Committee

Executive Committee

Caroline Bowen

Caroline is currently completing her D.Phil in the Department of Biochemistry and is a member of Linacre College. Prior to Oxford she completed her BSc in Genetics at Edinburgh. Beyond her academic interests, Caroline is an enthusiastic and accomplished yachtswoman; and has found during both these disciplines to have predominantly male participants. Her experiences from both science and sport have shown her how limited young women’s exposure to inspiring role models can be, and how important strong networks and mentorship are. She hopes to be able to positively contribute to addressing and understanding the issues that deter women from staying in science, through her participation in this conference.

Mary Muers

I am currently working as a post-doctoral researcher at the Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine in Oxford, having completed my DPhil at this institute in 2006. My general field of interest is in how genes are switched on and off at the right time and place, and particularly the influence of DNA is packaging on this. My undergraduate degree was in Biochemistry, also at Oxford University. In addition to research I have an active interest in science communication, and spent a month this summer as a BA Media Fellow with the news team at Nature.

Katja Simon

After a childhood in Hamburg and Paris, I did an undergraduate degree in Berlin which included a one-year lab-project at University College London with Avrion Mitchison, one of the founders of modern Immunology. Mitchison moved to Berlin to become the first director of the new German Institute of Rheumatology, and I became the institute’s first PhD student. My first 4 postdoctoral years were spent at the Centre d’Immunologie Marseille, during which time my first two children were born. My second postdoctoral job brought me back to England, this time to the Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine in Oxford. The post lasted 6 years, during which my third child was born. Since then I have been building up my own group as a principal investigator studying mechanisms of cell death and autophagy in the immune system particularly in tolerance and tumour immunity. Combining a family with research is demanding but also very fulfilling, and certainly possible. This is the message I would like to convey to women to encourage them to stay in academic research.

Anna Nichole Holt

I am a second year undergraduate student, reading chemistry at St John’s, Oxford. I have always been interested in both sciences and arts subjects and I enjoy looking at the way that science fits into society and our every-day lives. I plan to study History and Philosophy of Science this year, which will give me a deeper understanding of where science as we know it has come from. The Women in Science Conference 2007 will provide the opposite perspective, and I am excited about the opportunity to share ideas about who is shaping the future of science and how we can be a part of this.

Anna Lewis

Anna studied Physics and Philosophy as an undergraduate at Balliol College and has just started a DPhil at the Systems Biology Doctoral Training Centre, also at Balliol. She is co-organising the communication workshop.

Lydia Monnington

Lydia is a second year undergraduate studying maths at Keble. Lydia decided to become involved in the Women in Science conference after hearing about the problems women faced when pursuing careers in science.

Lydia is Treasurer of Oxford Women in Politics, a popular society that aims to help women achieve their full potential. Lydia is on the committee for the Oxford University Investment and Finance Society.

Lydia has spent time with Goldman Sachs, Citigroup and Morgan Stanley. Lydia has public sector exposure from working with the City of London Corporation and Greater London Enterprise.

Karleen Dudeck

Karleen is a second year D.Phil student in the Department of materials science and a member of Linacre College. Her research interests include interfaces and defects in materials, studied using high-resolution transmission electron microscopy. Prior to coming to Oxford, Karleen did a Bachelor of Engineering at McMaster University in Canada. During this time she was involved in the design, construction and racing of two solar powered vehicles, as well as organising events for women in engineering.

Hannah Mischo

Hannah Mischo is a DPhil student (Brasenose College) in the Dunn School of Pathology. She is interested in the basics of transcription and specifically transcription termination. In her short experience as a researcher, Hannah has experienced a lot of support for female scientists and she believes that informed action and a positive attitude is the key in making the best of what is now available to us due to the struggles that the generations before us had to go through.

Sara Morgan

Sara is currently in the final year of her D.Phil at the Weathrall Institute of Molecular Medicine where her research focuses on the mechanism of superagonistic antibodys within the immune system. As an undergraduate she studied at Cardiff University and gained a BSc.Hons. in Applied Biology as part of which she spent a year working at the Defence Science and Technology Laboratories. An active member of Linacre College, she is currently also on the comittee of Females in Engineering Science and Technology (FEST). Through her involvement with FEST and this conference Sara hopes to enable women to make positive decisions about their scientific career and encourage women to shape their own futures by engaging in science policy issues.

With support from