Category Archives: Gender Equality

Our thoughts and feelings about gender equality, and what we are doing to combat all types of gender inequality, towards people of all genders.

Choose To Challenge – Meet the Women of FMS: Tracy Palmer

The theme of International Women’s Day this year was #ChooseToChallenge. Here in FMS, we believe strongly in challenging gendered assumptions on working in science. It’s important to celebrate the hard working & powerful women leading our department, who set an example every day of just how much women are capable of. To all fellow women scientists out there: remember to celebrate yourselves everyday!

The third interview in our #ChooseToChallenge series is with Tracy Palmer, Theme Lead for ‘Microbes in Health and Disease’. Enjoy!

Photo of Tracy Palmer, Theme Lead for 'Microbes in Health and Disease'.

Please describe your role.

I am Theme Lead for ‘Microbes in Health and Disease’ and run a research team of 13 people. I also have numerous external roles, for example I serve on the Wellcome Science Interview panel and am a journal editor. My Theme Lead role has involved establishing the theme, developing our strategy and website. I represent the theme at institute and faculty management meetings. I help to mentor others (both within and outside of the theme) by critiquing grant and fellowship applications and helping to practice interviews.

What would a normal day look like for you?

It’s hard to say what a normal day, week or even year looks like! What most days have in common is that I do multiple different things, often several at a time. For example this week I have attended an institute management meeting, delivered a live lecture to 100+ first year students, hosted an external seminar speaker and wrote two promotion letters for colleagues. I also had zoom meetings with almost all of the members of my research group, my two final year undergraduate project students and my MRes student. I enjoy being busy and the variety of things that I do, although it can be a challenge keeping on top of everything (flagged e-mails and an organised diary are my saviours).

How have you found a balance between work and homelife during Covid?

I found working from home very tough at the start, but have managed to adapt. I have even broken my dependence on having all of my paperwork as printed hard copy! The toughest thing for me is that there is now no boundary between work and home, work is ever present and it’s hard to stop myself doing bits and pieces over the weekend. One of the other perils of working from home is wifi reliability. It’s ok early in the mornings, but really takes a hit once my sons also log on (they are aged 18 and 20, both university students living at home)!

What does it mean to you being a woman in your role?

I am very comfortable as a woman in most of my roles. Women are well represented as Theme Leads and on most of the other panels and advisory boards that I serve. I think it is very important for people in under-represented groups to be visible in leadership roles. It has been encouraging to see the number of women in these roles steadily increase during the time I have been an academic. However this is not been the case for other under-represented groups, and is one of the biggest challenges we face.

A massive thank you to Tracy for taking the time to talk to us.

Newcastle University is committed to developing careers for all colleagues, with some great success stories of women who have developed full and rewarding careers across the institution.  Historically we have supported specific women into leadership programmes such as the Aurora programme and the Women in academia – coaching and mentoring (WiCAM) programme in collaboration with Durham University, alongside broader coaching and mentoring opportunities.  As part of the university commitment to this agenda, work is currently underway to review our development offerings with a view to launching a refreshed offer in the autumn to ensure we have the right support in place.

Choose To Challenge – Meet the Women of FMS: Catherine Exley

The theme of International Women’s Day this year was #ChooseToChallenge. Here in FMS, we believe strongly in challenging gendered assumptions on working in science. It’s important to celebrate the hard working & powerful women leading our department, who set an example every day of just how much women are capable of. To all fellow women scientists out there: remember to celebrate yourselves everyday!

The second interview in our #ChooseToChallenge series is with Catherine Exley, Dean of NU Population Health Sciences Institute. Enjoy!

A photo of Catherine Exley, Dean of NU Population Health Sciences Institute.

Please describe your role.

I am Dean of NU Population Health Sciences Institute, one of the three new Institutes formed in November 2019 as a result of the Good to Great faculty reorganisation. My role means I am responsible for an institute which comprises 236 colleagues and 165 postgraduate researcher students. We are a multidisciplinary community comprising colleagues from a range of clinical and academic disciplines who contribute to learning and teaching across all schools in FMS as well as leading and collaborating on a diverse body of research. In addition to my head of academic unit role, I am also responsible for the faculty’s Engagement and Place portfolio, and work closely with Tom Scharf, Katharine Rogers and Charlie Wilkinson and the broader university engagement team to ensure that the brilliant work we do in FMS is captured and celebrated. Finally, I also chair the University’s Health and Well-Being committee; this a real privilege to chair and the committee has been active throughout the pandemic providing support and guidance.

