Contact us:
John Innes Centre
Women of the Future Norwich Research Park Colney Norwich Norfolk NR4 7UH UK
Telephone +44 (0) 1603 450000 Fax +44 (0) 1603 450045 email: [email protected]
© Women of the Future 2015
Follow us:
@nextgenstemm #WOF15
Thanks also to Mabon Ellis JIC for logo design, Dr Simon Fox, Educational consultant, Principal at Flegg High School,
JIC external relations team, Andrew Davies for photography
Unlocking Nature’s Diversity
Welcome
Welcome to the John Innes Centre and the
Women of the Future Conference. This is an
exciting opportunity for you to learn firsthand how a career involving science can lead to
amazing things, from predicting when earthquakes
might happen to developing a new vaccine from
plants. As a plant scientist at the JIC I have had the
opportunity to carry out ground breaking research,
travel to exotic locations and make programs for you
tube and radio to present my research. I get to work
with outstanding scientists from around the world,
every single one of whom started out like me, with an
interest in science in school. By getting to know some of
the most successful and influential current female scientists
such as Dr. Maggie Aderin-Pocock, I hope you too will be
inspired to choose STEMM as a career and grasp the incredible
opportunities just waiting to be explored.
Samantha Fox, Research Scientist at JIC and lead
organiser of the Women of the Future conference
A message from
the Director
A key aspect of our mission at the John Innes Centre is
to train scientists for the future. We place tremendous
value on working with young people and in particular
are keen to promote science as a career to girls and
young women. As such I am proud to support this allfemale led program including world-leading scientists
Dr. Maggie Aderin-Pocock, Professor Jackie Hunter, Chief
Executive of the BBSRC and Professor Caroline Dean, John
Innes Centre. I hope these accomplished women, along with
the role models you will meet today, from the John Innes
Centre and industry will inspire and encourage you and give you
the confidence to pursue your own career in science. As a father
of a daughter with an engineering degree I know first-hand how
daunting it can seem at times to girls embarking on a science career.
By the end of today I hope that you will agree with me that Science is
most definitely for girls!
Professor Dale Sanders FRS,
Director, John Innes Centre
Sponsors of Women of the Future
Conference Schedule - John Innes Centre, 23 April 2015
08:45 - 09:15 Arrival and Registration
09:15 – 09:25
Opening address Samantha Fox, conference organiser
Welcome from the Director Professor Dale Sanders FRS
09:25 - 09.45
Professor Caroline Dean OBE, FRS
John Innes Centre
09:50 - 10.15 Professor Jackie Hunter CBE, FMedSci
CEO Biotechnology and Biological
Sciences Research Council
10:20 - 11:00
Keynote Speaker
Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock CBE
Space Scientist and TV presenter
11:00 - 11:20 Refreshments (Conference Centre Foyer)
11.20 - 12.30 Concurrent Question & Answer Session:
Group A
11:20 - 11:40
Maggie Aderin-Pocock
Merton Auditorium
11:45 - 12:05
Networking with
NBI PhD Students
Centrum Link Corridor
Group B
Group C
Networking with NBI PhD Students
Centrum Link Corridor
Jackie Hunter
G34/G35
Jackie Hunter
G34/G35
Maggie Aderin-Pocock
Merton Auditorium
12:10 - 12:30
Jackie Hunter Maggie Aderin-Pocock
G34/G35
Merton Auditorium
12:30 – 13:15 Lunch
13:15 - 16:15 Concurrent Workshops:
Group A
13:15 – 14:10
STEMM Employers and Networks
Conference Foyer
Group B
Networking with NBI
PhD Students
Centrum Link Corridor
Group C
Being a Researcher
STEMM Showcase –
G34/35
Meet a Scientist
Teachers: EngagingRole-model
with the Norwich Rec Centre Hall
Research Park
14:15 – 15:10
STEMM Showcase – STEMM Employers
Meet a Scientist and Networks
Role-model Conference Foyer
Rec Centre Hall
15:15 – 16:10
Being a Researcher STEMM Showcase – G34/35
Meet a Scientist
Teachers: Engaging
Role-model with the Norwich Rec Centre Hall
Research Park
16:15 - 16:30 Closing address and prize giving (Merton Auditorium)
Being a Researcher
G34/35 Teachers: Engaging
with the Norwich
Research Park
STEMM Employers and Networks
Conference Foyer
Samantha Fox, Research
Scientist, John Innes Centre
Nicola Patron, Head of
Synthetic Biology,
The Sainsbury Laboratory
Tori Cann, Lecturer in
Humanities, Expert in
Gender Equality,
University of East Anglia
Gill Malin, Lecturer
in Environmental Science,
University of East Anglia
Annis Richardson,
Post-graduate student,
John Innes Centre
Carole Thomas,
Head of Directorate,
John Innes Centre
Plenary Speakers
Professor Caroline Dean OBE, FRS runs a world-leading group
at the John Innes Centre studying the interactions of plants with
their environment. Her lab has discovered how plants sense and
remember winter and use this to tightly regulate the timing of
the switch to flowering in spring. Caroline did her PhD at the
University of York, spent 5 years as a post-doctoral research
fellow in a biotech company in California and returned to the
UK in 1988. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society and Foreign
Member of the US National Academy. She was recently awarded
the BBSRC Excellence in Bioscience and FEBS/EMBO Woman in
Science awards for her outstanding contributions to plant biology.
