Women in Chemistry
Women in Chemistry at Oxford have a long history dating back to the 1880s when the first female students were admitted to study chemistry, and including the pioneering work of Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin, who won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1964.
Today we are proud to have more women studying and working in Chemistry at Oxford than ever before and to celebrate their milestones and achievements. Our women academics are powerful role models for the next generation of female chemists both within and beyond Oxford running ground-breaking research teams, winning prizes and fellowships, creating spin-out companies, and taking on major national roles in service to the discipline. Whilst we have made good progress, there is more work to do as we aspire to achieve gender balance within all our student and staff categories and to progress related initiatives. The Department holds a silver Athena SWAN award in recognition of our ongoing commitment to the promotion of gender diversity within the department and wider sector.
Founded in 2019, Oxford Women in Chemistry is a society within the Department of Chemistry, University of Oxford, that celebrates and promotes women in chemistry. WiChem aims to make the departmental culture more welcoming to everyone by organising events that encourage diversity, inclusion and peer support.
If you would like to stay up to date with OxWiChem events or be involved please visit our website to sign up to our mailing list and follow us on Facebook and Twitter.
Women in Chemistry recent highlights
Dr Emily Flashman awarded the 2022 Norman Heatley Award by the Royal Society of Chemistry
Professor Véronique Gouverneur elected to American Academy of Arts & Sciences
CAS Future Leader award for DPhil Student Laura Bickerton
Professor Dame Carol Robinson appointed Fellow of the Biophysical Society
IBDG Early Career Researcher Award for Dr Patricia Rodriguez Macia
International fluorine chemistry prize for Professor Véronique Gouverneur
2022 Louis-Jeantet Prize awarded to Professor Dame Carol Robinson
Megan Midson awarded Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy
Professor Fernanda Duarte awarded the 2021 Harrison-Meldola Memorial Prize by the Royal Society of Chemistry
Professor Charlotte Williams awarded the 2021 Tilden Prize by the Royal Society of Chemistry
Professor Kylie Vincent appointed first Academic Champion for Women in Entrepreneurship
Professor Charlotte Williams awarded Unilever's Clean Future ‘Brilliance’ Award
Dr Holly Reeve and Professor Kylie Vincent launch Hydregen, a new Oxford spin-out
RSC Women in Chemistry: a multi-institution project to inspire the next generation of female chemists
Dr Fay Probert appointed to Dorothy Hodgkin Fellowship
Professor Carol Robinson to lead new Kavli Institute for NanoScience Discovery
Professor Susan Perkin awarded £2m ERC Electrolyte Research Grant
Professor Charlotte Williams awarded OBE for services to Chemistry
Professor Angela Russell receives 2021 Harrington UK Rare Disease Scholar Award
Key Milestones: Women in Chemistry at Oxford