What would a normal day look like for you?

This is a difficult question to answer at this point, and even when I was on campus every day, I don’t think there was a ‘normal’ day. I tend to get up about 6-6.30 during the working week, I read the BBC news, switch on the radio and check my email and diary for the day. We have recently (like many families!) bought a puppy, so our day now starts with walking her on the beach. In addition, the morning routine involves ensuring my son is up and ready for school (early mornings aren’t his thing!), probably throwing a load of washing in the machine and thinking about what everyone is going to eat throughout the day!

The great thing about my role is that each day is so varied, bringing its own joy and problems. The one thing that is pretty consistent is that I have a lot of meetings and receive a lot of emails. With my ‘Dean hat’ on, the meetings I attend can be university, faculty or institute level or 1:1 with colleagues. I work particularly closely with our Institute Operations team which comprises both PS and academic colleagues who have worked really hard ‘behind the scenes’ to keep our institute working in these challenging times. I also have regular catch ups with our Executive who lead a number of our faculty research themes as well as meeting with our EDI and DELT and PGRSC. With my ‘Cath hat’ on I continue to be involved in both research and teaching, in particular I have a number of postgraduate students I supervise, which remains one of the best things about my job. It really is a privilege to work with these colleagues and (hopefully) support them in their academic journey to achieve their PhDs. I am also involved with a number of mentoring schemes across the faculty and university and have regular catch-up with those colleagues too.

The other thing that is consistent and normal in any day is that I walk as much as I can. I live by the coast and I love walking by the sea. This is my ‘head space’ and time for me whether that’s clearing my head over lunch time, or at the end of a day of Zooms. In the last six months, I have tried to consciously switch off from work email in the evening. I’ve even moved the app on my phone so I can’t accidently access it! I am not an owl, so after some food and a bit of television to wind down (often a food-based programme) it’s off to bed for me usually by 10.30.

How have you found a balance between work and homelife during Covid?

When you’re asked a question like this, it’s really hard to answer as I know that I have not had the challenges many people have had during this time.  As I have worked from home the odd day for many years, I am I am very fortunate that I was able to adjust relatively easily to working at home.

I live with my husband and (nearly) 15 year old son, and latterly our 5 month old puppy! During the last year we have all been at home for quite a lot of the time, apart from when the schools were open to non-essential workers. By and large we have rubbed along OK. My husband has found lockdowns much easier than me as he is happy with his spreadsheets!  I miss people. I miss social contact. I miss the informality of just bumping into colleagues and being able to ‘check things out’ rather than have to schedule a formal meeting. Home schooling is nowhere near the challenge for me has it has been for many of my colleagues who have younger children at home. But I still worry about the short and long-term impacts of all of this on my son (and indeed all children and young people). What has been hard is the ‘blurred boundaries’ between home and work. When I go into the campus I focus entirely on my work and have a much higher level of concentration. At home, even though we are a small family there are always additional things to think about, washing to do, meals to think about, or questions to respond to. I think working in this way for a prolonged period has been really tiring and draining for all of us   Hopefully by the time we are celebrating IWD2021 many more children will be returning to the classroom!

What does it mean to you being a woman in your role?

Again, this is a hard question to answer. I never set out with a career plan to be an academic, let alone have any kind of leadership role. I am the eldest of three girls and the first person in my family to go to university. My father is a farmer and my mother a teacher, both of them are retired now. Whilst neither of them would see themselves as feminists, growing up I never had any sense that I couldn’t achieve whatever I wanted to (although I had no idea what that meant!).

