Lesley Yellowlees and Molly Stevens on science and families

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Lesley Yellowlees and Molly Stevens review successes in science while raising families

Scottish chemist Lesley Yellowlees has a favourite GD\RI WKH\HDU³6HHLQJ WKHZRPHQ WRWWHULQJLQ their high heels and the men all dressed up in their kilts for gradation is such a happy day.” She wants to encourage others to succeed in return IRU KHU RZQ PHDVXUH RI VFLHQWL¿F VXFFHVV 6KH has achieved her dream of presiding over the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) and heading the faculty of science and engineering at the 8QLYHUVLW\RI(GLQEXUJK³,MXVWGLGQ¶WPHDQWRGR them both at the same time,” she laughs.

Suffrage Science brings Lesley together with Molly Stevens, research director for biomedical materials sciences at the Institute of Biomedical Engineering, Imperial College London. They have a lot in common. Molly also loves seeing people in her group succeed and go on to set up their own research groups.

³:DWFKLQJ VWXGHQWV GHYHORS LV DOZD\V TXLWH emotional for me. I get very attached, and have a tear in my eye when they leave,” she admits. Lesley says the attachment can go surprisingly IDU ³, XVHG WR GULYH P\ FKLOGUHQ WR GHVSDLU sometimes because so many of the students call me ‘Mum’: my children protested, ‘but you’re our mother, not theirs!’” Lesley Yellowlees

Juggling Jobs

Molly takes time out from maternity leave to talk to Lesley, her two-month-old son asleep on her lap. She is working throughout her leave whenever her baby sleeps and visits her forty-strong research group twice a week. The multidisciplinary Stevens group works at the interface between materials, cell biology, chemistry and engineering – exploiting this interface for human health. Their recent, highSUR¿OHVXFFHVVHVLQFOXGHDQXOWUDVHQVLWLYHWHVWIRU detecting diseases in their earliest stages, and an HI¿FLHQWQHZZD\WRUHJHQHUDWHERQHWLVVXHZKLFK is currently progressing to the clinic.

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So many of my students call me ‘Mum’

³,ORYHGLVFXVVLQJVFLHQFH,W¶VPRUHOLNHDKREE\ than a job to me,” says Molly. Many previous hobbies – what she calls the ‘lazing around’ side of her life – have fallen by the wayside amid the competing demands of work and family life. ³,¶PDOZD\VGRLQJVRPHWKLQJ,GRQ¶WUHDOO\KDYH GRZQWLPH DV VXFK´ VKH DGPLWV ³EXW ,¶P ¿QH with that; it’s a choice you make.”

Both scientists are frequently approached by young women seeking advice. Molly is still in the thick of it: she has six-year-old twins as well DV WKHQHZEDE\³,WZDVRQO\ZKHQ,VWDUWHGD IDPLO\WKDW,UHDOLVHGWKHUHDUHVRPHYHU\VSHFL¿F issues that apply differently to men and women in science.” Most inspired by other successful women scientists who have families she remains RQWKHORRNRXWIRUPHQWRUVLQKHUUHVHDUFK¿HOG

Lesley works on solar cells: synthesising and characterising solar energy dyes, among other WKLQJV LQ WKH ¿HOG RI VSHFWURHOHFWURFKHPLVWU\ Both her children are now grown up so she is aware of the pressures women in science face. ³,ZDVIRUWXQDWHWKDWP\SDUHQWVOLYHGGRZQ the road,” Her mum would pick her kids up

³7KHPRVW VHQLRU IHPDOH FKHPLVW LQ (J\SW WROG me that the world needs more senior women scientists and gave me this statue of Nefertiti.”

Lesley Yellowlees

Molly Stevens

from school and give them their tea when she had to work late. She talks warmly of her ‘national treasure’ Ella, who worked for her at home for 26 \HDUV³<RXKDYHWRSXWDVXSSRUWV\VWHPLQSODFH if you want to have a high-powered, successful career and bring up children, because you’ve got to feel 100 per cent comfortable that they are being looked after if you can’t be there.”

Making History

/HVOH\KDVDIROLRRI¿UVWVWRKHUQDPH¿UVWIHPDOH head of chemistry at the University of Edinburgh; ¿UVWIHPDOHYLFHSULQFLSDODQGKHDGRIVFLHQFHDQG HQJLQHHULQJDW(GLQEXUJKDQG¿UVWZRPDQWRKROG the presidency of the RSC in its 171-year history. 6KHUHPDLQVXQID]HG³,QHYHUVWRSDQGWKLQNµLW¶V

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I love discussing science. It’s more like a hobby than a job to me

KDUG WR EH WKH ¿UVW ZRPDQ¶ EHFDXVH ,¶P FDXJKW up in the excitement of the role, so I just get on with the challenges ahead.” Molly jokingly pleads: ³3OHDVH FDQ \RX DOVR EHFRPH SUHVLGHQW RI WKH Royal Society afterwards, because it really annoys me when I walk up the stairs there and see only male faces of ex-presidents!”

