Bible and archaeology that aired in 2011. She also appears regularly on BBC1's debate shows The Big Questions and Sunday Morning Live, and has discussed biblical scholarship on several radio programmes.

 Janet IWD

Dr Janet Anders

Joining Exeter in 2013, Janet is a theoretical physicist and works in quantum information science. She now leads Exeter’s Quantum Non-Equilibrium group, a research group working on topics in quantum thermodynamics, statistical physics and quantum information theory. Her research focuses on thermodynamic aspects of quantum systems; including thermodynamic processes in the quantum regime, quantum non-equilibrium processes, the link between information theory and thermodynamics (e.g. Landauer’s principle and Maxwell’s demon), and entanglement properties of thermal quantum states.

While her research has gained her prestigious positions and titles, such as being the current Chair of European COST network "Thermodynamics in the quantum regime" and being a reviewer for research journals in physics, mathematics and computer science, Anders has engaged in the media and publicly. She was the scientific adviser and interviewee for BBC Four TV programme “Order and Disorder: Information” (2012), she showcased optical levitation at Cheltenham Science Festival and Oxford Science Festival (2012), as well as being a judge on the panel for the Royal Society Book Prize (2010).

 Catherine Mitchell IWD

Professor Catherine Mitchell 

Catherine Mitchell is Professor of Energy Policy at the University of Exeter, having worked on energy issues since the early 1980s. Catherine’s career has stretched over academia, journalism, implementing reports and policies as well as advising companies on transitioning the renewable energy sources.

Gaining her PhD in Technology and Innovation from the Science Policy Research Unit at the University of Sussex after studying in London and Boston (US), Catherine has been influential in her field through authoring reports such as the IPCC Working Group 3’s Fifth Assessment report (AR5) and a coordinating Lead Author (CLA) of the Policy, Financing & Implementation Chapter of the IPCC (Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change) Special Report on Renewable Energy Sources and Climate Change Mitigation 2008-2011.

Currently, Catherine is leading a three-year project (2016-2019) named Innovation and Governance for Future Energy Systems, as well as being the Chair of the Regulatory Assistance Project – a US based non-profit organisation that provides regulatory advice to Governments; and on the Advisory Board of the GB based Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU).

 Kate Fisher IWD

Professor Kate Fisher

Professor Kate Fisher is a social and cultural historian, interested in the History of Sex and Sexuality, Oral History, Medical Humanities and the Uses of the Past, Reception and Historiography. Her research focuses on the history of sexuality in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and has received recognition and acclaim. Her first book, Birth Control, Sex and Marriage in Britain, 1918-1960, won the Royal Historical Society’s Whitfield Prize in 2007 and her second book, co-written with Professor Simon Szreter of the University of Cambridge, Sex Before the Sexual Revolution, resulted in Fisher being interviewed on Radio Four’s Thinking Allowed as well as the book being named Guardian Book of the Week in 2011.

Kate co-launched the Sexual Knowledge Unit in 2015, brining together scholars from across different disciplines who research sex and sexuality, and investigate the forming and authorisation of sexual knowledge. Furthering this, Kate also co-directs the Sex and History Project with Rebecca Langlands, an award-winning and innovative approach to improving young people’s wellbeing and sexual health. It uses objects from past cultures as a stimulus for discussing sex and relationships.

 Linda Williams IWD

Professor Linda Williams

Linda Williams is Professor of Film in the English Department at the University of Exeter, with her work mostly focusing on post-classical American cinema, British cinema and classical Hollywood, as well as having a heavy interest in representations of sexuality and the history of censorship and classification. She is a celebrated academic, writing five books and editing several others. Notably, she wrote the first book on the post-classical genre, The Erotic Thriller, named The Erotic Thriller in Contemporary Cinema.

Funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, Linda’s most recent work is analysing the number of women involved in filmmaking over a four-year period, and whether this has grown or stagnated over time - Calling the Shots: women and contemporary film culture in the UK, 2000-2015. Linda’s talents also cover her involvement in film exhibition and curation for a decade - co-curating the annual Shetland Film Festival Screenplay - a round-the-UK tour of short films which was part of the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad.

 Nadine IWD

Professor Nadine Unger  

Professor Nadine Unger is an international climate scientist and Chair in Atmospheric Chemistry at the University of Exeter. Her research focuses on mathematical modelling of the linkages between air quality and climate change. Nadine joined Exeter in 2016 having previously advanced her research for 15 years in the USA at Yale University and at NASA.

She is Chair of the Gordon Research Conference on Biogenic Hydrocarbons and the Atmosphere. She is a graduate of the Women’s International Leadership Program in New York and held a Public Thought Leadership Fellowship with The OpEd Project. In her spare time, Nadine enjoys yoga and hiking. She plans to complete yoga teacher training in the near future.

 T Galloway IWD

Professor Tamara Galloway

Professor Tamara Galloway’s work focuses on marine pollution, the human health effects of pollutants and the sustainable development of novel materials and substances. She is a member of the Environmental Biology research group, which study how pollutants affect human and wildlife populations - how they damage living systems, and how resistance has been developed against pollutants. This research on invertebrate organisms provide a model for disease process and how environmental factors contribute to human health conditions, making Tamara’s work extremely relevant to today.

Her research on plastic in oceans has appeared on BBC One and the BBC World Service (2015), as well as NERC Planet Earth Online podcast (2014). The University of Exeter has recognised Tamara’s excellence, seen through her being shortlisted for shortlisted for University of Exeter Research Award: Research with outstanding impact on policy and public service 2011, and receiving Honorary chair within the Medical School in 2008.

Outside of academia, Tamara provides independent expert advice on the ecotoxicology of major pollutants and emerging contaminants of concern, as well as being editor of the journal Chemosphere.

Date: 8 March 2018