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The monthly Wednesday Women's Workshops are a fun and professional way to spend your free Wednesday afternoons networking with fellow University of Leicester women in SET. Meet women role models from the local area who will talk to you about the challenges, successes and careers for women in SET and receive valuable training and advice to help you gain an edge over others in your career placement and advancement. All University staff and students are welcome.
25th October 2.30pm
The speaker is Kate Heath, who is a rally driver talking about "Careering into motor sport"
Kate Heath, the 2002 (and maybe 2006) British Ladies' Rally Champion, is one of very few professional women drivers in British motor sport. Her interest in motorsport started early, as she dreamed of becoming a racing driver having sat in a Formula one car at the age of two. She became interested in rallying when she spectated at the 1993 RAC Rally. Kate and husband Paul finally achieved their dream, joining the ranks of rally competitors in 2000. Making up for lost time fast, she has been competing on the British Championship since 2002, first in a Formula 2000 Seat Ibiza and in a Group N Subaru Impreza since 2004.
As well as being the HotSeat Motorsport rally team’s number one driver, Kate is also the proprietor of the business. Competing itself does not provide commercial income. Instead the business runs corporate driving events for teambuilding and management training, as well as offering promotional services and VIP spectator packages at UK rallies.
When she's not competing, Kate loves telling people about her sport, to the extent that through the Full Potential Information Service she is able to do this more often. The scheme, backed by the European Social Fund, provides information for women seeking a career in the motorsport industry. "Motorsport is one of this country's key high-value industries - it's something we're really good at. If we want to maintain that advantage we need to make sure that we attract the best people, and we won't do that if the industry continues to be perceived as a male-dominated environment."
22nd November @ 2.30pm
Life After University
Ever thought about returning to university after your first degree? Or how to become a lecturer or even how your lecturers got where they are?
A panel of 3 Faculty of Science lecturers discuss their career paths and what it is like "on the other side".
Panel: Prof. Sarah Spurgeon (Engineering), Dr Clare Madge (Geography), Dr Emma Bunce (Physics and Astronomy).
6th December @ 2.30pm
"Interactive Engineering"
Guest Speaker: Laura Gray (Working Exhibit Technician for Leicestershire County Council)
Laura Gray is a young engineer employed as a Working Exhibit Technician at Snibston Discovery Park, a large regional science and technology museum where she designs, fabricates and maintains a large number of interactive exhibits that are at the heart of the visitor experience for the site. These can be anything from air cannons to foam models to wind turbines. In addition she also maintains and repairs historic exhibits including the steam traction engines and the running diesel train.
Laura was one of the winners in the 2005 Young Women Engineer of the Year
November 24th, 2005: 12.30
My Story, Information Technology and Education
A Brownbag Lunch Forum with Dr Jackie Edwards , Lecturer in IT from De Montfort University and the 2005 winner of the Blackberry Women and Technology Award overall . She will be bringing her electronic dog, Rufus.
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January 25th, 2006: 12.30
My Story 
A Brownbag Lunch Forum with Dr Debbie Brown , a chemical engineer from Advantica . Dr Brown will be talking about the career opportunities now opening up in the gas industry. She says about her work, "I've worked as a process engineer in the gas industry for 20 years. Although I've remained in the technology development and consultancy area, the work has been very varied, both desk based and operating pilot plants. I was initally involved in the development of coal gasfication processes for producing synthetic natural gas. There's been a resurgence in interest recently in this technology and we've started doing work on it again. I currently lead a team of process engineers who provide technical support and consultancy to the gas industry worldwide including gasification, gas processing and liquefied natural gas. This could involve troubleshooting, feasibility studies looking at technology options or identifying improvements to plant performance."
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February 22nd, 2006: 12.30
Physics for Women
A Brownbag Lunch Forum with Professor Gillian Gehring OBE , Professor of Condensed Matter Theoretical Physics at the University of Sheffield . She received her OBE in 2005 for services to physics and equal opportunities, and she has provided a Microsoft Word document of her activities to date . As an example of her wisdom on the subject of balancing work & life issues, here is an article she recently wrote on 'Mixing Motherhood and Science' .
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March 15th, 2006: 12.30
Celebrate Our Differences
A Brownbag Lunch Forum with Dr Janet Watson , who has worked in the UK pharmaceutical industry for 30 years as a scientist, managing projects and people involved in the pre-clinical research and development of new medicines. She currently works for AstraZeneca at their Loughborough R&D site.
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May 31st, 2006: 12.30
Staying On: Women Enduring the Academy
A Brownbag Lunch Forum with Dr Clare Madge , a feminist geographer with interests in Africa, 
cyberspace and geographies of the academy. She says: My talk will explore two pieces of research uncovering the role and position of women in the geography discipline. Given that most women were excluded from becoming Fellows of Royal Geographical Society until 1913, what progress has been made in gendering the geography academy by 2006? Is the geography academy equally `opení to women and men, which women, and what are the terms of inclusion? What identities do women have to perform to `fit iní and progress up the career ladder? How possible is it for women to combine a successful career with other `reproductiveí and caring roles? How must the enduring masculinism of the academy change if it really wants to move beyond rhetoric to include, and retain, a diversity of women on their own terms? These are some of the issues I wish to debate in my talk. Please come along if you are interested in them too! Dr Madge's website at the Unviersity of Leicester.
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June 14th, 2006: 12.30
Careering Into Space
A Brownbag Lunch Forum with Caitriona Jackman , a postgraduate at the University of Leicester. Caitriona completed a degree in Applied Physics at the University of Limerick in 2003. On graduation she came to the University of Leicester to pursue a PhD in Planetary Physics. Her current work uses data from the Cassini-Huygens mission to Saturn to study the giant planetís magnetic environment. She is this yearís recipient of the Margaret Day fellowship, the top award from the British Federation of Women Graduates for outstanding female PhD students in their final year.
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