As president of the RSC, Lesley has decided to FKDPSLRQZRPHQLQVFLHQFH³+DYLQJDIDPLO\DGGV to the whole mix, and there’s a lot of work being done on unconscious and systemic bias against ZRPHQ ± LW¶V GH¿QLWHO\ VRPHWKLQJ WKDW QHHGV proper attention.” She is anxious that the ‘leaky pipeline’ – the drop-out of women with degrees in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) from STEM careers – be addressed for WKH JRRG RI VRFLHW\ ³, JHW YHU\ HDUQHVW ZKHQ , talk about it. It doesn’t bode well for the quick economic recovery of our country. We need every competent, inspiring person out there, and that requires women as well as men.” Although there are many reasons why women leave, she believes LVRODWLRQLVNH\³*URZLQJXSWKURXJKWKHUDQNVDW the time I did, you were bound to feel isolated.”

Having studied chemical physics at the University of Edinburgh, she enjoyed the analytical aspects of doing an experiment and deciphering the results. Feeling she’d had enough of science, she initially JRWDMREDVDQ1+6DGPLQLVWUDWRU³,TXLFNO\OHDUQW the error of my ways,” she says ruefully. When her husband got a job in Brisbane, Australia, she JRWD FKDQFH WR UHWKLQN ³,ZDV YHU\OXFN\ WRJHW a research job in electrochemistry, working on the electrochemical deposition of semiconductors for use in solar energy cells.”

Laurie Lyons, group head at the University of Queensland and professor of physical chemistry, pledged Lesley a bottle of champagne for every SHUFHQW LQFUHDVH LQ WKH HI¿FLHQF\ RI WKH FHOOV¶ ability to turn solar energy into electricity. She left two and a half years later (to begin her PhD in (GLQEXUJKZLWKDKDQGIXORIERWWOHV³,WZDVTXLWH amusing,” she smiles. She remains passionate DERXWHOHFWURFKHPLVWU\DQGVRODUFHOOV³WKDQNV WR him.”

Unconventional Beginnings

Molly’s career path was equally unplanned. ³$OWKRXJKLW¶VZRUNHGIRUPH,ZRXOGQ¶WQHFHVVDULO\ recommend the unconventional route.” As a child living in France with British parents, she was bilingual, and moved to the UK to attend secondary VFKRRO³,OHDUQWH[WUDODQJXDJHVHDVLO\DQG,ORYHG geography since I’m passionate about travel and other cultures.” She almost undertook a degree in JHRJUDSK\EXWLQWKHHQGFKRVHVFLHQFH³,GHFLGHG

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We need every inspiring person out there, and that means women and men

my other interests could be kept up more easily on the side.” Pharmacy meant she didn’t have to choose between chemistry and biology.

Afterwards she worked and travelled around Asia, New Zealand and Australia, doing some lab research in Melbourne, which convinced her to embark on a PhD. Working in Bill Charman’s extremely welcoming group on drug delivery SURYLGHG JUHDW PHQWRUVKLS ³+H ZDV D VXSHU guy to work for. I arrived with more or less nothing, and he lent me his car. His generous personality and enthusiasm for the science was totally inspirational.” Molly did a biophysics PhD at the University of Nottingham investigating the forces between molecules in the early days of nanotechnology. Her postdoc involved a massive leap again to chemical engineering at MIT.

6KH WRR KDV VRPH µ¿UVWV¶ WR EH SURXG RI ¿UVW female professor of bioengineering at Imperial DQG ¿UVW IHPDOH SURIHVVRU RI PDWHULDOV 7KHUH are relatively few female professors at Imperial, EXWVKHGRHVQ¶WIHHOLVRODWHG³:HQDWXUDOO\NQRZ each other and gravitate a bit towards each other, plus I really appreciate my male professorial colleagues.” She’s pleased to have another female professor in the materials department. And she’s a regular participant in Professor Uta Frith’s ‘Women in Science’ group, which meets for lunches and discussions in London.

Looking Forward

Molly has led her group at Imperial since 2004, over which time her motivations have matured. No longer is it just her interest in the subject that drives her, but seeing its impact on health, especially in the poorest populations in the world. ³7KDW¶V EHFRPH H[WUHPHO\ LPSRUWDQW WRPH ,¶P keen on more than just nice papers.”

Lesley gets a thrill from other people’s success: her chemistry department at the University of Edinburgh was the second in the UK to receive an Athena Swan gold award in 2012. Like their 2006 silver award, attained under her leadership, WKH DFFRODGH KDV FOHDU PHDQLQJ DQG EHQH¿W WR HYHU\RQH ³,W¶V DERXW FXOWXUH FKDQJH (YHU\RQH has to want and support it, so you have to make WKLQJVEHWWHUIRUHYHU\ERG\±ZRPHQZLOOEHQH¿W disproportionately from that.” The department is UHDFKLQJ D FULWLFDO PDVV RI ZRPHQ VFLHQWLVWV ³, think it’s better for everybody.”

³7KHVHERRWVUHPLQGPHRIP\WUDYHOVLQ$VLD$IULFD and South America, where I saw how the very poorest live, inspiring me to help develop technologies that can positively impact these populations.”

Molly Stevens