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About Heather Williams
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heather_Williams_(physicist)
Heather is a Consultant Medical Physicist at The Christie hospital, honorary Lecturer at the University of Manchester and University of Salford, and visiting Professor at the University of Cumbria. Heather founded ScienceGrrl in June 2012 and oversees the day-to-day running of the network, including communications and collaborations with local leads. When she's not working, Heather enjoys running, cycling and spending time with her sons.
Posts by Heather Williams:
Tim Hunt – ScienceGrrl responds
For the last week, discussions around women in science in the UK have largely centred on remarks made on Monday 8th June by Sir Tim Hunt, at the World Conference of Science Journalism, as part of a speech he gave during a lunch sponsored by female Korean scientists and engineers: "Let me tell you my trouble with(…)
Presenting… our ANNUAL REPORT 2014
We're pleased to present ScienceGrrl's Annual Report 2014 – celebrating our successes, reflecting on progress, and looking to the future. Thanks to Andy Dawes, Heather Williams, Liz Chilvers, Ellie Cosgrave, Anna Zecharia and all our chapter leads for helping us put this together. Click here to read the sciencegrrl_annual_report_2014-15 !
Creating "She blinded me with science"
I am pleased to announce the release of ScienceGrrl's latest creative collaboration – a cover version of Thomas Dolby's 1982 hit 'She Blinded Me With Science' performed by Violet Transmissions. To listen, watch and download, click here. Tim Bussey, the lead singer of Violet Transmissions, is Professor of Behavioural Neuroscience
Edith Stoney – a medical physics pioneer
Last week I was honoured to be one of four medical physicists in the Science Council's list of 100 leading UK practising scientists, designed to highlight the range of roles available to those working in science. 37% of medical physicists are women, a significant advance on female representation in many fields within physical science. But(…)
Christmas Prize Draw – and the winners are…
The Christmas Prize Draw closed at 6pm on Thursday 12th December, after which it was over to Jon Wood, Birmingham chapter lead, to tell us which of the 766 tickets belonged to 5 lucky winners. These were selected using a rather fabulous retro random number generator which bears a striking resemblance to the Sinclair ZX Spectrum of(…)
Speaking of – and for – Science
Just under a month ago we celebrated our first birthday. The party began on Thursday 10th October with a sold-out lecture on Particle Physics by Professor Brian Cox, introduced by Dr Heather Williams, and sponsored by the Ogden Trust. That evening, 600 people (including over 200 school and college students) were treated to fascinating science(…)
Something to Say – a 1st birthday party with a difference…and Gia Milinovich
18th October marks the first anniversary of our launch party. Our birthday celebrations begin on Thursday 10th October, with the inaugural 'Because Science is for Everyone' lecture by Dr Heather Williams and Professor Brian Cox in Manchester, and continue with our 'birthday party with a difference' on Saturday 12th October in London. On the afternoon of 12th October, Gia Milinovich will(…)
Celebrate our first birthday – with Prof Brian Cox and Gia Milinovich
18th October marks the first anniversary of our launch party, and we're celebrating our first birthday in fine style with fantastic events in Manchester and London, generously supported by Professor Brian Cox and Gia Milinovich. Lecture by Prof Brian Cox Thursday 10th October, University Place, Manchester Prof Brian Cox will be giving our inaugural 'Because Science is(…)
ScienceGrrl chapters – our expanding local networks
One evening over a glass of wine, a very lovely lady called Anna Zecharia came out with a very wonderful idea. "ScienceGrrl should have local gatherings. Chapters." We didn't need to discuss it, we recognised it for the stroke of genius it was. It went straight into the strategy. What I didn't foresee is quite(…)
Sound Science – audio adventures for children
It's been quite a week here at ScienceGrrl. As well as unleashing our beautiful new website on the world, we've also had some very exciting news – we've secured our first public engagement grant from STFC! A few months ago, we began developing a collaboration with now>press>play, an innovative education company. The result is Sound(…)
Today the Business, Innovation and Skills Committee published its report of the enquiry into Women in the Workplace, which drew on 103 written submissions, oral evidence from 46 witnesses, and many more responses to discussions on Woman's Hour and Mumsnet. It's a thorough report, and also a well-written and engaging read. However, those who live(…)
TrowelBlazers: celebrating awesome trowel-wielding women
It's easy to imagine the academic world at the turn of the 20th Century, right? A world closed to all but the most privileged of men – whiskered gentlemen in stiff suits, pipe smoke and port, explorers with a whiff of pith helmet about them. Imagine, then, arriving on the island of Crete in 1904(…)
Pants in spaaaaace!
Pictured left to right: Becky John of WhoMadeYourPants, Liz Bonnin of BBCs 'Bang Goes the Theory' and 'Stargazing Live' and Heather Williams of ScienceGrrl, each holding a pair of pants which make up our new unique product. Thanks to the Science Museum for permission to also feature the model of the Hubble Space Telescope, in(…)
Physics Girlies – young female science students review the ScienceGrrl 2013 calendar
One of the aims of the ScienceGrrl 2013 calendar (now sold out, sorry!) was to show young women that science is for people just like them, and hopefully inspire them to pursue a career in science. But did we manage it? I asked the Physics Girlies at Holly Lodge Girls' College in Liverpool what they(…)
Maths?… no thanks
Last week I was sorting through my ScienceGrrl e-mail and came across a really encouraging message from a lady who'd just returned to study Maths in her 50s. I thought it sounded like she had a story to tell, and asked her to write a blog for us. Which she did. I give you –(…)
ScienceGrrl celebrates International Women's Day – with TASTE, in Uganda
I'm really chuffed – as we say in Yorkshire – to introduce this guest post from Amy Buchanan-Hughes, founder of The African Science Truck Experience (TASTE). TASTE runs a mobile science laboratory in rural Uganda so that students in underprivileged secondary schools can get a hands-on experience of science. According to an earlier post on(…)
Hatching a plan – the ScienceGrrl strategy for 2013 onwards
ScienceGrrl started out as a reaction to *that* EC video, which spawned the idea to create a series of images representing who female scientists are and what they do – the ScienceGrrl 2013 calendar. In the process we collected a network of people who are passionate about passing on their love of science, technology, engineering(…)
ScienceGrrl and International Women's Day
International Women's Day celebrates the achievements of women worldwide. In Russia (and elsewhere, I believe) it's a public holiday. Here at ScienceGrrl, we wanted to take the opportunity this presented to highlight the great work that women are doing in science. The recent WISE report highlighted that only 13% of the STEM workforce are women,(…)
The first ScienceGrrl AGM!
Ladies and gentlemen, may I present Isla Stevens, who will now regale us with merry tales of Friday's first ever ScienceGrrl AGM. Over to you, Isla! Last Friday I was lucky enough to be able to fit in a trip to London for the first ever ScienceGrrl AGM – calendars, tote bags and posters everywhere.(…)
The amazing adventures of the ScienceGrrl 2013 calendar
It's mid-February. When you have spent the last 4 months of your life flogging 2013 calendars, mid-February is a good time to be able to say 'we have none left'. A mere 2 hours before the ScienceGrrl launch party in October, I took delivery of 1500 copies of the ScienceGrrl 2013 calendar and arranged them(…)
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