Some reflections on the amazing in-person Discovery Summit Europe in Manchester and, in particular, the Affinity Group for Women in Science and Engineering Luncheon.
The timing of Discovery Summit Europe usually coincides with International Women’s Day, which affords us the opportunity to celebrate women in science and engineering doing amazing things to make the world a better place. Last year in Sitges, we hosted our first affinity group luncheon for women in STEM.
This year, on the eve of International Women's Day, we were delighted to feature two brilliant women at the luncheon: Lucy Cooke, our closing plenary speaker, best-selling author, and zoologist, as well as Julia O’Neill, award-winning statistician who oversaw the statistical heavy lifting to bring us the Moderna COVID vaccine. The room was filled with amazing women and five times as many men as we had last year!
Though International Women’s Day is just once a year, the JMP Women in STEM Discussion Group is ongoing. The JMP Women in STEM book club just finished Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst, by Robert Sapolsky. While some of us may not have selected to read this book on our own, most of us are so glad to have discovered it! Our group thought it was a bit dense at first, quickly realized it was also brilliantly written and mind-stretching in a good way.
We are in the process of selecting the next book and hope you will join us! The conversations are so interesting and inspiring that you won’t regret it. To cast your vote on the next book, please submit it via this form.