At school I had planned to do a law degree, but actually went to university and started a degree in social sciences, before transferring to single honours Sociology. As an undergraduate I was inspired by one of my tutors who was living through breast cancer treatment, and focussed my dissertation on looking at hers, and other women’s experiences, of health and health care and how these were shaped by gender. I never planned to do a PhD, but was fortunate to be awarded some internal funding to cover my fees and a partial stipend which I supplemented with teaching. Women were a big part of my PhD as I interviewed younger people receiving care at a local hospice about their experiences of living with a terminal condition. In the mid 1990s many of those I interviewed were women with advanced breast and ovarian cancer. Nearly 25 years later those women and their stories stay with me, and I remain grateful to them all for giving up their very precious time to speak to a naïve researcher.

In 2003, I moved to Newcastle as a Lecturer and since this time I have been fortunate to work with many inspirational colleagues, both women and men, who have supported and encouraged me throughout my career. I try to emulate what I have learnt from many of those brilliant colleagues, mentors and friends. I hope I am open and honest. I don’t always get things right and like everyone there are times when I wake at night worrying about things. However, being an academic is just one part of my world and whilst I may not be the best at any one thing and make mistakes, I am proud of what I have achieved thus far as a daughter, sister, partner, friend, mum and academic.

A huge thank you to Catherine for taking the time to talk to us.

Newcastle University is committed to developing careers for all colleagues, with some great success stories of women who have developed full and rewarding careers across the institution.  Historically we have supported specific women into leadership programmes such as the Aurora programme and the Women in academia – coaching and mentoring (WiCAM) programme in collaboration with Durham University, alongside broader coaching and mentoring opportunities.  As part of the university commitment to this agenda, work is currently underway to review our development offerings with a view to launching a refreshed offer in the autumn to ensure we have the right support in place.

Choose to challenge – Meet THE WOMEN OF FMS: Amy reeve

Today is International Women’s Day 2021! The theme this year is #ChooseToChallenge. Here in FMS, we believe strongly in challenging gendered assumptions on working in science. It’s important to celebrate the hard working & powerful women leading our department, who set an example every day of just how much women are capable of. To all fellow women scientists out there: remember to celebrate you today and everyday!

On that note, starting today, we will be releasing a series of blog posts spotlighting our female leaders as the role models they are. This first interview is with Amy Reeve, research fellow within the Translational and Clinical Research Institute, and co-director of EDI within FMS. Enjoy!

A photo of Amy Reeve, research fellow and co-director of EDI within FMS.

Please describe your role.

I am a research fellow within the Translational and Clinical Research Institute. I lead a small research team whose focus is on furthering our understanding of the causes of Parkinson’s with an aim to identify new neuroprotective treatments for this disease. I am also one of the Co-Directors of EDI for the Faculty of Medical Sciences with Dr. Damian Parry.

What would a normal day look like for you?

It depends on the day!

Every day starts with time with my son, I drop him off at nursery and then start my work day.

On my research days I touch base with my students and Post-doc providing support and guidance when needed. I then usually do some experiments, typically cell culture or tissue based. Then I spend some time reading and writing, papers and grants mostly. When I have time I also like to take part in public engagement events.

On my EDI days, I catch up with our core FMS EDI team, chair and sit in on meetings, and work to support any initiatives or ongoing projects, for example the Athena Swan Action Plan or the Race Equality Charter work.

Then I pick up my son and catch up on the highs and lows of pre-school life. Cue lots of drama!

If I have a heavy work load I might then do a couple of hours when he is in bed before starting it all again the next day.

How have you found a balance between work and homelife during Covid?

Finding a work life balance is something that I have always struggled with and COVID has certainly made this feel more difficult. A balance implies that both these aspects make the same demands on your time, but unfortunately this is not the case. My son never emails me out of ‘mum hours’, or expects me to take hours out of my work day to complete a Lego project or read his latest story. The pandemic has been a struggle for many, and at times I have found it played to my anxieties about being a successful researcher while having enough time for my son. During the first lockdown when nurseries were closed, I did find it tough maintaining a balance as I had to devote more time to being a mum, I worried about my work outputs and about what the impact would be long term. I worked into the evenings and over weekends to ‘make up the hours’. However, on reflection in many ways I am grateful for those extra days I got to spend with my son, the milestones I got to share with him and the fun we had. I still worry about my work outputs but I have realised that there are somethings that are not worth compromising!

