Dr Tanya Hutter from the Department of Chemistry has been named as one of five Fellows of the L’Oréal-UNESCO UK and Ireland For Women in Science programme.
The winners were chosen in recognition of their scientific achievements in areas as diverse as gene mutation and evolutionary change, molecular changes in the brains of acute head injury patients, and Chagas disease.
Dr Tanya Hutter is a chemist developing a real-time online sensor which can measure molecular changes in the brains of acute head injury patients. The technology will improve upon current labour- and time-sensitive medical techniques, saving time and money. It will also allow more patients to be monitored in critical care units – an intervention which can dramatically improve patient outcomes.
The UK & Ireland fellowships have been designed to provide flexible financial help to outstanding female postdoctoral scientists to continue research in their chosen fields. The fellowships, worth £15,000 each, can be spent on whatever they may need to continue their research.
This year, four of the five winners, who are mothers of young children, plan to use part of their prize money to help with childcare costs, ensuring that they can continue their research whilst also raising young families. In addition, the money will help fund expensive equipment and travel to international conferences.
The L’Oréal- UNESCO For Women in Science programme aims to support and help increase the number of women working in sciences. In the UK, women are still underrepresented in the science community, with only 15% of STEM roles taken by women.
Further, the sector still suffers a perception problem which is even more acute in the UK than elsewhere in Europe; research has shown that when asked to think of a scientist, just 31% of people in the UK would picture a woman (compared with 41% across Europe), while 71% think men are more suited to being high level scientists, than women (60% in Europe.)
In response to these issues, L’Oréal has launched a manifesto in association with UNESCO, encouraging people to show their support for increasing gender equality in science careers.
Professor Dame Carol Robinson, Head of the Judging Panel and a L'Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science International Laureate, said: “We were really impressed by the research projects each our finalists is working on, and it was tough to decide on our winning group – each is working hard to solve a specific question. We are excited that they will benefit from the very real, flexible support provided in the Fellowship, at a critical stage in their careers.”