Professor Caroline Dean OBE, FRS
Professor Jackie Hunter CBE, FMedSci is Chief Executive of the
Biotechnology and biological sciences research council (BBSRC)
and has over thirty years of experience in the bioscience research
sector, working across academia and industry. Jackie gained
her first degree in Physiology and Psychology at the University
of London followed a PhD at the Zoological Society of London.
Jackie is a current member of the Council of the University of
Hertfordshire. Jackie was awarded a CBE in the Queen’s Birthday
Honours list for Services to the Pharmaceutical Industry as
well as the Women of Achievement in Science, Engineering
and Technology (SET) awards in the category SET Discovery,
Innovation and Entrepreneurship in 2010. Jackie is a Fellow of the
British Pharmacological Society and was elected a Fellow of the
Academy of Medical Sciences (FMedSci) in 2014
Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock MBE is a space scientist whose passion
is presenting science to a general audience and demonstrating that
you ‘don’t need a brain the size of a small planet’ to understand,
participate in and enjoy science. Her BBC 2 programme, “Do We
Really Need the Moon?” earned Maggie the talkback Thames new
talent award at the prestigious Women in Film and TV Awards in
December 2011. She went on to present “Do We Really Need
Satellites?” and was one of the main scientists on Channel 4’s
Brave New World. She is currently presenting the new series of
Sky at Night on BBC 4 and Mini Stargazing for Cbeebies. She
also makes regular appearances on The One Show, Newsnight
and Woman’s Hour and was a guest on Radio 4’s Desert Island
Discs. Maggie studied at Imperial College where she obtained her
degree in Physics and her PhD in Mechanical Engineering. Since
then she has spent much of her career making novel, bespoke
instrumentation ranging from hand held land mine detectors to
an optical subsystem for the James Webb Space Telescope. To
further share her love of science Maggie conducts “Tours of the
Universe” and other public engagement activities, showing school
children and adults around the world the wonders of space.
Professor Jackie Hunter CBE, , FMedSci
Dr. Maggie Aderin-Pocock MBE
Being a Researcher
Dr. Christine Faulkner, Project Leader,
John Innes Centre.
We all look around us and wonder why and how. I
look at plants and wonder how do they cope with
the environment when they can’t get up and move
to somewhere more comfortable? How do they resist
disease when they don’t have an immune system like an
animal? Being a scientist allows me to investigate these
questions while also exploring solutions to important
problems like how we protect food crops when they experience environmental
changes and disease threats. As a project leader I have a research team that works
Dr. Christine Faulkner
with me to answer these questions. It is my job to see the big picture and keep on
top of scientific developments in our field, to make sure that everyone is on track and
doing relevant research. I travel and talk to scientists from all over the world, exploring
opportunities for our teams to work together. Science is dynamic and sharing ideas is how we constantly adjust our research
to new information and technologies. I chose my job because I want to provide scientific answers, but I also aim to train the
people in my team to be plant scientists of the next generation, asking and answering really difficult questions. There are
many unknowns in plant science and we need people willing to find answers.
Dr. Charlotte Miller, Post-doctoral Scientist, John Innes Centre
For me, science is like a wonderful jigsaw puzzle and each day
when I wake up I have a fresh opportunity to find another missing
piece. One of my favourite things about working in research is that it
promotes creativity. It encourages you to think in new ways and allows
you to achieve things that you never thought you were capable of. I have
very recently started my first job as a post-doctoral scientist. I have the
privilege to work alongside some of the most inspiring people that I have ever
met. My research is focused towards understanding how we can breed crops with
increased yield. Being part of something which could one day have great global
impact makes me incredibly proud to be a scientist.
Dr. Charlotte Miller
Claire Drurey, Postgraduate student, John Innes Centre
As a PhD student at the JIC I feel like I’m at the cutting edge of
science – the research I do is finding things that no one knew
before, and I find that intensely rewarding. You get told on a
daily basis that no one knows the answers to all the questions
and that’s both scary and exciting. Through my PhD I’ve gone from
not knowing my way around a lab to planning my own experiments
to try and answer these questions. You never know what will come
up next. Although we already know so much there is still more to find
and discover, and the world is far more intricate than you could ever
imagine. My work together with the rest of my research group will
help to uncover and explain some of that intricacy and that’s what
Claire Drurey
I love about my PhD and science as a whole.
