The researchers’ sisterhood: supporting the next generation of researchers at Cambridge

Nearly 150 years after Newnham College was founded, and 70 years after women first received degrees at the University of Cambridge, there is still a significant lack of women in senior academic positions. Small differences in the proportion of male to female Research Associates are increasingly amplified with every step up on the academic ladder, with only 18% of professors being female.

Newnham Postdoctoral Affiliate, Dr Cemre Ustunkaya, is taking action with two fellow researchers, setting up a women’s leadership programme aimed specifically at postdoctoral researchers in Cambridge. Cemre’s goal is not only to keep outstanding women within the research community, but to enable them to shape research in new and more diverse ways.

Dr Cemre Ustunkaya, Dr Laura Fachal and Dr Marta Costa were the winners of the University’s Researcher Development Pitch Competition. They will now implement their plans for a programme of workshops, supported by a peer-to-peer network and a website, to develop postdocs’ leadership skills.

Although the University has participated in Athena Swan since its inception, the initiatives aimed at reducing this gender gap are not changing the landscape quickly enough, and the University is lagging behind its Russell Group peers in this respect (Equality & Diversity Draft Information Report 2016/17). The team believe that current initiatives are overly focused on academic and professional staff to the detriment of the postdoc population (the largest staff group, although transitory and mobile). They argue that this is counter-intuitive, as the postdocs of today will be the research leaders of the future. Moreover, they feel the lack of leadership training is particularly detrimental to female postdocs looking to progress, because of the lack of a supportive network and female role models in senior positions.

The new programme will not only develop the participants’ leadership skills and create broader support networks, but will also encourage researchers to promote themselves, increasing their promotion and progression opportunities and enabling them to become role models in turn.

We’re delighted that once again, Newnham members are supporting and enabling women across the University to fulfil their potential and take the leadership roles they deserve. This seems a particularly fitting development as we open the Dorothy Garrod Building, named after the first woman Professor at either Cambridge or Oxford.

The programme will be promoted to eligible Cambridge postdocs when dates are confirmed.