My work life balance has improved, as I now make more effort to separate work and home, I don’t check emails during the evening or over the weekend. Although, I do make sure that my team have my mobile number in case of emergencies. I am also trying to be more realistic about what I can achieve in a working week and I am working on my delegation skills!!

What does it mean to you being a woman in your role?

I fell into research a little bit, being a researcher was not my dream. I wanted to be an archaeologist or a vet! When I was at University though I became fascinated by the brain and how it worked. So when I found an advert for a PhD that aimed to understand what made it go wrong I was hooked!! I am proud to be a woman in STEM research, I am proud that we are making a difference. I am grateful for the women, the pioneers, who went before me for lighting the way and I hope that one day I will guide the way for other women.

As for my EDI role, I am humbled to be able to be a part of a team who strives for the equality of all within FMS. I am immensely proud to have been given the opportunity to enact change within FMS and to ensure that the voices of all are heard across the faculty and beyond.


A huge thank you to Amy for taking the time to talk to us.

Newcastle University is committed to developing careers for all colleagues, with some great success stories of women who have developed full and rewarding careers across the institution.  Historically we have supported specific women into leadership programmes such as the Aurora programme and the Women in academia – coaching and mentoring (WiCAM) programme in collaboration with Durham University, alongside broader coaching and mentoring opportunities.  As part of the university commitment to this agenda, work is currently underway to review our development offerings with a view to launching a refreshed offer in the autumn to ensure we have the right support in place.

Women in STEMM: Ana-Madalina Ion

Earlier this week, the University joined WISE’s #1ofTheMillion Day campaign to celebrate over 1 million women working in STEMM roles in the UK for the first time ever. On our Twitter we shared insights from some women in the Faculty about working in STEMM, including from PhD student Ana-Madalina Ion. Ana wrote this blog about a special woman who inspired her to pursue a career in STEMM…

Hello! My name is Ana Madalina Ion (on the right) and I am a final year PhD student in the Faculty of Medical Sciences, Mitochondria Research Group. I come from Romania. I have a bachelors in Biochemistry from the University of Bucharest, and a masters of research from Radboud University, Nijmegen (Molecular Mechanisms of Disease). I did my master thesis in Bordeaux as an Erasmus student, on mitochondria protein degradation, and I liked mitochondria so much that I decided to pursue a PhD in this area.
I would like to introduce you to my inspiring woman in STEMM.

This photo was taken last year in the city of Suceava, Romania. Behind us is the Romanian flag and the statue of our 16th century king Stephan the Great.

The STEMM woman who has inspired me the most and has always encouraged me when I was feeling down is my mother (on the left). Her name is Carmen Angela Ion and she is an aeronautical engineer. She graduated from the Polytechnic University in Bucharest, the Faculty of Aeronautical Engineering, the specialization engines. She graduated in 1986, at a time when my country was still communist, and when the number of graduates was strictly correlated with the number of open positions. People were not allowed to go abroad and there were no private companies where to find jobs, so one could only work in the public sector. Therefore, each year, only a small number of students were accepted in a faculty, a number approximately equal to the number of opening positions. So, not many students were accepted at a faculty each year, and even fewer of them graduated.

My mother was one of them. She went for a ”men-oriented” university, and chose an even more ”men-oriented” specialization: engines. She recalls how when she would go to classes, she would count how many women she could see. My mother always loved maths, so when she went to the university, people advised her to go study mathematics and become a teacher. They would say that teaching is a more female-friendly job, that gives you more time for kids and a family; engineering was too tough for a woman. 

My mum didn’t care. I wish I could say I am proud of her, but as I have no contribution to her graduation, I can only say I am happy she did. It was tough, very tough, but she made it. She didn’t give up, she graduated, and now she works as an aeronautic inspector at the Romanian Civil Aeronautic Authority from Bucharest.

She did take a break to raise me and my sister. She started working again when I was 15. Being a mum at home was another fight for her, because everyone was expecting that she start working immediately after her maternity leave was over. She was judged for not giving me to be raised by my grandparents, for deciding to have another baby even if she didn’t have a salary. She didn’t care.