Megan Stowe
Programme Manager
Corporate Strategic
Procurement, Intel
Dr. Penny Maplestone
Chief Executive
British Society of
Plant Breeders
Imogen Oglive
Specialist factual
TV researcher
Susan Thompson
Education Coordinator
Royal Society
of Chemistry
Harriette Stone
Earthquake Engineer
UCL & World Bank
Lalitha Sundarum
Bioengineer
Cambridge Arsenic
Biosensor Collaboration
Dr. Liliya Serazetdinova
Adapt Low Carbon Group
Director of Adapt
Commercial Ltd
Laura Egobamien
Biology Lead, non-alcoholic
steatohepatitis (NASH)
MedImmune
Dr. Grace Macauley
Safety Physician in
Oncology
MedImmune
Uzo Nwamu
Senior Engineer
Vodaphone UK
Jessica Fleming IAEMA
Environmental Consultant
The Landscape Partnership
Rachel Austin
Physiotherapist
Nikki Collins
The Environment Agency
Alison Vinall
Head of Radiotherapy Physics
Norfolk & Norwich
University Hospital
Natasa Solomou
Radiotherapy Physics
Norfolk & Norwich
University Hospital
Organisations taking part in the
Women of the future conference 2015
ALDE VALLEY SCHOOL
HOBART HIGH SCHOOL
ALDERMAN PEEL HIGH SCHOOL
LYNN GROVE HIGH SCHOOL
CAISTOR HIGH SCHOOL
NORTH WALSHAM HIGH SCHOOL
CITY ACADEMY NORWICH
OPEN ACADEMY
CITY OF NORWICH SCHOOL
ORMISTON DENES ACADEMY
DEREHAM NEATHERD HIGH SCHOOL
REEPHAM HIGH SCHOOL
FAKENHAM ACADEMY
SEWELL PARK COLLEGE
FLEGG HIGH SCHOOL
SPROWSTON COMMUNITY HIGH SCHOOL
FRAMINGHAM EARL HIGH SCHOOL
THE THETFORD ACADEMY
HETHERSETT ACADEMY
THORPE ST ANDREW SCHOOL
STEMM Career Exhibitors
and Networks
Women in Science Exhibition
A digital photographic display by Professor Kay Yeoman
and students of University of East Anglia
Welcome
Welcome to the John Innes Centre and the
Women of the Future Conference. This is an
exciting opportunity for you to learn firsthand how a career involving science can lead to
amazing things, from predicting when earthquakes
might happen to developing a new vaccine from
plants. As a plant scientist at the JIC I have had the
opportunity to carry out ground breaking research,
travel to exotic locations and make programs for you
tube and radio to present my research. I get to work
with outstanding scientists from around the world,
every single one of whom started out like me, with an
interest in science in school. By getting to know some of
the most successful and influential current female scientists
such as Dr. Maggie Aderin-Pocock, I hope you too will be
inspired to choose STEMM as a career and grasp the incredible
opportunities just waiting to be explored.
Samantha Fox, Research Scientist at JIC and lead
organiser of the Women of the Future conference
A message from
the Director
A key aspect of our mission at the John Innes Centre is
to train scientists for the future. We place tremendous
value on working with young people and in particular
are keen to promote science as a career to girls and
young women. As such I am proud to support this allfemale led program including world-leading scientists
Dr. Maggie Aderin-Pocock, Professor Jackie Hunter, Chief
Executive of the BBSRC and Professor Caroline Dean, John
Innes Centre. I hope these accomplished women, along with
the role models you will meet today, from the John Innes
Centre and industry will inspire and encourage you and give you
the confidence to pursue your own career in science. As a father
of a daughter with an engineering degree I know first-hand how
daunting it can seem at times to girls embarking on a science career.
By the end of today I hope that you will agree with me that Science is
most definitely for girls!
Professor Dale Sanders FRS,
Director, John Innes Centre
Sponsors of Women of the Future
Contact us:
John Innes Centre
Women of the Future Norwich Research Park Colney Norwich Norfolk NR4 7UH UK
Telephone +44 (0) 1603 450000 Fax +44 (0) 1603 450045 email: [email protected]
© Women of the Future 2015
Follow us:
@nextgenstemm #WOF15
Thanks also to Mabon Ellis JIC for logo design, Dr Simon Fox, Educational consultant, Principal at Flegg High School,
JIC external relations team, Andrew Davies for photography
Unlocking Nature’s Diversity