Athena SWAN
Department of Chemistry
The Department of Chemistry is committed to addressing gender inequalities, to tackling the unequal representation of women in science
and to improving career progression for female academics. |
Profiles of Staff |
 The Athena SWAN Charter recognises and celebrates good employment practice for women working in science, engineering and technology (SET) in higher education and research. |
 Dr Emily Flashman is a Royal Society Dorothy Hodgkin Research Fellow in the Department of Chemistry. She studied Biochemistry at the University of Southampton before moving to Oxford, where she completed her D.Phil. in the Department of Cardiovascular Medicine in 2004 studying heart muscle proteins. She then moved to the Department of Chemistry to conduct postdoctoral studies with Prof. Chris Schofield into the structure and function of Fe(II)/2-oxoglutarate dependent oxygenases. Emily returned from maternity leave to commence her Dorothy Hodgkin Fellowship in 2010 and now studies the molecular mechanisms of oxygen sensing enzymes. She also holds a L’Oréal-UNESCO Fellowship For Women In Science (2011).
I have had tremendous support and encouragement from the Department of Chemistry throughout my time here, including during my pregnancy and maternity leave, but especially since I returned to work. I currently work 4 days a week, happily balancing establishing my own research programme with bringing up a child. I was delighted to be nominated by the Department for the ‘Women of the Future Science and Technology’ awards, for which I was a finalist. |
 I have been employed as a Technical Support Officer in the Department of Chemistry since 2000. I consider that the Department has supported my career during this time. For example, when funding ended after a three-year secondment to supporting a new radiochemistry laboratory, senior members of the Chemistry Department took time to talk with me and match my skills and career path to vacancies. As a result, I have been relocated to the NMR Facility where I am building upon existing skills and also receiving training in NMR troubleshooting and test procedures.
I consider that the Chemistry Department has helped me to achieve a work and home life balance. When I returned from maternity leave in 2004, the Department agreed to reduce my working hours to three full days. When my daughter commenced primary school in 2008, the Department agreed that I could spread my working hours over four days. Perhaps I will rethink my working hours when my daughter has settled in secondary school! |
 I am a Royal Society University Research Fellow in the Department of Chemistry at Oxford. I received my MSc degree at the Kyrgyz-Russian Slavic University in 1999, and MPhil and PhD degrees at Cambridge University in 2002 and 2005. I worked at the Department of Physics in ASU from 2005 till 2007. In 2007, I was awarded a Samuel and Violet Glasstone Fellowship, and have moved to the Department of Chemistry in Oxford.
I went on maternity leave toward the end of my Glasstone Fellowship in June 2010. In that same year, I was awarded a Royal Society University Research Fellowship, which I took up in January 2011 immediately on returning from the maternity leave. I was happy that I got a place at the University subsidised nursery for my daughter, and I started working full-time again. While a Glassone fellow, I found that mentoring from the faculty member was invaluable to me and the department has always supported my work and any applications. |
 I joined the Chemistry Department in 2002 as a postdoctoral researcher, coming straight from a PhD at the University of Melbourne, Australia. I chose to stay on at this Department when I received a Royal Society University Research Fellowship in 2007 because of the excellent collaborative research environment, access to high quality shared instrumentation, the enthusiasm of the students, and the support and informal mentoring I had received from colleagues at Oxford.
I was then awarded an RCUK Academic Fellowship in 2008 and have received terrific encouragement and support from colleagues as I have worked to establish and grow my own research team and have taken on increasing teaching and administrative responsibilities in the Department and in my College.
I received the inaugural Clara Immerwahr Prize in 2012, awarded to an early-career female scientist for excellence in catalysis research, and the 2011 Science and Technology Woman of the Future Award. Managing the competing demands of a high pressure research and teaching post is certainly not without its challenges, and I often struggle to find an appropriate balance between work and home-life, even without having any children. I look forward to seeing how discussions surrounding the Athena Swan application process will help to transform the Chemistry Department into an even more supportive workplace and to formalise many of the mentoring and support mechanisms that are already in place. |
 I was in the Oxford Chemistry Department from 1991 to 2001 as a Royal Society URF from 1995. In 2001 I moved to the Unieivery of Cambridge and became a Royal Society Professor during that time. I am currently Dr Lees Professor Elect and back in the chemistry department in Oxford. I have been here just over two years. One of the first things I noticed immediately upon my arrival was the very positive and supportive environment that is a hallmark of the department; from the champagne reception to celebrate my appointment through to the genuine desire to see all staff succeed. I find this very refreshing. I can honestly say that the environment is not competitive, but supportive. I don’t find that there is the culture of ‘everyone for themselves’ in this department, despite the somewhat macho image of most chemistry department. There is definitely a desire to celebrate success; from a poster prize for those starting out in their career through to the more established scientists with the award of an FRS. I think this is a very important aspect of the department and one that should be nurtured.
As someone who has lots of experience in raising three children and balancing family life with work I now mentor many young women and try to pass on the tips that I found useful. Overall I think it very important to highlight the positive aspects of being scientist. For me that is flexibility. I believe that your career can be organised such that you never miss an important event in the school calendar. I think there are very few careers where this is the case and certainly the department of chemistry was fully supportive both now and previously. |
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