She was also praised by some intellectual women, which did not help me. One teacher from secondary school told me how grateful I should be to my mum, because she sacrificed her career for me and my sister. My teacher’s words haunted me a long while, because it implied that a woman can only choose one of the two: career or children. Growing up, I struggled understanding that women can have both. And when I grew up enough to talk to my mum about her choice, she told me that she simply didn’t want to miss us growing up. It was never a sacrifice, she never regretted it. She became a full-time mum for 15 years because she decided to.

My mum didn’t follow patterns that others have created for her. She did not give up when she was judged.  And that is very inspiring.  

As a funny ending, I would like to share with you a story. My mum has a female friend from the university, an aeronautical engineer in another city. One night, her friend was called in at her home because one of the passenger planes had a fault and she and her team had to go repair it. When she arrived close to the plane, the flight attendant lady, seeing a woman, asked her, “Oh, are you the catering?” (apparently the flight attendant had ordered some food). “No, madam”, my mum’s friend replied amused, “I am the aeronautical engineer. I came to repair your plane.”

I hope this made you smile. Women in STEMM are strong, smart and stubborn. Very, very stubborn. Thank you for reading.

Thank you to Ana for sharing her wonderful story with us – if you have a story to tell about an inspirational person in your life, we’d love to share it! Get in touch at fms.diversity@newcastle.ac.uk.

FMS EDI WEEK PROGRAMME: 24th-28TH febrUARY 2020

It’s back – FMS is holding its second Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Week, and we hope to see you there!

After last year’s success including the celebration of our Athena SWAN Silver Award, we are holding the Faculty’s second EDI Week for staff and students! We have a range of events lined up and listed below so that you can hear about the progress and ongoing work around EDI, and learn more about current issues that might be relevant to you.

Don’t miss out – take a look at what we’ve got lined up and book yourself in! We hope to see you at one of our events!

#FMSEDIWeek2020


Monday 24th February:

  • The EDI Strategy & Our Day-to-day Roles – 10-11.30am, FMS Boardroom
    To launch the week we’ll be hearing from a number of panellists within the Faculty and beyond, talking about how they would like to interpret and translate our EDI strategy in their day-to-day roles. Read more and register.
  • Multicultural Event – 12:30-2pm, David Shaw Foyer
    Organised by the Dental School, this event aims to celebrate our staff/student community by sharing presentations about the various cultures, faiths, traditions and foods within FMS. All are welcome to attend!

Tuesday 25th February:

  • Imposter Syndrome with Rachel Tobbell – 12-2pm, Leech L2.4
    This interactive workshop will explore the experiences of ‘Imposter Syndrome’: how it affects us, how societal pressures can exacerbate the problem, how such internal doubts impact on our lives and what we can do to manage those feelings. Read more and register.

Wednesday 26th February:

  • LGBT Lives – 12-2pm, Ridley Building 2, Room 1.58
    As part of celebrations for LGBTQ+ History month as well as EDI Week, come along and listen to a panel discussion with members of the Rainbow LGBTQ+ staff network as they delve into the day-to-day experiences of working and being LGBTQ+ at Newcastle and in HE. Read more and register.

Thursday 27th February:

  • Breakfast with Athene Donald – 9.30-10.30am, FMS Boardroom
    Join the Master of Churchill College at the University of Cambridge, Athene Donald for this session, aimed primarily at ECRs and Fellows, in which you can discuss reconciling the risks of a contract-based research career with a long term vision of making a difference in academia. Breakfast included! Read more and register here.
  • Plenary with Athene Donald: The Art of Survival – 12.30-2.00pm, David Shaw Lecture Theatre
    As a longstanding champion of women in academia, Athene Donald will talk about her experiences and strategies developed during her career to help her succeed, and the value of passing on such knowledge to help others survive within institutions. Read more and register here.

Friday 28th February:

  • Personal Resilience: A taster session, with Lisa Rippingale – 12-2pm, Leech L2.4
    This workshop aims to provide participants with a range of tools and techniques to develop their personal resilience. Read more and register here.