Juno Champion trail blazes for women in physics

2010 sees one more university physics department added to the list of those recognised by the Institute of Physics (IOP) for efforts made to reduce gender inequality among academic staff.

The Cavendish Laboratory, at the University of Cambridge, has been recognised as a Juno Champion and is only the second physics department in the UK to be awarded both Juno Champion and Athena SWAN Silver.

The department has met the five principles set out in the Juno Code of Practice, a set of actions recommended by IOP to address the under-representation of women in physics departments, including increasing transparency and communication about gender issues across the whole department. .

The Juno Code of Practice seeks to redress a long-sustained issue of under-representation of women at the very highest level of physics academia in England. While approximately 20% of England’s physics undergraduates and lecturers are female; the same can only be said of 5% of professors.

Jennifer Dyer, Diversity Programme Leader at IOP, said, “The University of Cambridge has demonstrated that barriers, sometimes responsible for blocking the progression of female physicists to the highest posts in academia, can be addressed and that, importantly, the removal of these barriers helps everyone, men and women alike.”

Examples of real action at Cambridge that is proving to reduce gender inequality include investigating the reasons why fewer undergraduate girls progress in physics and why there are fewer women researchers moving to permanent academic appointments. 

Professor Peter Littlewood, Head of the Department of Physics, University of Cambridge, said, “The Department is delighted to have been accorded Juno Champion status. The award recognises the hard work of many people over the past few years to improve the working environment for everyone in the Department and for women in particular. Our action plan provides us with an excellent framework to develop new initiatives and consolidate best practice.”

Professor Valerie Gibson was presented with the Juno Champion certificate at the IOP Awards Ceremony on Thursday 30 September, in recognition of the Cavendish Laboratory’s success in reducing gender inequality.