CamAWiSE
By Iratxe Puebla, co-Chair of CamAWiSE
Inspiration should never be underestimated. For women starting or pursuing a career in science, having role models to look up to can be a major factor as to why they choose that professional path, or why they want to remain in science. I have my own list of women who have inspired me in my different roles, first as a scientist doing work on the bench, then as an editor at scientific journals, and more recently in my position working to foster awareness about preprints and greater transparency in science communication.
A few years ago, as I reflected on my career, I felt it was time to pay forward the support and guidance I had received in my professional path. I had a chance to meet the co-Chairs of the Cambridge Association for Women in Science and Engineering (CamAWiSE) at a local event in Cambridge (UK); I was inspired by their activities in support of women in science and so I joined CamAWiSE in 2019, initially as a member of the Steering Committee and more recently as co-Chair.
CamAWiSE aims to retain and enhance the participation of women in Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics and Medicine (STEMM) careers, in both industry and academia. We also aim to connect women scientists from different disciplines and career stages, and be a source of inspiration and support. Originally set up in 1994 as a local branch of the UK National Association for Women in Science and Engineering (AWiSE), CamAWiSE now operates as an independent association, run by a group of volunteer women from a variety of STEMM backgrounds.
To drive our goals, CamAWiSE organizes events and activities to support the professional development of women in science careers. We have hosted events about influence in the workplace, imposter syndrome, negotiation and conflict management and many other themes. The Leadership Mindset Workshop series which we ran last year was particularly well received; this included four workshops that explored the leadership mindset, strategic planning, leadership when driving change, and intercultural competencies and how they intersect with leadership. The workshops provided a great opportunity to build confidence and skills applicable in a wide range of roles and settings, and it was a platform to explore challenges that women may face in STEMM professional settings and how to overcome them.
In addition to our events, we are proud to coordinate the CamAWiSE Mentoring programme. There are many benefits to mentoring and this can be a particularly valuable development approach for women in STEMM - as a recent piece in Nature highlighted, it can be challenging for women to break into ‘old boys networks’ and so mentoring provides a great opportunity to access valuable advice as well as new connections and possible collaborations. We set up the Mentoring programme in 2020, and following a good experience from the initial pilot, we have continued the programme in yearly cycles. For the 2022 cohort, we are collaborating with the Sierra Leone AWiSE group to include a group of mentees from Sierra Leone. This has allowed us to expand the reach of the programme - this year’s cohort is the most diverse and largest yet, with 51 participants from different locations in the UK, Europe and Africa.
We are keen to collaborate with other organisations with aligned values and aims. We are supportive of the important effort that Mothers in Science is pursuing to address inequity and challenges related to parenthood in STEMM careers and are happy to collaborate to raise awareness of these issues as well as visibility of projects seeking to address existing barriers. We have also worked in the past to raise awareness around diversity in science and the challenges that women from diverse backgrounds and heritages may face to carve a career in STEMM.
As so many organisations, we had to adjust how we operated in the context of the pandemic, and over the last couple of years all of our activities have run mostly online. This opened up new opportunities to reach audiences beyond the local Cambridge setting and it was great to have a chance to interact with event participants from different locations within the UK and Europe. Now that social distancing restrictions have eased in the UK, we will restart our in-person events and re-energise our contacts with the community of women in STEMM around Cambridge. To bring us back into the swing of in-person activities, we are planning a local event with a focus on networking in the coming weeks, so if you are based around Cambridge, stay tuned!. Looking ahead, we plan to keep some events online to allow broad attendance, in combination with some in-person events locally. We hope that this will allow us to serve the needs of diverse communities in Cambridge, but also beyond.
I have been inspired by the experiences and expertise of the many amazing women I have crossed via CamAWISE, and as an association, we look forward to continuing to support and connect women in STEMM. We always welcome opportunities to interact and explore new ideas, so if you want to learn more about CamAWiSE, do reach us at info@camawise.org.uk or via social media (@camawise on Twitter).