Females in Science

Females in Science

James Welburn Head of Biology, King Henry VIII College, Malaysia

At KH8 we are very passionate about encouraging all our students to follow their dream careers. We also know that one of the best ways to do this is to develop our students' self-confidence, and to embrace our school motto - “they achieve because the believe they can”.

On 7 December, in collaboration with the University of Leeds and the University of Malaysia, I organised a Females in Science event for all FOBISIA schools across South East Asia. The event was a great success with over 30 different schools from 10 different countries and 600+ female students attending.

During the event, it was great to see so many students asking questions about careers in science and what they can do now to help prepare themselves for the future. It was also a great

platform for students to ask more sensitive questions about the challenges that females may face in following a scientific career, in terms of prejudice, family commitments and the gender pay gap.

I would like to give a 'big thank' you to all the students who attended and to Mr. Marks for hosting the Q&A event live on YouTube and also to our guest lecturers:

• Professor Deuchars - Leeds University • Dr. Kwok - Leeds University • Dr. Ghani - University of Malaysia • Dr. Shaniza - University of Malaysia

We are hoping that this will become an annual event that we can run for the benefit of female students across the whole of South East Asia.

chat with female scientists

Hallah - PhD student at the Faculty of Biological Science doing her research on signaling pathways of protein channels found in the cells in our body.

Jennifer - BSc in Medical Genetics, Masters in Immunity, Infection and Human Disease, and currently a PhD Medical student scientist examining the fruit fly as a replacement model for mice in studying a rare brain disease found in children.

Charlotte - Studying for her Masters by researching about cells around the spinal cord and the possibility of harnessing and manipulating their ability to proliferate to cure diseases.

Dr. Suruchi - Post Doctoral Plant Research scientist focusing on plant hormone auxin.